Comment by Riaz Haq on July 11, 2022 at 10:10pm

The world’s most active investor is on the prowl in Pakistan
“I’ve never met investors who are this prepared.” Tiger Global is making swift and aggressive moves in the country's startup scene.

https://restofworld.org/2022/worlds-most-active-investor-pakistan/


Tiger Global’s continued presence in Pakistan is, despite the current global funding crunch, a source of comfort for entrepreneurs in the country, even as the American investor itself is going through a rough patch. By May, the firm had clocked year-to-date losses of 52%, forcing it to cut management fees amid a string of public market downturns and private markdowns.

“Investors trust Tiger’s acumen, and their presence signals to other big names in VC of Pakistan’s potential, many of whom are still looking for deals here, even though their plans slowed down due to market conditions,” says Zayn Capital’s Aftab. Another major investor, Sequoia Capital Southeast Asia, has made an undisclosed investment in a Pakistani startup, multiple sources told Rest of World. Sequoia did not comment on the investment.

“From a macro view, having such names is extremely important because it only builds our position of strength and encourages other investors to come in,” CreditBook’s Malik said. “Just having that name makes other people on the cap table more confident about the company,and de-risks your proposition to other investors. It also helps the way you attract talent, who now see you as more stable, and gives you significant market advantages, be it senior leadership or even hiring outside Pakistan.”

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 12, 2022 at 8:01am

Tiger Global to slow startup investments for two quarters, eyes new fund later this year
The firm is sitting on 'billions' of dollars of dry powder, according to sources

https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/10/tiger-global-to-slow-down-startup...

Tiger Global, one of the biggest winners from the technology bull market, plans to decelerate the pace of its investments in startups for two quarters, the latest in a series of high-profile investors becoming cautious as the market embraces a downturn.

The New York-headquartered firm — which invested in 361 deals in 2021, according to PitchBook — is evaluating the market conditions and plans to limit the number of new checks it writes til December, Tiger Global partner Alex Cook told founders recently, according to sources familiar with those conversations.

Cook met several founders during his visit to Bengaluru earlier this month, offering advice and assuaging market concerns about the firm’s recent performance. Cook also assured that Tiger Global is sitting on dry powder in “billions” and will continue to back “best internet-enabled” startups, the sources said.

The firm is also on track to raise a new fund later this year, Cook said, according to the sources.

Tiger Global had an eventful 2021.

The firm, which manages over $20 billion, benefitted from the rise of share prices of tech companies such as Zoom during the pandemic. But by May of this year, it had lost two-thirds of all the gains it made in the stock funds since its founding in 2001, according to multiple reports. TechCrunch reported in May that Tiger had nearly depleted its current fund, and in the same month, journalist Eric Newcomer reported that Tiger was looking to raise a $1 billion crossover fund.

Cook told founders that it was still a little early to say how much capital Tiger Global will be able to accumulate for its larger fund, the sources added, requesting anonymity as the conversations were private.

The slowdown on new investments comes as investors globally sound alarms and hit the brakes on making large backings as they scramble to assess the rout in the stock market that has sharply reversed much of the gains of the 13-year bull run.

Still, Tiger Global’s move is significant because it wrote more checks than any other U.S. investor last year, according to PitchBook.

Investors across the globe have become more selective in recent months and have slashed valuations of private firms across many tech sectors worldwide, including emerging markets. Indian startups raised $6.9 billion in the quarter that ended in June, down from $10.3 billion during the period between January and March this year, according to insight platform Tracxn.

(Some of the deals announced in the previous quarter were agreed upon and finalized as early as January, hence the Q2 figures don’t accurately reflect the deal-activity of the quarter, many investors said.)

Some investors — including reportedly Coatue — have cautioned that tech stocks may fall further and more painful days could be ahead for startups.

The tightening of valuations has additionally trickled down to startups across each stage, including those at seed and Series A phases of life, according to several investors with whom TechCrunch spoke.

“We are in a ‘sliding knife’ market and things have only partially propagated into earlier and earlier companies. For example, series B/Cs have dropped 30-70% but the repricing is inconsistent. Some companies have been getting high valuations over the last few months while others can not fundraise at all. Series A valuations have dropped maybe 20-30% but likely should drop 50%+ from highs,” wrote Elad Gil, a prolific early-stage investor, in a recent blog post.

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 12, 2022 at 8:02am

Tiger Global to slow startup investments for two quarters, eyes new fund later this year
The firm is sitting on 'billions' of dollars of dry powder, according to sources

https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/10/tiger-global-to-slow-down-startup...


The tightening of valuations has additionally trickled down to startups across each stage, including those at seed and Series A phases of life, according to several investors with whom TechCrunch spoke.

“We are in a ‘sliding knife’ market and things have only partially propagated into earlier and earlier companies. For example, series B/Cs have dropped 30-70% but the repricing is inconsistent. Some companies have been getting high valuations over the last few months while others can not fundraise at all. Series A valuations have dropped maybe 20-30% but likely should drop 50%+ from highs,” wrote Elad Gil, a prolific early-stage investor, in a recent blog post.

“Series seed rounds have come down some but will likely drop further as more series A reprice harder as investors seek each round to be 2-3X the valuation of the prior round (the traditional standard). Private tech is for some stages where public tech was towards the beginning of this year. Hitting a new startup market valuation stable point is likely to take another quarter or two barring a recession or additional public market drops. These things take some time to fully propagate to all stages, founders, and investors,” he added.

Previously best known for investing in growth and late-stage startups, Tiger Global made some apparent changes to its strategy in 2020 and made over six dozen investments in early-stage deals last year, according to an analysis by TechCrunch.


Some investors have publicly criticized late-stage investors’ growing interest in writing seed and Series A deals, worrying that it’s unclear whether those funds will continue to remain as enthusiastic about supporting younger firms when the market takes a turn.

Cook told founders that the firm is bullish on identifying and supporting early-stage startups and will continue to back such deals in the future, the sources said.

Tiger Global has invested $6.5 billion in India to date, according to a source familiar with the matter, a figure that makes it one of the biggest backers of startups in the South Asian market.

A Tiger Global spokesperson declined to comment Sunday evening.

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 12, 2022 at 10:21am

Airlift, Pakistan’s most valuable startup, is shutting down, two sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch, following its inability to raise fresh capital.

https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/12/airlift-shutdown/

The startup told employees Tuesday evening that it will be shutting down on Wednesday, according to the sources and slides presented to them. The startup was attempting to put together a new round as recently as last week but “multiple” investors told the firm that it will take them at least two months to wire the money, said one of the slides, which was obtained by TechCrunch.

“Other investors unwilling to assume the risk of wiring ahead of others,” the slide said.


Airlift operated a quick commerce service in eight Pakistani cities, including Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad. Users could order groceries, fresh produce and other essential items, including medicines, as well as sports goods from the Airlift website or app and have it delivered to them in 30 minutes.

The startup raised $85 million in the country’s largest Series B funding round in August, which valued Airlift at $275 million. Harry Stebbings of 20VC and Josh Buckley of Buckley Ventures led that round.

Airlift founder Usman Gul did not immediately return a request for comment. Airlift was attempting to raise a new round via SAFE at $500 million valuation earlier this year, according to a source with direct knowledge of the event.

The startup says it will complete severance payments to employees in the next four to eight weeks and clear due payments to suppliers and stakeholders. “Teammates are not required to come to work beyond today — access revoke will run byu end-of-day Thursday, followed by communication via personal emails,” the startup said in another slide obtained by TechCrunch.

Earlier this year, Airlift began expanding to South Africa, a move that significantly increased its expenses. In a note to staff in May this year, obtained by TechCrunch, Gul warned that the market conditions had suddenly taken the turn for the worse and Airlift needed to be “extremely judicious in how capital is deployed and managed” and put new hirings on freeze.


He said the startup’s expansion to South Africa will “remain in a nascent stage in FY 2022).”

“Given Airlift’s strong operating metrics, preserving runway is not the motivation — by the end of Q2 2022, Airlift is well positioned to continue to maintain a runway of 12+ months and raise further financing from current investors when/as needed. We are, therefore, well placed because of the strong business performance delivered in the last 18-24 months. However, to race toward profitability, we must cut costs across all fronts,” he wrote at the time.

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 19, 2022 at 1:17pm

State of Startup Funding - H1 2022 Emerging Venture Markets Report

https://magnitt.com/research/evm-h1-2022-report-50823?fbclid=IwAR3a...


PAKISTAN:

• Pakistan has aggregated $249M in H1'22, accounting for 75% of last year’s total funding
• The region closed a total of 35 deals in the first 6 months of the year
• Pakistan recorded the largest E-commerce round across EVM’s this year so far with Bazaar’s $70M Series B

---------

EVM H1 2022 Venture Investment Report is one of MAGNiTT’s flagship productions. It takes a comprehensive look at the ins and outs of venture activity across Emerging Venture Markets including MENA, Africa, Turkey and Pakistan.


After a record-breaking year in 2021, the EVM VC ecosystem amassed $5.1Bn in H1 2022 over 754 deals, aggregating 70% of total investment raised in FY 2021. A slowdown in VC activity as a result of global market pressures, however, has surfaced over Q2 2022 and is expected to continue through the next 2 quarters of the year.

In a top story for the VC ecosystem in EVMs, Exit activity across MEAPT reached a new half-yearly record in 2022. Over the first 6 months, the ecosystem recorded 67 Exits, 20 less than that closed last year, yet 18 more than FY 2020. Mega Deal prominence this year was not only another funding highlight, but also attracted over $2Bn in funds across Bahrain, KSA, UAE, Kenya, Nigeria, and Turkey accounting for more than 40% of total capital raised across EVMs over H1 2022.

On the industry front, FinTech continues to reign both in terms of deal count and funding raised across Emerging Venture Markets. The sector was led by the African region accounting for 60% of the total funding raised across the MEAPT region.

Take a look at some high-level geography-specific insights from the report below.

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 25, 2022 at 11:59am

A Mitchell
@aem76us
@haqsmusings

Grants of up to PKR 20M on offer from USAID for Pakistani companies seeking to export to US and to receive FDI.

https://twitter.com/aem76us/status/1551637213628227584?s=20&t=a...

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 27, 2022 at 10:12pm

Top #SiliconValley VC firm Sequoia backs #fintech #startup Dbank in its first #Pakistan investment. $17.6 million seed round, largest in Pakistan, is co-led by another Silicon Valley VC Kleiner Perkins. Brazil’s Nubank, Askari Bank, Rayn also participated https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/27/sequoia-kleiner-perkins-nubank-in...

Sequoia, the world’s most influential venture fund, has made its maiden investment in Pakistan, joining a growing list of high profile investors who have backed young firms in the South Asian market in the past one year.

Islamabad-headquartered startup Dbank said on Thursday it has raised $17.6 million in a seed round, the largest in Pakistan, co-led by Sequoia Capital Southeast Asia, the recently unveiled $1 billion fund, and Kleiner Perkins. Brazil’s neobank Nubank, Askari Bank, Rayn also participated in the round, the Pakistani startup said.

Dbank is a fintech startup that will attempt to expand the reach of financial services in a “transparent and friendly” manner in Pakistan, taking on the informal credit system that tends to exploit those in need with exorbitant and unpredictable interest rates, said Tania Aidrus, co-founder of Dbank, in an interview with TechCrunch.

Johan Surani, VP at Sequoia Southeast Asia, said in a statement that Dbank will attempt to “democratize banking,” however the startup wishes to keep its roadmap under wraps for now, Aidrus said.

Nearly half of the population of Pakistan, home to over 220 million people, currently don’t have bank accounts. “We want our users to be in control of their money and to make informed choices,” said Aidrus.

She has started Dbank with Khurram Jamali, both of whom have studied the challenges the unbanked population faces closely at their previous stint at Google, where they worked on payments rails for the company’s Next Billion Users initiative. Aidrus then briefly joined the Government of Pakistan as Chief Digital Officer.

State Bank of Pakistan, the country’s central bank, has aggressively explored opportunities in recent years to modernize the nation’s payments infrastructure to increase financial inclusion in the country. The country has developed Raast, a real-time payments system, for instant digital transactions and also built NADRA, a digital identify platform.

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 28, 2022 at 8:21am

DealCart is focused on price-conscious Pakistani consumers

https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/27/dealcart-is-focused-on-price-cons...


The price of consumer goods has been soaring all around the world, creating a major budgeting headache for many people. Social commerce startup DealCart wants to make life easier for shoppers, at least in Pakistan. The company announced today that it has raised $4.5 million in pre-seed funding just three months after their operational launch. The round was led by Shorooq Partners with participation from Fatima Gobi Ventures, Vibe Capital, 500 Global, i2i Ventures, Julian Shapiro, Rally Cap Ventures, Alex Lazarow and several “strategic angel investors.”

Founded by Haider Raza and Ammar Naveed, DealCart wants to address the low usage of e-commerce among middle and lower-income segments in Pakistan, even though more and more people have access to smartphones and the internet.

DealCart allows users to buy in groups and share deals through WhatsApp and other social media platforms. By participating in group buys, consumers are able to unlock lower prices. Customers have the option of either joining existing groups or creating a new one and sharing a link to their social media. When that number hits a threshold (usually about four people) within a 24-hour period, lower prices are unlocked.

Before launching DealCart, Naveed was a senior director a ride-hailing app Careem, overseeing operations across the Middle East and Pakistan, while Raza launched and scaled mobility startup Swvl in Pakistan, and also worked at Careem.

The founders told TechCrunch that their past experience gave them extensive experience building and scaling startups across Pakistan and the MENA region. As inflation got worse in Pakistan, they said it became clear that helping people save money on where they spend most of their income was their mission.

“Despite the burgeoning growth of smartphones and internet penetration, e-commerce usage remains low among the middle and lower middle-income segments that constitute the majority of the country. As such, the current e-commerce landscape in the country is skewed toward large ticket electronics, fashion and the convenience proposition provided by quick commerce which is expensive and can largely be afforded by the smaller upper income segment of Pakistan,” the founders told TechCrunch in an email. “The majority of Pakistanis are price conscious and the current e-commerce landscape does not cater to their needs.”

DealCart is able to offer lower prices because it sources products directly from manufacturers, works with locally-manufactured brands (while helping them reach a larger consumer base) and lowering its customer acquisition cost through its consumer growth features. These savings allow DealCart to afford efficient warehousing and last-mile delivery compared to other e-commerce and quick commerce platforms.


Items available through DealCart include cooking oil, rice, wheat, pulses and sugar; tea and milk; fruit and vegetables; baby formula and diapers; beverages; and household care products. Currently, DealCart purchases inventory from manufacturers and holds it at their warehouse. Once orders are confirmed from customers, products for group buys are delivered by 11PM.

Raza said DealCart’s target market already spends upwards of 50% of their household income on groceries and essentials, and the startup is able to give them financial relief through lower prices.

Comment by Riaz Haq on August 7, 2022 at 8:20am

StartUpBlink Report 2022: #Startup Ecosystem of #Karachi is ranked at number 291 globally, and shows a negative momentum decreasing -5 spots since 2021. Karachi also ranks at number 1 in #Pakistan, and 10 in #SouthAsia. #technology #Entrepreneurship https://www.startupblink.com/startup-ecosystem/karachi-pk

Karachi is an ideal place to locate for Ecommerce & Retail, Transportation and Marketing & Sales startups. As the most popular industries in Karachi, there is a sample of 12 Ecommerce & Retail startups in Karachi, 10 Transportation startups in Karachi, and 8 Marketing & Sales startups in Karachi, on the StartupBlink Map.
On the StartupBlink Global Startup Ecosystem Map there is also a sample of 53 startups in Karachi, no accelerators in Karachi, no coworking spaces in Karachi, no organizations in Karachi and no leaders in Karachi.

StartupBlink ranks the startup ecosystems of 100 countries and 1,000 cities. Download our latest Global Ecosystem Report.

------------------


Karachi has been ranked among South Asia’s top ten start-up-friendly cities by the startup ecosystem rating website, Startup Blink, in its 2022 report.

Pakistan’s port city has broken India’s monopoly on the list by jumping up four ranks within a year to join the top ten cities.



While the other 9 cities are all in India, Karachi has reportedly surpassed Pakistan’s top city, Lahore, this year, as well as other cities that are considered to have startup-friendly environments.

However, on a global level, Karachi’s ranking has dropped by five places and is now at number 291.

Meanwhile, Lahore fell 48 places to the 305th rank internationally this year. Islamabad was ranked third in Pakistan and dropped one rank to 438th on the global list.

Overall, Pakistan’s ranking as a favorable environment for startups decreased by two places and it stood 76th globally.

It was also ranked second in South Asia and fourth among the Central Asia Regional Economics Corporation (CAREC) countries.

The report detailed that successful start-ups and digitization are of prime importance in Pakistan’s economic development.

Digital entrepreneurship and investment in startups got a boost in Pakistan during the pandemic, and startups were supported by improvements in broadband coverage and digital infrastructure, and a new framework for digital payments. Local IT companies also received tax incentives and exemptions through Special Technology Zones.

Pakistan has come a long way to strengthen its legal framework to promote digitization, according to the report, but still needs clarification on taxes and incentives for local investment.

The country’s climate of political chaos hinders the creation of stable policies and an environment of trust to actually strengthen its startup ecosystem, Start Blinkup detailed. Apart from this, increasing capital demand for emerging startups and the supply of experienced manpower are also causing concern.

To meet these needs, it is necessary for Pakistan to increase the capacity of the startup ecosystem to provide qualified and trained manpower amid the growing demand for capital for emerging start-ups.

Comment by Riaz Haq on August 30, 2022 at 8:29am

Faseeh Mangi
@FaseehMangi
PayPal founder and billionaire investor Peter Thiel invests in Pakistan's startup space for the first time

Thiel participates in PriceOye's round

It sells consumer electronics such as mobile phones and raised $8 million in seed funding

https://twitter.com/FaseehMangi/status/1564530785326997504?s=20&...


----------------

A Pakistani startup, which has taken inspiration from China’s JD.com and India’s Flipkart to build a managed marketplace of electronics products, said on Tuesday it has raised seed funding from scores of investors including PayPal founder Peter Thiel.

Launched in March 2020 — just two weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the world — the Islamabad-based startup PriceOye offers a range of electronics products, including smartphones, TVs and home appliances.

Its seed funding round was led by JAM Fund, a venture capital firm by Tinder founder Justin Mateen. The institutional funding round also included participation of Beenext, DG Daiwa, Mantis VC, HOF Capital, Jet.com investor Palm Drive Capital and Atlas Ventures, among others. Angels including Thiel, Immad Akhud of Mercury Bank, and Asif Keshodia of Souq also participated in the round — alongside previous investors Fatima Gobi Ventures, SOSV, and Artistic Ventures. This is Thiel’s maiden investment in Pakistan.

PriceOye has served 45 million unique users in Pakistan in the last two years, covering 37.5% of the country’s total internet userbase, Adnan Shaffi, co-founder and CEO of the startup, told TechCrunch in an interview.

“We are the second most visited shopping website in the entire country, with over two and a half million monthly active users coming on the platform, doing research using our product recommendation engine, and then getting to know about different products,” he said.

After exiting two startups, Adan and his brother Adeel Shaffi got the idea of launching PriceOye when they were doing “a lot of island hopping” in Southeast Asia. The duo looked at several startups in Indonesia and India and found the Asian markets were seeing similar consumer internet trends play out — just at a different pace. They built a thesis that Pakistan will see similar adoption of consumer internet services in the next four to five years.

https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/29/pakistan-priceoye-pk-7-9-million-...

Comment

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• …
• 13
• Next ›
• Page