Despite the aftermath from COVID-19, Pakistani entrepreneurs received $163 million through 15 transactions within the first three months of 2022.
According to Invest2Innovate, a Pakistani consultancy organisation, the sector raised more than half of the total amount raised in the entire year 2021 ($350 million), a significant amount.
The creator of Invest2Innovate and general partner at its sister firm, i2iVentures, Kalsoom Lakhani, stated that $22.2 million was amassed in the first quarter of 2021.
Find out more about these three firms, which are aiming to upend Pakistan’s established processes.
She went on to say that the majority of this money was raised in the B2B e-commerce industry. Bazaar ($70 million), Retailo’s ($36 million), and Jugnu ($22.5 million) received the largest publicly announced startup funding rounds in 2022.
In light of concerns about a cooling off or a scarcity of growth-stage capital in the Pakistani sector, the founder believes that the fact that B2B e-commerce businesses raised later stage rounds is a good signal for the market.
Appreciating her team, Lakhani went on to say the Fintech industry fared well during the quarter, but it did so mostly through earlier-stage transactions such as NayaPay’s $13 million seed funding round.
