During Q3 2020, eight Pakistani startups raised $16,025,000 in disclosed funding.
Compared to Q3 2019, that’s an increase of 58% from $10,170,000 and 22% increase over the previous quarter from $13,100,000.
This brings the total amount raised by Pakistani startups year-to-date to $30,390,000.
2020 Q3 Funding
This year started strong with 4 startups raising $1.2 million to end Q1 with great momentum. That was followed by an even better Q2 as 3 startups raised $13,100,000.
Q3 was no different. The deal count doubled from the previous quarter and for the first time since 2015, there was a Series B investment in a Pakistani startup. More on that later.
Let’s do the numbers.
$150,000
Safepay, the Karachi-based FinTech startup in the payment processing niche, graduated and raised $150,000 in Seed investment from Y Combinator.
$150,000
Byte, the Lahore-based food delivery startup based on the cloud kitchen concept, graduated and raised $150,000 in Seed investment from Y Combinator.
$225,000
Social Champ, the Karachi-based social media management app, raised $225,000 in Seed investment from a private angel investor.
$250,000
Emeds.pk, the Lahore-based prescription delivery startup, raised $250,000 in Seed investment from VM Interactive.
$250,000
Baby Planet, the Lahore-based e-commerce startup in the baby products niche, raised $250,000 in Seed investment from High Output Ventures, Karavan, and Virtual Force.
$1,000,000
GrocerApp, the Lahore-based grocery delivery startup, raised $1,000,000 in Seed investment from Jabbar Internet Group, Karavan, Nama Ventures, Nader Group, 7Vals, Walled City Co, LeanBricks, Sheharyar Ali, and Asif Keshodia.
$1,000,000
Aimfit, the Lahore-based startup in the fitness niche, raised $1,000,000 in Seed investment from Indus Valley Capital and other undisclosed angels.
$13,000,000
Bykea, the Karachi-based transportation and logistics startup, raised $13,000,000 in Series B investment from Prosus Ventures, Sarmayacar, and Middle East Venture Partners. This is the biggest Series B investment in a Pakistani startup. Previously, the record was held by Zameen with $9 million in funding from Vostok Ventures in 2015.
To date, Bykea has raised $18.7 million in disclosed funding.
Nothing is normal this year. And like you, I am pleasantly surprised at the number of deals plus dollar amount attracted by the startups. And the year isn’t over yet.
Historically, the majority of the funding announcements are made in Q4 during two major tech events; 021 Disrupt and Startup Grind Pakistan. Due to COVID, that might not be the case this year.
But you never know. I recently learned that 021 Disrupt is still going to happen.
One more thing
I turned the boring spreadsheet that I use to keep track of startup funding into a visual app. Now, you can keep tabs on startup funding in Pakistan the way I do. Check out Techshaw Pulse.
P.S. If you are interested in accessing the entire spreadsheet that powers the app, you can download it by naming your own price (min $2). Includes lifetime updates.
