Pakistani startups raised $163m through 15 deals during the first three months of 2022 despite the COVID-19 fallout.
According to Invest2Innovate, a Pakistani consultancy firm, the sector raised more than fifty percent of what was raised in all of 2021 ($350m).
Kalsoom Lakhani, the founder of Invest2Innovate and general partner at its sister firm i2iVentures, said $22.2m were racked in Q1 of 2021.
Read more: These 3 startups are here to disrupt the traditional systems of Pakistan!
She added that most of this amount was raised by B2B e-commerce space. The three largest disclosed startup funding rounds in 2022 were: Bazaar ($70m), Retailo’s ($36m), and Jugnu ($22.5m).
1/This is *not* an April Fools Day joke – our latest @Invest2Innovate Insights graphic is out. In Q1 2022, Pakistani 🇵🇰 startups raised $163M in funding via 15 deals — more than 50% of what was raised in all of 2021 ($350M) & > 7x of what was done in Q1 2021 ($22.2M)/ pic.twitter.com/4D59uBY7jA
— Kalsoom Lakhani (@kalsoom82) April 1, 2022
“Fact that B2B e-commerce players raised later stage rounds is a strong signal for the Pakistani market, especially given concerns around a cooling off or a dearth of growth-stage capital,” the founder said.
Appreciating her team, Lakhani added that the Fintech sector performed well during the quarter, albeit primarily through earlier stage deals, such as NayaPay’s $13 million seed.
The founder noted that like other emerging markets, a “triangle” of funding has been observed, and e-commerce, Fintech, and logistics made up the total raised as these sectors have a “symbiotic relationship”.
Read more: Pakistani startup NayaPay secures $13 million in seed funding
Pakistani startups have raised a total of $563.5m across 255 deals since 2015, with $350 million raised via 83 deals in 2021 alone, accounting for over 60 percent of all deals completed within the past seven years.