Pakistan’s digital bookkeeping startup raises $6mn in seed funding

In another stride for Pakistan’s budding startup scene, Udhaar Book, a Karachi-based cashflow management services provider, has raised $6 million in early funding.

The funding will be utilised for market expansion, in a mostly cash-driven economy, where millions of small businesses and SMEs still manage cashflows manually, reported Bloomberg.

The report added that the round was led by investors including Fatima Gobi Ventures, Plaid co-founder William Hockey’s Muir Capital, Tinder co-founder Justin Mateen’s JAM Fund LLC, Integra Partners and Commerce Ventures LLC.

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“Udhaar app helps you manage credit (Udhaar) with customers and supliers. Udhaar Book is an online ledger (like an online khata or journal) to record your outstanding debt, and send auto-reminders to customers to increase collection and cash flow,” stated the app on its website.

Talking to the international media outlet, Udhaar’s co-founder, Fahad Kamr, said that Pakistan has over 30 million micro-, small- and medium-enterprises, which still operate manually and deal in cash. This hampers the growth of small businesses that are busy in keeping account of their cash dealings.

Kamr informed that Udhaar Book, which kicked off last year, has 1.4 million registered users and over 0.5 million monthly active users, which as per the co-founder is the highest active user base in the digital bookkeeping segment for small stores.

“We’ve barely scratched the surface so obviously expanding the reach of the product is super important at this time,” Kamr was quoted as saying. “That’s where a lot of the funding will also go.”

Unilever-backed startup raises one of Pakistan's largest early stage funding

Pakistan's startup scene has been picking up in recent years with 2021 being exceptional for founders in the country.

Last month, Karachi-based quick delivery startup Munchies raised $2.5 million from strategic investors including Unilever and VentureDive, making it the third-largest pre-seed investment in Pakistan's history.

In the first nine months of the ongoing year, Pakistan's startups raised a record amount of funds at over $305 million, according to data compiled by Karachi-based Alpha Beta Core (ABCore), an early-stage tech-based investment firm.

The amount is over 1.5 times higher than the previous six years combined with investments focused on early-stage funding rounds, pointing to the growth potential, say experts.