Q1CY22: Pakistan's startups carry on with fund-raising momentum

Carrying on with its momentum from the previous year, Pakistan's startup sector remained in full swing during the first quarter of 2022, raising a substantial $163 million, according to a Deal Flow Tracker by Invest2Innovate (i2i).

Data shows the total is just a little under half of the entire amount raised in 2021, which was a record year for Pakistan's startups.

In the three months of 2022 (January-March), a total of $163 million has been raised across 15 deals. From 2015 to 2022 YTD, Pakistani startups have now raised a total of $728 million across 272 deals.

“Many of these amounts came from large seeds rounds and Series B funding, and are an indication of trends of how 2022 will quickly surpass Pakistan’s 2021 year-end number,” said the report.

During the quarter, coworking spaces including Daftarkhwan and COLABS raised capital. COLABS raised $3 million, while the amount for Daftarkhwan was undisclosed.

Mixed deals including both local and international investors still made up the bulk of capital raised ($122 million). International deals accounted for $36 million, while local deals amounted to $850,000.

Out of the 4 purely local deals, two were at the Pre-Seed stage, one was at the Seed stage, and one at Pre-Series A, data showed.

Bazaar raised $70 million, making it the largest deal for Q1 2022. Interestingly, Bazaar first raised capital in 2020, when Pakistani startups had cumulatively raised $65 million. This was followed by retailo, which raised $36 million in a Series A round, and Jugnu that attracted $22.5 million in Series A funding.

E-commerce deals accounted for 60% of all the capital raised this quarter ($202 million), but only 31% of all deals. Fintech deals accounted for 27% of all capital raised this quarter i.e. $17 million while accounting for 30% of the deal count. Meanwhile, trucking and logistics startups raised $13 million.

Pakistan’s startup sector witnessed the best year in 2021, as 81 deals worth $350 million were made. The amount raised was more than 5x of what was raised in 2020 i.e. $65 million.