Pakistan’s Bykea raises $13mn in Series B funding

Pakistan based on-demand transport & logistics platform, Bykea has raised $13 million in Series B funding.

The Series B funding round was led by Prosus Ventures (formerly Naspers Ventures). The round, which brought the total funds raised to US$22m, saw participation from existing investors Middle East Venture Partners and Sarmayacar.

Bykea plans to invest significantly in its platform strategy leveraging its peak active driver fleet of 30K+ in 2020 for cross utilization in e-commerce logistics, food and payment services in 2021. The fresh capital will also be used to expand Bykea’s market reach in smaller cities where international players have struggled to grow their English-language platforms in a country where no more than 10% comprehend English.

“Bykea is one of the few internet businesses offering an interface in the Urdu language and we drive our competitive advantage from being highly localized. This approach has helped us become the preferred partner for part-time motorbike gig workers. Our brand is now widely used as a verb for bike taxi and 30 minute deliveries, and the fresh capital allows us to expand our network to solidify our leading position” said Muneeb Maayr, Founder at Bykea.

“Pakistan is primed to experience extremely strong growth in internet services over the next decade, with a rapidly increasing middle class. This growth provides immense opportunity for companies like Bykea that are transforming big societal needs like transportation, logistics and payments through a technology-enabled platform. Bykea has already seen impressive traction in the country and with our investment will be able to execute further on their vision to become Pakistan’s ‘Super-App’.” said Fahd Beg, Chief Investment Officer, Prosus.

Back in May 2019, Bykea completed a $5.7 million Series A round of financing from Pakistan's first VC fund Sarmaycar and institutional investors from South East Asia and for Middle East.