Trusted online marketplace: InstaMall secures pre-seed funding

KARACHI: InstaMall, a premier online marketplace, has secured pre-seed funding to build out a trusted online marketplace and fix the key obstacles facing Pakistan’s e-commerce market. InstaMall has announced that it has secured a pre-seed investment from Pakistan’s business magnate - Arif Habib - who is the chairman of one of the largest business conglomerates of Pakistan.

Pakistan has significant mobile and broadband penetration, yet it has one of the worst performing e-commerce sectors which comprises only one percent of the total retail market in the country. Counterfeit products, poor customer support, and delayed deliveries are some of the key obstacles, hampering e-commerce adoption in Pakistan, as evident from extremely low net-promoter scores of existing e-commerce companies.

InstaMall is building a customer-centric and tech-enabled platform which consumers can throw their trust behind InstaMall sells original products only and focuses on delivering orders promptly. InstaMall has secured a number of partnerships with leading fashion, cosmetics, footwear, electronics, and retail brands since its launch in September 2020.

It will continue to build out its partnerships to encompass the best and leading names in the region. InstaMall is founded by brothers, Hashaam Riaz Sheikh (a former Citigroup investment banker) and Basit Riaz Sheikh (Cornell Ph.D. and a certified Artificial Intelligence (AI) expert), with prior collective working experience in leadership roles in telecom, technology, media, and finance sectors.

Commenting on this development, co-founder and COO Dr Basit Riaz Sheikh said InstaMall is essentially a tech company using a sophisticated AI-powered technology stack to efficiently overcome the obstacles that have long hampered Pakistan’s e-commerce sector.

Arif Habib said Pakistan is now in the early stages of its e-commerce life cycle and has a growing middle class who is seeking a trustworthy online marketplace that provides a seamless customer experience. “InstaMall has a promising vision and strategy to offer quality shopping experiences parallel to those of the best platforms in the region”, he added.

According to CEO Hashaam Riaz Sheikh, Arif Habib has a deep understanding of the commerce sector of Pakistan. Securing funding for InstaMall from one of the most respected businessmen in the country is a boon to not only InstaMall but to the entire e-commerce sector in Pakistan.

This funding will help InstaMall scale its platform to expand its products and to serve more customers as we grow InstaMall to become the premier e-commerce platform in the region, he added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021