In 2023, Pakistani startups made significant strides in fundraising, securing over $75 million in disclosed venture capital across 30 deals. The funding was distributed across various stages, with notable contributions from pre-seed, seed, and Series A rounds.
In the pre-seed stage, Lahore-based AdTech startup Pattern secured $250k from Accelerating Asia. EduFi, a Lahore-based EdTech startup with headquarters in Singapore, raised an impressive $6.1 million in pre-seed funding from Zayn VC, Palm Drive Capital, Deem Ventures, Q Business, and various angel investors. Voyage, a Lahore-based digital freight forwarding startup, secured $1 million in pre-seed funding from Indus Valley Capital, while Karachi-based mobility startup BusCaro raised $1.5 million in pre-seed funding from Orbit Startups and Wahed Ventures.
Moving to the seed stage, Karachi-based FinTech Befiler raised $1.5 million from Cistech Capital and Lakson Venture Capital. AdalFi, a Lahore-based fintech focusing on credit-scoring for digital lending, raised $7.5 million in seed funding from COTU Ventures, Chimera Ventures, Fatima Gobi Ventures, and Zayn VC. Swag Kicks, a Karachi-based pre-loved e-commerce startup, secured $1.2 million in seed funding from i2i Ventures, Techstars Toronto, CrossFund, Rose Lake Ventures, Elevation Ventures, and STAK Group, among others.
Other seed-stage funding recipients included Trukkr, Maqsad, Trax, Apollo Group, GoldFin, EasyFresh, Qist Bazaar, OkayKer, Neem, Paismo, Zyp Technologies, Elphinstone, Truckistan, Taleemabad, Krave Mart, MedIQ, Helpp, CodeNinja, Blink, and Kickstart.
In the Series A stage, Karachi-based Health Tech startup Sehat Kahani secured $2.7 million in funding from Amaanah Circle, Epic Angels, Cross Fund, USAID, Augmentor, Impact Investment Exchange, and the Elahi group of companies. Retailo, a B2B marketplace for small businesses, raised a substantial $15 million in Series A funding from investors including Yusuf Bin Kanoo Group, Technology Group, Majd Digital, Aujan Group Holdings, Shorooq Partners, Abercross Holdings, Graphene Ventures, and an additional $1.5 million from Dtonic.
