Pakistani-American VC At Top Silicon Valley Firm Leads First Investment in Pakistan

[RiazHaq]

Pakistani-American VC At Top Silicon Valley Firm Leads First Investment in Pakistan

Kleiner Perkins, a top Silicon Valley venture capital investment firm, is leading series A round of $17 million investment into Pakistani s...

www.southasiainvestor.com

Kleiner Perkins, a top Silicon Valley venture capital investment firm, is leading series A round of $17 million investment into Pakistani start-up Tajir. The startup operates an online marketplace for small store merchants in Pakistan. The announcement came via a tweet by Mamoon Hamid, a Pakistani-American Managing Partner at Kleiner Perkins who led the investment. Last year, Tajir raised a $1.8 million seed round. The company's revenue has increased by 10x since its seed round.


Here's what Hamid tweeted: "Made my first investment in Pakistan, my country of birth, and a place I called home from the ages of 10 to 13. Feels special. This also marks @kleinerperkins first investment in Pakistan. We are thrilled to announce our investment in @tajir_app_pk"



Tajir has been cofounded by two brothers, Babar and Ismail Khan. The company lets stores place orders for inventory through its app and allows customers to compare the prices of goods, purchase inventory and have access to 24/7 ordering with a next day delivery.

Mamoon Hamid, partner at Kleiner Perkins (who is himself originally from Pakistan), who led the round told Forbes magazine that given Pakistan’s prevalent bodega (small retail outlet called kirana store in South Asia) model, what Tajir was doing was very compelling. “Their software and mission to improve that supply chain and availability of products and pricing and digitizing that process made a ton of sense,” Hamid says. “I thought that would be the first foray for a company to make an attempt at doing a lot more to be a consumer company, not just a wholesale company.”

Other investors joining Kleiner Perkins include YC Continuity, AAVCF, Fatima Gobi Ventures, Flexport, Golden Gate Ventures, Liberty City Ventures, VentureSouq, and angel investors including Under 30 honoree and CEO of Figma Dylan Field, and Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen.

Mamoon Hamid has a bachelor's degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Purdue University, an MS degree from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Here is how Mamoon has described Tajir on Kleiner Perkins website:

"Tajir is Pakistan’s largest tech-enabled retail network — a one stop shop for sellers to compare the prices of goods, purchase inventory, and enjoy the convenience of 24/7 ordering with next-day delivery. They’re already servicing thousands of neighborhood stores in Lahore and have been growing in large part from word of mouth from the goodwill they’ve built with the seller community".

Related Links:

Haq's Musings

South Asia Investor Review

COVID19 Pandemic in Pakistan

State Bank of Pakistan Plans Digital Currency By 2025

Pakistan Broadband Subscriptions Pass 100 Million

Brothers From Rural Pakistan Teaching AI to American High Schoolers

Pakistan's Computer Services Exports Jump 26% Amid Coronavirus Lockdown

Pakistan Gig Economy Among World's Fastest Growing

Digital BRI and 5G in Pakistan

Pakistan's Demographic Dividend

Pakistan EdTech and FinTech Startups

State Bank Targets Fully Digital Economy in Pakistan

Campaign of Fear Against CPEC

Fintech Revolution in Pakistan

E-Commerce in Pakistan

The Other 99% of the Pakistan Story

FMCG Boom in Pakistan

Belt Road Forum 2019

Fiber Network Growth in Pakistan

Riaz Haq's Youtube Channel

PakAlumni: Pakistani Social Network

Pakistani-American VC At Top Silicon Valley Firm Leads First Investment in Pakistan

Kleiner Perkins, a top Silicon Valley venture capital investment firm, is leading series A round of $17 million investment into Pakistani s...

www.southasiainvestor.com

 

[RiazHaq]

Why did Retailo raise a phenomenal seed round?
With $6.7mn in seed round and $9mn in total funding, the B2B marketplace is gunning to digitise mom-and-pop stores in Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia

Why did Retailo raise a phenomenal seed round?

LAHORE: B2B e-commerce marketplace Retailo Thursday announced raising $6.7 million in what the company claimed was the largest seed round for a Saudi Arabia-based startup. Largest or not, the rou

profit.pakistantoday.com.pk

B2B e-commerce marketplace Retailo Thursday announced raising $6.7 million in what the company claimed was the largest seed round for a Saudi Arabia-based startup.

Largest or not, the round is undoubtedly indicative of how rapidly the B2B e-commerce is heating up. At least four not-so-old B2B marketplaces are contending to digitise neighborhood convenience stores in Pakistan. Bazaar and Jugnu are trying their luck from their offices in Karachi, whereas Dastgyr and Tajir are sporting in Lahore.

Then we have Retailo, digitising mom-and-pop stores in Pakistan from their office in Karachi, and Saudi Arabia from their head office in Riyadh.

 

[colonel rajesh]

Pakistani-American VC At Top Silicon Valley Firm Leads First Investment in Pakistan

Kleiner Perkins, a top Silicon Valley venture capital investment firm, is leading series A round of $17 million investment into Pakistani s...

www.southasiainvestor.com

Kleiner Perkins, a top Silicon Valley venture capital investment firm, is leading series A round of $17 million investment into Pakistani start-up Tajir. The startup operates an online marketplace for small store merchants in Pakistan. The announcement came via a tweet by Mamoon Hamid, a Pakistani-American Managing Partner at Kleiner Perkins who led the investment. Last year, Tajir raised a $1.8 million seed round. The company's revenue has increased by 10x since its seed round.


Here's what Hamid tweeted: "Made my first investment in Pakistan, my country of birth, and a place I called home from the ages of 10 to 13. Feels special. This also marks @kleinerperkins first investment in Pakistan. We are thrilled to announce our investment in @tajir_app_pk"



Tajir has been cofounded by two brothers, Babar and Ismail Khan. The company lets stores place orders for inventory through its app and allows customers to compare the prices of goods, purchase inventory and have access to 24/7 ordering with a next day delivery.

Mamoon Hamid, partner at Kleiner Perkins (who is himself originally from Pakistan), who led the round told Forbes magazine that given Pakistan’s prevalent bodega (small retail outlet called kirana store in South Asia) model, what Tajir was doing was very compelling. “Their software and mission to improve that supply chain and availability of products and pricing and digitizing that process made a ton of sense,” Hamid says. “I thought that would be the first foray for a company to make an attempt at doing a lot more to be a consumer company, not just a wholesale company.”

Other investors joining Kleiner Perkins include YC Continuity, AAVCF, Fatima Gobi Ventures, Flexport, Golden Gate Ventures, Liberty City Ventures, VentureSouq, and angel investors including Under 30 honoree and CEO of Figma Dylan Field, and Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen.

Mamoon Hamid has a bachelor's degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Purdue University, an MS degree from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Here is how Mamoon has described Tajir on Kleiner Perkins website:

"Tajir is Pakistan’s largest tech-enabled retail network — a one stop shop for sellers to compare the prices of goods, purchase inventory, and enjoy the convenience of 24/7 ordering with next-day delivery. They’re already servicing thousands of neighborhood stores in Lahore and have been growing in large part from word of mouth from the goodwill they’ve built with the seller community".

Related Links:

Haq's Musings

South Asia Investor Review

COVID19 Pandemic in Pakistan

State Bank of Pakistan Plans Digital Currency By 2025

Pakistan Broadband Subscriptions Pass 100 Million

Brothers From Rural Pakistan Teaching AI to American High Schoolers

Pakistan's Computer Services Exports Jump 26% Amid Coronavirus Lockdown

Pakistan Gig Economy Among World's Fastest Growing

Digital BRI and 5G in Pakistan

Pakistan's Demographic Dividend

Pakistan EdTech and FinTech Startups

State Bank Targets Fully Digital Economy in Pakistan

Campaign of Fear Against CPEC

Fintech Revolution in Pakistan

E-Commerce in Pakistan

The Other 99% of the Pakistan Story

FMCG Boom in Pakistan

Belt Road Forum 2019

Fiber Network Growth in Pakistan

Riaz Haq's Youtube Channel

PakAlumni: Pakistani Social Network

Pakistani-American VC At Top Silicon Valley Firm Leads First Investment in Pakistan

Kleiner Perkins, a top Silicon Valley venture capital investment firm, is leading series A round of $17 million investment into Pakistani s...

www.southasiainvestor.com

very good effort by pakistanis , more such positive work should be done .

 

[Protest_again]

Had it been an Indian-american doing favors to India, entire PDF would be cursing him. Lol.

Good luck Pakistan.

 

[RiazHaq]

#Pakistani online #pharmacy Dawaai nets $8.5M in latest funding round to scale #supplychain. Round led by #US-based "500 Startups" with local #VC firms Sarmayacar, Kingsway Capital, Crimson Seed Capital & Mentors Fund participating.

https://shar.es/aWmoyi

via @MobiHealthNews

Pakistani online pharmacy Dawaai has announced that it raised $8.5 million in a recent investing round led by US-based 500 Startups and participated by local venture capital firm Sarmayacar. Kingsway Capital, Crimson Seed Capital and Mentors Fund also participated in the round.

WHY IT MATTERS

Launched in 2014, Dawaai is touted to be Pakistan's largest pharmaceutical marketplace that offers authentic and affordable medicines. On the enterprise end, it runs an online one-stop shop for the inventory needs of small pharmacies. With over 250 staff, the company is serving 11 million people across the country with deliveries made in 98 cities.

The healthcare merchant also provides other web and mobile app-based services, including teleconsultations, nursing, physiotherapy and at-home lab testing.

The latest funding round brings a total investment of $10.5 million for the company to date. In a press statement, Dawaai said it will deploy the proceeds to build a pharmaceutical supply chain infrastructure in Pakistan, as well as invest in technology for business optimisation.

THE LARGER TREND

Digital pharmacies drew investments from various sources in 2020 as lockdowns forced customers to purchase medications online.

In July last year, NowRx bagged $20 million in Series B funding for its expansion. In the same month, Medly also closed a financing round where it raised $100 million.

Online pharmacy platform GoodRx debuted in the Nasdaq in September where it drew $1.1 billion from cornerstone investors.

ON THE RECORD

"We are laser-focused on our mission to make healthcare accessible and affordable for the people of Pakistan and wider South Asia. The first step in achieving that is building the missing pharmaceutical supply chain infrastructure in the markets we operate and honing the next generation of talent to take our economies forward. This financing is enabling us to carry forward on our journey to make the lives of people better across the length and breadth of Pakistan, with a low-cost healthcare model for all Pakistanis," Dawaai Founder Furquan Kidwai said.