TelloTalk, Pakistan's homegrown messaging platform has raised US $1.6 million funding from a consortium of international and domestic investors.
The seed round includes global venture funds ALM Holdings (UAE), SparkLabs FinTech (Asia), One Market Capital (USA) and Cocoon Ignite Ventures (Hong Kong), as well as local institutional investors TPL eVentures and i2i Ventures. For most of these investors, this will be their first investment in Pakistan. The funds raised are being planned to be deployed for marketing and advertising, infrastructure expansion and product development.
Launched in 2017, TelloTalk empowers users to do more than just messaging and integrates new dimensions of digital interactions by allowing you to customize your own world according to four main service verticals. It is a messaging app platform created for peer-to-peer and business-to-customers interactions. It also empowers businesses to compliment or transcend above their traditional mobile engagements with customers with fully customizable, teleco-independent multimedia messaging.
Shahbaz Jamote, Co-Founder and CEO of TelloTalk, said, "We are delighted to have experienced foreign and local venture capital investors believe in us and support our mission. Pakistanis have a choice in messaging apps; TelloTalk is the single best local messaging app, customized for Pakistanis, fully committed to Pakistan, with our entire technology and management infrastructure present in Pakistan."
TelloTalk's Chairman Arshad Ashraf said that there are more social media accounts in Pakistan than there are bank accounts. "With 150 million Pakistanis below the age of 30, it makes sense to digital connect the unconnected in Pakistan with a technology they are comfortable using. We strongly believe that it is a matter of national importance to have a social networking platform that we can truly call our own," he added.
Sameer Chishty, who led the seed round as partner at SparkLabs FinTech, observed that in their experience, localized messaging platforms can be highly successful in nations that have large populations, with strong cultures, and well defined digital borders.
"TelloTalk is a uniquely appealing venture investment opportunity for us, a strong experienced team, addressing a large market of young people and local companies looking for localized messaging, with a business model that we have seen elsewhere. SparkLabs globally has made almost 300 investments in tech startups; this will be our fourth in Pakistan," he added.
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