Q1CY22: Pakistan's startups carry on with fund-raising momentum
- Deal Flow Tracker by Invest2Innovate shows $165 million raised across 15 deals in just three months
Carrying on with its momentum from the previous year, Pakistan's startup sector remained in full swing during the first quarter of 2022, raising a substantial $163 million, according to a Deal Flow Tracker by Invest2Innovate (i2i).
Data shows the total is just a little under half of the entire amount raised in 2021, which was a record year for Pakistan's startups.
In the three months of 2022 (January-March), a total of $163 million has been raised across 15 deals. From 2015 to 2022 YTD, Pakistani startups have now raised a total of $728 million across 272 deals.
“Many of these amounts came from large seeds rounds and Series B funding, and are an indication of trends of how 2022 will quickly surpass Pakistan’s 2021 year-end number,” said the report.
During the quarter, coworking spaces including Daftarkhwan and COLABS raised capital. COLABS raised $3 million, while the amount for Daftarkhwan was undisclosed.
Mixed deals including both local and international investors still made up the bulk of capital raised ($122 million). International deals accounted for $36 million, while local deals amounted to $850,000.
Out of the 4 purely local deals, two were at the Pre-Seed stage, one was at the Seed stage, and one at Pre-Series A, data showed.
Bazaar raised $70 million, making it the largest deal for Q1 2022. Interestingly, Bazaar first raised capital in 2020, when Pakistani startups had cumulatively raised $65 million. This was followed by retailo, which raised $36 million in a Series A round, and Jugnu that attracted $22.5 million in Series A funding.
E-commerce deals accounted for 60% of all the capital raised this quarter ($202 million), but only 31% of all deals. Fintech deals accounted for 27% of all capital raised this quarter i.e. $17 million while accounting for 30% of the deal count. Meanwhile, trucking and logistics startups raised $13 million.
Pakistan’s startup sector witnessed the best year in 2021, as 81 deals worth $350 million were made. The amount raised was more than 5x of what was raised in 2020 i.e. $65 million.
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