Pakistan's fintech PostEx acquires Call Courier

PostEx, a Pakistani fintech, announced on Tuesday it has acquired logistics company Call Courier, a deal that makes it the largest e-commerce service provider in the country, it said.

The company did not disclose the amount spent on the acquisition.

Following the transaction, PostEx will service 1.3 million users with over 8,000 merchants across 500 cities in Pakistan, putting it on track to becoming the largest fintech in Pakistan with a monthly loan book crossing $12 million, the statement added.

Call Courier will now be a wholly-owned subsidiary under the group’s name. Jawad Mirza, founder and CEO of Call Courier, will serve among the Board of Directors at PostEx while leading its logistics business.

Last year in November, PostEx announced it raised an additional $7.1 million, bringing the total capital secured by the company at seed to $8.6 million through multiple tranches.

Founded in 2020, PostEx helps ecommerce businesses in their cash-flow problems. The Lahore-based startup provides cash to merchants before their deliveries are completed, a value-addition that rides on Pakistan's propensity to use the cash-on-delivery service.

PostEx said it becomes "the first company in the region to provide receivables factoring and logistics service that pays invoice values upfront to e-commerce companies".

As per the company, over 90% of e-commerce transactions are completed in cash, which translates into transactions worth almost $6.5 billion.

“A majority of consumers who shop online in Pakistan pay using the CoD payment method and the payment cycles for such orders range between a week to a month which creates cash flow issues for online sellers,” the company said.

Omer Khan, the founder and CEO of PostEx, said despite its problems, CoD payment is a reality for businesses in Pakistan.

“Banks just don't lend enough to businesses leaving so many of them struggling to maintain their working capital in light of inadequate cash flows. CoD, while being a problem for such businesses, is very much a reality of the Pakistani ecosystem, and is not going away any time soon,” he was quoted as saying.

Khan said PostEx aims to facilitate all players in the e-commerce sector struggling to operate and expand in light of the restrictions around access to capital and inefficiencies of logistics.