ISLAMABAD: Bus ride-hailing service Airlift has introduced a new online grocery shopping service in Pakistan introduced as 'Airlift Grocer', bringing in an impressive foreign investment of $10 million. This investment comes to Pakistan at a time when the economy is crippled due to the havoc caused by Covid-19 and creation of new jobs and supporting the local suppliers can serve as a lifeline for the local economy through such foreign investments.

Pakistan's retail e-commerce sector has registered a significant growth during the recent past but there is ample room for new entrants to further uplift the market. The initial investment round for Airlift Grocer was led by Quiet Capital, based in San Francisco, with TrueSight Ventures (London), RT Ventures (London), Shorooq Partners (Abu Dhabi), and ACE Capital (Taiwan) participating, among other local partners. Existing investors, First Round Capital (San Francisco), Fatima Gobi Ventures (Pakistan) and Indus Valley Capital (Pakistan) also continued their support for Airlift in this financing.

This new service from Airlift promises to provide an international experience of retail e-commerce to Pakistan's every growing base of online shoppers, while strictly following safety guidelines as issued by public health authorities to restrict the further spread of Covid-19. Airlift Grocer promises a satisfying shopping experience through its express delivery of all orders within 45 minutes. Shoppers will also be able to choose from a wide range of products which are sure to be delivered with accuracy of order and fixed transport charges irrespective of order value.

The service is currently introduced for online shoppers in Lahore and will soon be launched in Karachi. Shoppers can log on to the website airliftgrocer.com to start shopping or download the Airlift Grocer mobile app from Google Play store and Apple's App Store.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020