Linkst.ar, an AI-powered web space that allows freelancers and influencers to sell Direct-to-consumer (D2C) services, announced that it has raised pre-seed funding at a valuation of $5 million.

The funding was led by SOSV, a US multi-stage venture capital firm with over $1.3 billion in assets under management, which has been investing in Pakistan for several years and is an early backer of startups such as Dastgyr, Blink, 24Seven and Priceoye.

The funding round also saw participation from Sarmayacar and K3 Diversity Ventures, added the statement, which did not disclose the amount of funds raised.

Co-founded by Aizaz Nayyer, Adeel Abid and Ali Raza Rizvi under the parent company Savvy Technologies, the startup was launched in January 2022, and has crossed more than 15,000 users, it added.

“We aim to enable freelancers and influencers to sell their services directly to customers without any communication restrictions or commissions,” CEO and co-founder Aizaz Nayyer was quoted as saying.

“Think of it as a Shopify for freelancers and influencers with the added bonus of Discovery, which we are launching next month to enable businesses to match with the most relevant freelancers and influencers with just a few clicks,” he added.

Meanwhile, Adeel Abid, another co-founder, added, “We are changing the game of how people work online. By cutting out middle-men, commissions and restrictions, we are giving power back to creators and service-providers.”

The announcement comes as Pakistan witnessed a drop in fundraising during the second quarter of the ongoing calendar year (April-June 2022), raising a total of $103 million across 15 deals, as per Invest2Innovate's (i2i) deal flow update. The amount was 40% lower on a quarterly basis.