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The Top 5 Pakistani Start-ups of 2023

Nabeel Qadeer picks his Top 5 Pakistani start-ups of 2023.
Published 10 Jan, 2024 01:00pm

1. Zameen: Founded in 2006 by two brothers, Imran Ali Khan and Zeeshan Ali Khan, Zameen continues to be a market leader in online real estate trading. To date, the company has raised five rounds of funding amounting to $31.1 million with international VCs like Catcha Group, Frontier Digital Ventures, Gilles Blanchard and VNV Global as its investors.

2. Finja: Offering payment options and credit services to SMEs, grocery stores, salaried professionals and unbanked individuals, Finja was founded by Monis Rahman, Umer Munawar and Qasif Shahid in 2016. So far, the start-up has raised a total of $25.6 million in funding. Major investors include Beenext, HBL, ICU Ventures, Sturgeon Capital, Quona Capital and Vostok Emerging Finance.

3. Bykea: Founded by Muneeb Mayr in 2016, Bykea is a super app that provides ride-hailing and courier services. To date, the start-up has raised $18.7 million in funding; Ithaca Capital, MEVP, Prosus Ventures, Sarmayacar, Tharros and Venture Partners being the main investors.

4. Cheetay: Pakistan’s fastest-growing now-commerce platform, was founded by Ahmed Khan in 2015. Offering four verticals to choose from – delivery, e-commerce, food delivery and logistics, the start-up has raised a total of $11.6 million in five funding rounds.

5. SadaPay: A neobank, SadaPay enables individuals and businesses to transfer and receive funds from Pakistan and abroad. Founded in 2018, the start-up has raised funding equivalent to $9.3 million; Brian McGrath, Kingsway Capital, Pierpaolo Barbieri, Raptor Group and Recharge Capital are the key international investors.

Nabeel Qadeer is CEO, DirAction. nabeel.akmal@gmail.com