Pakistan’s one-year-old B2B marketplace Bazaar has raised $30 million in Series A funding co-led by Silicon Valley-based DeFi Partners and Singapore-based Wavemaker Partners.
According to a press statement, the round takes the market’s total funding to $38m, “making it one of the best funded startups in the country”.
Other investors participating in the round included US-based Acre Capital, Japan’s Saison Capital, UAE’s Zain Capital and B&Y Venture Partners, and a Silicon Valley-based growth fund.
Bazaar was established in June 2020 with the aim of helping small and medium-sized enterprises in Pakistan purchase inventory, manage their bookkeeping and financial services by simplifying and growing them.
The startup was launched by Saad Jangda – formerly product manager for ride-hailing and food delivery company Careem – and Hamza Javed, who was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company in Dubai.
A press release issued by the company said, “Through its multi-product offerings, markets such products and services as commerce, accounting, payments, lending, invoicing and inventory management as part of a digital stack for small merchants.” Bringing a series of.” where did it go.
“The initial results and growth in the market have been phenomenal, making it the market leader in retail in a short period of time.”
The startup says its B2B ecommerce marketplace is now in Karachi and Lahore, while its digital ledger product Easy Account is live nationwide, claiming the company has “already served over 750,000 merchants since launch”. Has been.”
Bazaar’s mission is to create an operating system for traditional retail in Pakistan. Through its B2B ecommerce platform and digital ledger product Easy Khata, the market aims to help 50 lakh small and medium sized enterprises.
Paul Santos, Managing Partner, Wavemaker Partners, said, “We have been investing in FMCG B2B marketplaces across the region since 2017. We are excited to support the market as they strengthen their market leadership and retail ecosystem in Pakistan. Digitize it.”
The startup says it was “tapping into a $170 billion fragmented retail industry that was primarily offline”.
“This segment also lacks access to formal financial services, in a country with the third largest unbanked population in the world. At the same time, countries with rapidly growing digital penetration due to cheap smartphone and mobile broadband availability are at large. But it is going through a period of change.
After securing Series A funding, Bazaar says it now plans to expand to more cities across Pakistan, broadening its product portfolio and expanding its financial services offering.