Pakistan’s emerging B2B e-commerce platform ‘Dastgyr’ has secured $ 3.5 million in the seed funding round led by SOSV. Other entities in the funding round include Asian Development Bank’s ADB Ventures, Seedstars, Edgebrook Partners, Zayani Venture Capital in Bahrain, Tricap Investments in Dubai, and other Angel Investors.
After the funding round, total funds raised stood at $4million, one of the highest for any Pakistani Startup.
Dastgyr was founded by former Careem and Airlift employees in 2020, with the aim to enabling small retail stores to buy stock directly from Dastgyr at an ease of Mobile Click at wholesale rates.
Dastgyr currently lists over 2,000 products on its platform from a variety of suppliers, offers next-day delivery in the main cities of Karachi and Lahore. It has served 30,000 retail stores since its official launch in September 2020.
The retail market has become very competitive over the past couple of years. At least a dozen Pakistani startups are trying to tackle inefficiencies in the supply chain, where five of them have raised at least $ 3 million this year alone.
Dastgyr follows the Asset-Light Business model and does not own any stores or warehouses. Its suppliers ship products to sorting centers after receiving orders from customers, where they are sorted and sent to retailers.
Dastgyr founders Muhammad Owais Qureshi and Zohaib Ali previously worked with Airlift. In a statement, Owais said: “We [founding partner] have done a great job of transporting people in the past. We have researched and even solved many problems in transit logistics, but the movement of goods is much larger. more than a small business. We launched Dastgyr to help small businesses in Lahore and Karachi. ”
The e-commerce platform is also preparing to launch various types of digital payment solutions for retailers. It has been planning to offer Buy Now and Pay Later option for retailers, which allows them to defer payment of purchased stock.
With the funding amount, Dastgyr has plans to enhance its technology and scale operations to other cities.
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