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Pakistani startup OneLoad raises $11 million from investors to fund growth phase

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2 years ago

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  • Pakistan has the third-largest unbanked population in the world.
  • OneLoad is a pioneer in Pakistan’s fintech industry.
  • OneLoad has raised $11 million from investors to fund a growth phase.

Pakistan’s micro-retailer fintech OneLoad has raised $11 million from investors to fund a growth phase as they focus on tapping the world’s third largest unbanked population, Bloomberg reported.

According to the publication, the latest round of investment was led by Sarmayacar and Shorooq Partners, in cooperation from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Strategic Investment Fund, which was making its first investment in Pakistan. 

OneLoad’s Android application, which is primarily used by small shopkeepers, is Pakistan’s largest non-banking digital transaction platform, serving several million customers each month. It collaborates with banks and telecommunications companies to provide services such as payments, cash deposits, and lending.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Muhammad Yar Hiraj, founder and CEO of OneLoad, stated that the company aspires to be the “largest banking platform in the country for the unbanked world, the financially excluded market. “Our goal is to become the largest micro branch for the unbanked without owning any branches,” he said.

OneLoad has 40,000 agents and completed about $100 million in transactions last year. 

According to Hiraj, the company’s goal is to increase daily transactions to one million from the current level of up to 400,000.

Pakistan, the world’s fifth-most populous country, made headlines last year when it received a record $350 million in startup funding. According to the World Bank, the country has a total unbanked population of 110 million adults, ranking third only to India and China.

While digital payments increased in Pakistan during the pandemic, only 1% of nearly $4 trillion in payments are made digitally. Last month, Dbank completed the country’s largest early-stage fundraising round, as well as the entry of venture capital firm Sequoia Capital into Pakistan. SadaPay, another fintech startup, is expected to be the world’s fastest-growing mobile wallet in the five years to 2025, according to research from London-based fintech company Boku Inc.

In contrast to most of its competitors, OneLoad intends to expand its shopkeepers and serve daily wage workers.

According to Hiraj, the startup’s existing backer Systems Ltd. participated in the funding round, as did commercial banks that provided debt funding. The International Financial Corporation of the World Bank is another existing investor.

“We cannot have financial inclusion without solid infrastructure that integrates in people’s daily lives, if the products we build don’t seamlessly integrate with people’s every day, we will not achieve that,” said Tamer Azer, Partner at Shorooq Partners.

“This is what we learned in Egypt and this is what we see as a tremendous opportunity in Pakistan as well,” he added.

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The inaugural flight of Azerbaijan Airlines is between Baku and Karachi.

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11 hours ago

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The national airline of Azerbaijan launched direct flights from Baku to Karachi today. There will be two weekly flights on this route, on Thursdays and Sundays.

The first flight will land in Karachi, and Azerbaijan’s ambassador, Khazar Farhadov, will be there to greet it.

This evening also marks the departure of the inaugural flight from Karachi to Baku, in addition to the arrival of the flight from Baku.

Azerbaijan Airlines said last month that it would be growing its network and flight operations in Pakistan.

Aviation insiders have verified that Azerbaijan Airlines is preparing to launch service to Karachi in the coming month of April.

In addition to its current services in Islamabad and Lahore, the airline plans to launch its Karachi route on April 18, with the inaugural flight anticipated to depart on that date.

Azerbaijan Airlines has been given permission to operate flights on the Karachi route, according to sources within the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

Following a bilateral agreement between the two nations, Azerbaijan Airlines has been given permission to extend its operations in Pakistan.

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Fly Jinnah opens a new route internationally.

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11 hours ago

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Two weekly flights will be the starting frequency of the new route, which will connect the two cities.

According to a representative for Fly Jinnah, the company is pleased to announce the opening of a third international route from Islamabad to Muscat, the capital city of Oman, marking another significant milestone after the successful debut of flights from Islamabad and Lahore to Sharjah.

According to him, this development is in line with our goal of giving our clients more options for reasonably priced, value-driven local and international air travel.

The airline serves five main cities in Pakistan: Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, and Quetta. Its fleet consists of five Airbus A320 aircraft, all of which are contemporary.

In addition to the current flight path to Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, this new route expands Fly Jinnah’s network of foreign destinations.

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Tajir Dost app: traders don’t seem interested in registering

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To tax retailers in Pakistan, the Tajir Dost app was released. The sources stated that the government hopes to tax 3.5 million merchants through the app.

Ajmal Baloch, the president of All-Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajran, stated that he made reservations with FBR on the SRO within a week.

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), according to him, cannot be a “Tajir Dost” because of its unethical actions.

Baloch believed that since electricity bills allow traders to pay a predetermined advance income tax, further taxes are unnecessary.

The trader, according to him, is already paying thirteen different kinds of taxes on the commercial meter. “A trader already pays between Rs. 15,000 and Rs. 20,000 in taxes annually, but you are requesting Rs. 1,200 per month in taxes.”

Mr. Ajmal summoned representatives of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to a meeting with the trade associations to talk about the indirect taxes that the merchants are paying.

Additionally, he claimed that FBR officers are charging the traders, the majority of whom are less educated, “monthly charges.”

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