Prosus leads $12m Series B for Pakistan's Bykea

Middle East Venture Partners and Sarmayacar, a European venture capital investor focused exclusively on Pakistan, also contributed. Sarmayacar led a $5.7 million Series A last year.

Bykea claims to have a driver fleet of more than 30,000 across three cities, Karachi, Rawalpindi and Lahore, which have a combined population of some 30 million that is underserved by existing transport and logistics infrastructure. The plan is to expand into smaller cities where international competitors have had difficulty establishing a presence with English-only services.

“Bykea is one of the few internet businesses offering an interface in the Urdu language and we drive our competitive advantage from being highly localized,” Muneeb Maayr, founder of Bykea, said in a statement. “This approach has helped us become the preferred partner for part-time motorbike gig workers. Our brand is now widely used as a verb for bike taxi and 30-minute deliveries, and the fresh capital allows us to expand our network to solidify our leading position.”

There are 17 million two-wheelers in Pakistan, or 4x the number of cars. These are considered the primary logistics option for distributors, couriers, e-commerce retailers, and restaurants that are moving goods and collecting receivables, often in cash transactions. Pakistan is one of the least banked countries globally; only 15-20% of the adult population have accounts.

“Pakistan is primed to experience extremely strong growth in internet services over the next decade, with a rapidly increasing middle class,” Fahd Beg, CIO at Prosus Ventures, said. “This growth provides immense opportunity for companies like Bykea that are transforming big societal needs like transportation, logistics and payments through a technology-enabled platform. Bykea has already seen impressive traction in the country and with our investment will be able to execute further on their vision to become Pakistan’s super app.”

Prosus Ventures is a division of Prosus, a Naspers-controlled internet technology investment business. Naspers took Prosus public on Euronext in Amsterdam last year. It expects the company to become the largest listed consumer internet business by asset value in Europe.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• South Asia
• Consumer
• Support services
• Early-stage
• Pakistan
• Prosus Ventures
• Logistics
• Transportation
• TMT