Sarmaycar, Shorooq back Pakistan fintech player OneLoad
OneLoad, a Pakistan-based digital financial services platform established by local IT player Systems Limited and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), has raised USD 11m in funding.
The new capital came from Sarmaycar, which last year claimed to be on the verge of closing Pakistan’s first venture capital fund, and Shorooq Partners, an Abu Dhabi-based VC firm. IFC backed OneLoad in 2020 and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation joined the investor roster last year.
The company, which is operated by EP Systems, aims to provide access to digital financial services via a single platform in the simplest way possible. It targets micro-retailers, enabling instant digitisation of payments, communication with suppliers, and access to working capital.
On the consumer side, an app offers mobile packages and facilitates mobile payments and travel bookings. Users can recharge their accounts at banks, shops, or online.
Working with banks and other regulated financial partners, OneLoad is making daily disbursements of PKR 10m (USD 44,000), according to a statement. Muhammad Yar Hiraj, the company’s founder and CEO, plans to use the new capital to launch multiple products and deepen market penetration.
“Our vision is to fully digitise the financial needs of the unbanked and the financially excluded masses in Pakistan. We appreciate the support of our investors to build on our success and scale up our portfolio of financial products for the unbanked,” he said.
The investment underlines Pakistan’s nascent appeal to the venture capital community. New high watermarks for Series A and B rounds were set in 2021 as logistics and financial services start-up Bazaar and last-mile delivery player Airlift raised USD 30m and USD 85m respectively.
Earlier this year, B2B marketplace Dastgyr surpassed Bazaar with a USD 37m Series A and Bazaar secured USD 70m in Series B funding.
The Dastgyr round was led by Veon, an Amsterdam-listed telecom provider that owns Jazz, Pakistan’s largest mobile network. Bringing together telecom, commerce, and financial services is one of the objectives, with Dastgyr set to get access to Jazz’s 75m subscribers as well as its mobile payments platform.
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