Prime Minister Imran Khan has praised Airlift Technologies Pvt. Ltd., a Lahore-based online shopping delivery platform, for receiving $85 million in the country’s largest-ever solo private fundraising round.
“We welcome the recent investment of 85 million dollars by renowned global venture capitalists in Airlift, a company driven by young Pakistanis,” he stated, confirming his commitment to domestic growth by saying, “Pakistan has enormous potential, and we are open for business.” My government is completely dedicated to fostering opportunities.”
We welcome the recent investment of 85 Million USD by leading VCs of the world in Airlift, a company led by young Pakistanis. Pakistan has huge potential and we are open for business. My govt is fully committed to creating opportunities.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) August 20, 2021
Airlift has set a new standard for drawing international investors to Pakistan. This would encourage people to believe that amazing technology and consumer items can be developed in Pakistan, and that this part of the world has some of the best minds for developing useful and inventive technology. It’s worth noting that Airlift Express alone has contributed 5% to Pakistan’s FDI for fiscal year 2021, thanks to its $85 million series B funding.
Read more: Pakistani startups break records despite worldwide economic downturn in 2020
According to a data tracker from venture capitalist fund Invest2Innovate, this is the largest single private funding round in Pakistan’s history.
Airlift hopes to bring more offerings to its services in the near time, as well as create over a quarter-million additional jobs in Pakistan over the following five years, thanks to the additional investment.
Responding to the prime minister’s tweet, Airlift thanked him for bringing attention to the milestone, adding that it would pave the way for more investments in Pakistani startups. “Thank you Prime Minister @ImranKhanPTI for calling attention to #Airlift’s milestone that will pave the way for future investment in #Pakistani #startups. Onwards & upwards!”
Users can order groceries, fresh produce, other essential items including medicines as well as sports goods from the Airlift website or app and have the items delivered to them in 30 minutes.
Also, Airlift operates a quick commerce service in eight cities including Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad in Pakistan
According to Airlift Technologies Co-founder and CEO Usman Gul, “A year ago, Airlift halted operations on the transit service and diversified into last-mile grocery delivery. Today, our team closed $85m in Series B financing to scale our delivery platform across continents,”
He added, “With this financing, we as Pakistanis must return to where we started from fighting against the odds and staying true to our core values of hustle, teamwork, resourcefulness, and bias to action. If this is the journey of a thousand miles, we have taken only the first step.”
