Whether you’re a budding entrepreneur, seasoned investor or just have an idea you want to talk about, we’d love to hear from you. Leave us a message so we can try and help you along your way!
Whether you’re a budding entrepreneur, seasoned investor or just have an idea you want to talk about, we’d love to hear from you. Leave us a message so we can try and help you along your way!
15, DIFC Innovative Hive,
Gate Avenue, Zone D, Level 1,
P.O. Box 507211
Dubai, U.A.E.
(Regulated by the DFSA),
+971.4 401.9284,
Lakson Square,
Building # 2,
Sarwar Shaheed Road,
Karachi – 74200, Pakistan
+92.21 111.525.766
Ali Ather
Mr. Ali Ather is a Research Analyst in Venture Capital at Lakson Investments. He has over 8 years of experience working in the investment industry. He joined Lakson Investments in 2015 as a part of the Business Development team. After passing CFA Level II in 2017, he moved to the Research Department following his interest. Prior to joining Lakson Investments, he worked at Magnus Investments. His area of expertise lies in equity research, specifically in the cement and consumer sectors.
Mr. Ather has completed BBA and MBA in Finance from the Karachi University Business School and is a CFA charter holder.
Mr. Ather is a naturist. His passions include traveling, photography, and cricket.
Mr. Babar Lakhani is a Principal of the Lakson Group, one of Pakistan’s largest conglomerates, which manages and owns companies in agri-business, call centres, fast food, FMCG, financial services (investments and insurance), media (broadcast and publishing), paper and board, printing and packaging, surgical instruments, technology (data-networking, ISP, BPO & software), and travel sectors.
Mr. Lakhani is the CEO of Lakson Investments Limited (“LI”), Pakistan’s largest independent asset management company which is regulated and licensed by the SECP. LI manages Private Equity and Venture Capital Funds; Fixed Income and Equities (Conventional, Shariah, SRI/ESG, Tactical) with offices in Karachi and Dubai.
He is also a Director of the Express Media Group, the second largest media company in Pakistan and the Chairman of ICE Animations. He is a member of the Young Presidents Organization Emirates & Pakistan where he was a Chapter Chair from 2014-2015. Mr. Lakhani is a volunteer at Special Olympics Pakistan where he founded an annual marathon in 2016 and a member of the Alumni Trustee Committee of Brandeis University from where he received his MBA. He completed his B.A. in Finance at Bentley College.
He is a distance runner and a triathlete.
Mr. Agha Waliullah is an In-House Counsel in Venture Capital at Lakson Investments and is also a Director at Colgate-Palmolive, both of which are a part of the Lakson Group, one of Pakistan’s largest conglomerates. Prior to joinging Colgate-Palmolive, he served as a Legal Counsel at Philip Morris Pakistan Limited, Barclays Bank and Standard Chartered Bank. He has also worked as a Senior Associate at Mandviwalla & Zafar.
Mr. Waliullah is an Advocate of the High Courts of Pakistan and a certified Director from PICG. He is a Graduate member of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, England and Wales and is qualified to practice law in England & Wales as a Solicitor. He also serves as a CEO at Education Fund for Sindh – EFS.
Mr. Waliullah holds a degree in Law from Holborn College, University of London LLB and has completed Legal Practice Course from Inns of Court School of Law, City University (GB).
Mr. Kashif Mustafa joined the Company in 2011. He is part of the core team at Lakson Investments and serving as the Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer. He serves as a member of the Investment Committee for public and private equity. He also overseas the countrywide Business Operations. During his tenure, the firm has emerged as a key preferred choice in the discretionary investment advisory management for the UHNIs and family offices mainly. Mr. Mustafa has also played a crucial role with the Regulator in establishing first ever Private Funds’ Regulations in Pakistan and as part of the Lakson Private Equity team has successfully launched the first Lakson Private Equity Fund.
Mr. Mustafa has over twelve years of successful experience of working in leading financial institutions in different key roles. His core specialized areas include Mutual Funds, Investment Advisory, Private Equity, Family Governance Structuring, Economic Research, Financial Analysis and lead Negotiation/Business Development.
Prior to joining Lakson Investments, Mr. Mustafa worked for Askari Investments and Crosby Securities Pakistan Limited as Vice President and Head of Sales & Business Development respectively. He frequently appears on media for discussion on the financial, economy, regulatory and political issues.
Mr. Mustafa holds a Master’s degree in Wealth Management from Singapore Management University which is a partnership program with Yale School of Management, USA and St. Gallen University, Switzerland. His second Master’s is in Economics, and graduation in Mathematics. He is Certified- Institute of Banking & Finance (Advanced), Singapore. His multiple certifications include, Alternative Investments from Yale SOM and Preserving Wealth for Generations from St. Gallen, SL. He is an alumnus from Wealth Management Institute-NTU, Singapore.
Ms. Ayesha Saleem is a Research Analyst in Venture Capital at Lakson Investments. Prior to joining Lakson Investments, she was associated with NexDegree as a Data Analyst. She has completed her Masters from the London School of Economics with a distinction in Economics and Political Economy in 2019, and completed her undergraduate from the London School of Economics in 2018. She is also a board member for the Alumni Committee of the London School of Economics in Pakistan. Her areas of expertise include strategy, research, market analysis and economics.
Ms. Saleem’s passions include travelling, volunteering, film, drama and connecting with like minded individuals.
Mr. Amin Lakhani is the Chief Executive Office of SIZA Foods (Private) Ltd., the franchise holders of McDonald’s restaurants in Pakistan, a world known Multinational Corporation serving fast foods. Under his dynamic leadership, SIZA has succeeded in a short period of 14 years in making McDonald’s almost a household name in Pakistan, expanding the network of its restaurants to 70+ in key cities of the country. He has also won “Golden Arches Award” 2011 from McDonald’s Corporation.
An MBA in Finance and International Business from The Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania (USA) and holder of Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University (USA), Mr. Lakhani is a part of the Executive Leadership Team of Lakson Group of Companies.
His rich experience in finance, marketing, management and production spanning over 29 years has enabled him to serve as CEO of 16 unlisted public and private limited companies, Director on the Corporate Boards of 5 Lakson Group Companies listed on Stock Exchanges in Pakistan and Director in 9 other private companies of the Lakson Group.
Mr. Lakhani is the Honorary Consul General of Singapore in Pakistan since July 1992. Previously he served as Singapore’s Honorary Consul since April 1989. Acknowledging his services, the Republic of Singapore awarded him Public Service Star.
Mr. Lakhani actively participates in social activities. He is a Founder Member of Pakistan Chapter of Young Presidents’ Organization, and served as the local Chapter’s chairman for the 2006-07 term. He is a Member of Stanford Alumni Association as well of The Wharton Alumni Association. He is an ardent sport enthusiast and his favourite sporting activities include riding, playing polo, tennis and golf. He has widely travelled around the globe and takes interest in international/current affairs.
Mr. Lakhani strongly believes in Lakson Group’s philosophy of paying back to the society. He is a Trustee of Hasanali and Gulbano Lakhani Foundation, a Lakson Group welfare trust. The Foundation provides educational and medical facilities to the deserving and needy persons and helps people in other areas.
Ms. Hina Siddiqui has over 13 years of HR experience. Prior to joining Lakson Investments, she was associated with Faysal Bank Limited as HR Business Partner and KASB Bank. She has completed her MBA in Human Resources from the Institute of Business Management.
Ms. Siddiqui is currently responsible for the Human Resource function at Lakson Investments.
Shakaib Naqvi
Syed Shakaib Ali Naqvi is a Research Analyst in Venture Capital at Lakson Investments. Prior to joining Lakson Investments, he had more than 4 years of experience in auditing and corporate advisory in PWC, one of the biggest financial audit firms in the world, and has recently worked in the Corporate Banking department of Meezan Bank as well.
Mr. Naqvi is an ACCA member and is also CFA qualified having passed all levels of Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Program in 2015. Furthermore, he is also a Chartered Accountant and an Associate member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan, having passed the qualification in 2020 and completing his CA articles from PWC.
During his professional experience, he has been a part of multiple audits and corporate advisory assignments for regional as well as multinational companies pertaining to different industries. Mr. Naqvi has deep understanding of financial and operational structures of different businesses and their respective policies and procedures. His area of expertise comprises of financial modeling and analysis, financial reporting, market and environmental analysis, due diligence and auditing.
His passions include travelling, trekking, hiking, swimming and cricket.
Ms. Ali has had over 12 years of experience and is currently serving as Manager Marketing at Lakson Investments. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing and Business Administration from Coe College (Iowa, USA). Her areas of expertise include Corporate marketing and communication. Other than her vast experience at Lakson Investments, she has also worked at Interflow Communications and Citibank.
Ms. Ali is passionate about travelling.
With close to two decades of experience as an investor, entrepreneur and executive in industries such as media technology, venture capital, management consulting and financial services, Faisal Aftab is a veteran in his field. He has been employed by, or acted as an advisor to several public and private sector corporations as well as the Government of Pakistan. From 2018 till April 2021, he held the role of Managing Partner of Lakson Investments Venture Capital (LIVC) which is backed by a top corporate conglomerate in Pakistan and is focused on local opportunities that use technology to create new business models or disrupt those already in existence.
Prior to leading LIVC, Faisal held the role of Executive Vice President at Intel Capital backed CloudStream Media Inc., a Silicon Valley-based technology company that provides streaming services catering to developed markets. Before his position at CloudStream, Faisal served as an Executive Director for MTV Networks International at their Pakistan franchise. He was also a Vice President of the New York-based financial services and wealth management firm, National Financial Partners and a Management Consultant at Deloitte, where he advised a portfolio of asset management, broker dealer and investment banking clients.
His notable technology sector investments include: Mediamorph (Media Tech), Medicast (Healthcare Tech), Rigalii (FinTech), SendHUB (Communications Platform), Apptimize (Enabling Technologies), MediaSpike (Gaming & Ad Tech), Isloo Fresh (Agribusiness), Ethereum (Distributed Computing Platform), OmiseGO (Blockchain FinTech), Ripple (Distributed Transaction Protocol), Cardano (Internet of Blockchain Platform), ADEX (Blockchain Ad Exchange).
Faisal is a limited partner of the Silicon Valley-based Venture Capital Fund 500 Startups.
He holds an MBA from Oxford University Said Business School. Additionally, he holds joint bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Accounting, Economics and Management Information Systems from Michigan State University USA.
Omar has seven years’ experience in start-up consultancy as well as external and internal financial audits. Omar has worked with more than 20 start-ups and entrepreneurs as a Virtual CFO, helping them raise in excess of $2 million in funding.
Before joining LIVC, Omar was an auditor at PwC, one of the biggest financial audit and professional services firms in the world. During this time, he worked with clients in different industries including power, oil & gas, telecom and financial institutions. Omar was engaged for external & internal audits, special procedures and consulting assignments. As a result, Omar developed a deep understanding of the policies and processes involved in almost all areas of a business including financial reporting, accounting, procurement, fixed asset management and human resource.
He is a Chartered Accountant and member of ACCA and CPA. Additionally, he holds a BSc (Hons) Degree in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brookes University, London.
Nate is part of a family of entrepreneurs. Growing up in this environment instilled in him an appreciation for the process of creating and building great companies. He leans on experience as an investor, entrepreneur, and strategic advisor to work alongside extraordinary entrepreneurs. Nate has a keen interest in disruptive change to help emerging companies create breakthrough products and build value.
Before Rustic Canyon, Nate worked with Professor Clayton Christensen at the Harvard Business School and co-founded an Internet infrastructure company. Previously, Nate worked with the Boston Consulting Group, The Boeing Company and General Electric.
Nate enjoys mountains and oceans and all activities that involve being active with family in these venues.
Nate earned his MBA from Harvard Business School and an MSE and BSE from The University of Michigan College of Engineering, where he was an Entrepreneurial Fellow in the Engineering Global Leadership Honors Program.
Pinaki is a senior strategy and investment executive with two decades of experience in helping companies scale through tactical thinking, financial engineering, innovation and cross-border investment linkages. He has a proven record of strategy & investment leadership in the US and Middle East across technology and financial services. He has successfully helped to build companies as a venture investor, entrepreneur and mentor in highly specialized sectors including AI, Blockchain & Crypto-currencies, Fintech and big data in Silicon Valley by co-founding Auxanó Capital Partners a $100 million VC fund.
Pinaki currently oversees strategy for Dubai’s foray in financial technology domain and leading its development as a top 10 financial centre through strategic planning and proprietary investments.
Pinaki has a double masters by qualification with a Masters in Management from Stanford Graduate School of Business, an MBA and undergrad in Mathematics. He is also a qualified innovation and design thinking expert. Apart from his current role he also serve as a board adviser to start-ups in the US.
Roxanne Davies is the Managing Partner of Parly Singapore Pte LTD. The representative office for a SFO global Investment firm. Parly manages direct investments and operational efforts via a collaboration with four family offices.
Roxanne is a senior family office executive for nearly 30 years, she has managed operational businesses and multi – asset investment portfolios around the world, including the US, Russia, Brazil, Thailand, Singapore and Switzerland. She held positions such as Head of Private Equity and Head of High Net Worth Clients in banks such as HSBC and Union Bancaire Privee respectively, with deep expertise and focus in alternative asset management. She has held several Board memberships on both listed and private companies.
Roxanne has also been on the fund – raising boards of the Singapore Red Cross, SPCA, Human Rights Watch and several private charitable foundations. She has been a speaker and panellist at several industry conferences such as Skybridge’s SALT and Campden Wealth amongst others.
She is Swiss, born in Manhattan, NYC and holds a Masters in Finance as well as a Master’s in Business Administration (HEC – University of Geneva).
Anirudh Patni is the Managing Partner of Patni Holdings, LLC – an investment partnership active across multiple asset classes and geographies. In addition to portfolio investing, Patni Holdings helps build leading financial and technology businesses through patient, flexible, capital and hand-on strategic and operational assistance.
Prior to his current role, Anirudh was Senior Vice President for Strategy and Corporate Development at Patni Computer Systems. He led several acquisitions and transactions, including the $1.5 Billion sale of the company. Before that he was an Engagement Manager with McKinsey & Company (New York, London and New Delhi offices).
Anirudh started his career working at Patni Computer Systems with his father Naren Patni, Founder and Chairman, and played a key role in two private equity transactions and listing the company on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. In addition to his other responsibilities, Anirudh was one of four executives who scaled Patni’s Product Engineering Services Business from a paper business plan to $120 MM in sales and 2,500 people.
Anirudh has an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and S.B. Degrees in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, and Management Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Year of Investment: 2019
Headquarters: Lahore, Pakistan
Website Link: https://www.bookme.pk/
Bookme Tickets (Private) Limited (Bookme) is a leading Pakistani e-ticketing platform for transport and entertainment.
Bookme partners with commuter bus operators, cinema houses and event organizers to digitize their seat maps, ticketing, and cash collections through its popular mobile apps (iOS, Android) and web-based platform. From a consumer perspective, Bookme creates convenience and efficiency for end-users with the ability to instantly purchase tickets from their mobile phones, bringing organization to an otherwise chaotic travel and entertainment market.
Bookme is among the largest e-commerce platforms in the country, in terms of digital transaction flow, as it is completely cashless and has integrated with major payment platforms in Pakistan to include: JazzCash, EasyPaisa, HBL, Alfalah, Allied Bank and FonePay. The company is also in deep integration with other payment platforms to ensure a seamless checkout experience for end-users.
The commuter bus segment is expected to grow as road infrastructure and connectivity improves throughout Pakistan due to China’s infrastructure investments as part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). In addition, major urban cities in Pakistan have a large number of rural migrants, increasing demand for bus travel for their work-related commutes.
Cost efficiency and shorter travel distances in densely populated provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are also creating greater demand for commuter buses over air travel. The 82 million strong middle class, composed mostly of Millennials and Generation Z, will also increase demand for commuter bus travel, cinemas, and events as domestic tourism and entertainment expand over the coming decade.
Mr. Iqbal Ali Lakhani is the Chairman of the Lakson Group of Companies, five of which are listed on the Stock Exchanges of Pakistan covering a diversified range of businesses such as paper & board, soap, detergents and toothpaste, printing & packaging, food and insurance. Three Funds of a Group Investment Company are also listed and traded. American franchises/affiliation includes Colgate-Palmolive Company & McDonalds Corporation. The spectrum of unlisted Companies includes textiles, surgical instruments, media (T.V. & Print), software development & consultancy, travel & tourism, investment & mutual funds, ISP-broad band & data centre, business process outsourcing house into call centre & I.T. The businesses of the Lakson Group provide gainful employment to over 12,000 persons.
Mr. Lakhani has over 39 years experience of Senior Management in consumer marketing, finance, manufacturing, industry and government relations. Areas of special interest cover marketing, total quality management and leadership. He is a Charter Member of The Indus Entrepreneurs and Director of Pakistan Business Council. In addition, he is also on the Board of Trustees of the Layton Rahmatullah Benevolent Trust. Previously he has served as the Chairman Cigarette Manufacturers Association of Pakistan, Chairman Aga Khan Economic Planning Board for Pakistan and Vice President American Business Council of Pakistan.
Mr. Lakhani received his B.A. from the University of California – Berkeley. He was a member of the PSI-National Accounting fraternity; Honor Student’s Society, member of Phi Beta Kappa and received the departmental award for outstanding undergraduate achievement.
Mr. Lakhani has travelled widely and has attended international seminars, meetings and conferences in several countries of the world.
Gaite Ali was a Chief Financial Officer, Managing Director, and Portfolio Manager at Morgan Stanley Investment Management Inc. She is part of the emerging markets equity team focusing on Latin America. She joined the firm in 2007. Prior to this, she was a Portfolio Manager at AllianceBernstein. Ms. Ali has extensive investment experience. She received an M.B.A. in Finance and an M.A. in International Affairs from Columbia University and a B.A. in History from Vassar College.
Mr. Mughal has over 22 years of experience in marketing, public relations and real estate development. He is currently serving as the Chief Marketing, Development & Supply Chain Officer at McDonald’s Pakistan.
Mr. Mughal received his Business Planning Process certification from Hamburger Marketing University, Oak Brook, Chicago and his Bachelor of Engineering from Mehran University of Engineering & Technology.
He frequently provides professional representation and brand ambassadorship at numerous forums, events and panels. Mr. Mughal has also been a guest speaker on various occasions to academia such as I.B.A, A.M.I & SZABIST Karachi.
Mr. Mughal has travelled across most of Europe, U.S.A, Middle East, Asia, Australia and the Far East on professional career assignments & professional development initiatives.
(Independent)
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend is Director, Retirement Security at the Economic Policy Institute. She Founded the Center for Retirement Security at Georgetown University where she is a Research Professor.
She has served with distinction in both the private and public arenas. She was Maryland’s first woman Lt Governor, and served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the United States.
Prior to serving at the Department of Justice, Ms. Townsend led the fight to make Maryland the first—and only—state to make service a high school graduation requirement.
She has been a Managing Director of Rock Creek the largest women owned asset management firm, with state pension funds, foundation, unions and corporate pension funds for clients.
She has been appointed Special Advisor at the Department of State. She is a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, has taught foreign policy at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Maryland and has been a visiting Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. In the mid-1980s, she founded the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award.
She Chaired the Institute of Human Virology founded by Dr. Robert Gallo, which treats over 700,000 patients in Africa as part of the PEPFAR program, has chaired the Robert Kennedy Memorial, has chaired the Center for Popular Democracy, and has been on the Board of Directors of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. She Co-chairs Arizona State University’s School of Civic & Economic Thought Leadership. She also co-founded Civic Works, a non-profit that strengthens Baltimore’s communities through education, skills development, and community service for over 20 years.
She has served on a number of boards including the Export-Import Bank, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), the Wilderness Society, the Points of Light Foundation, the National Catholic Reporter and the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, the Baltimore Urban League, the Center for American Progress, Lightbridge Corporation, and New Tower Trust, and . Ms. Townsend is also a member of the Council of Foreign Relations and the Inter-American Dialogue. She is the Vice-Chair of the Future of Science conference held in Venice Italy.
An honors graduate of Harvard University, Ms. Townsend received her law degree from the University of New Mexico where she was a member of the law review. She has received fourteen honorary degrees. Ms. Townsend’s book, Failing America’s Faithful: How Today’s Churches Mixed God with Politics and Lost Their Way has been published by Warner Books in March 2007.
Jacques Visser is presently the Chief Legal Officer of a UAE Government related agency and has more than 20-year experience as a financial services lawyer in a variety of jurisdictions.
He specialized in multi-jurisdictional investment structures, funds, asset management and regulatory matters with particular focus on alternative and emerging markets investment strategies and related M&A transactions. He was the lead adviser on a number of landmark funds and investment structures and deal emanating from Middle East, Asia and Africa over the past number of year.
Prior to taking up his current position, Mr Visser was a National Partner at Dechert LLP in Dubai where he co-headed the firm’s Financial Services Group practice. In that capacity he was listed by The Legal 500 as one of the top three most notable legal practitioners in the Investment fund industry in the UAE and recognized by MENA Fund Manager as one of the top 50 most influential individuals in the investment funds industry in the MENA region. Dechert LLP is globally known for its investment funds and regulatory legal practice in 27 offices around the world and is ranked in the top-tier in both the US and Europe in this regard.
Mr. Visser was also one of the Funding Partners and Managing Director of DIFC-based Algebra Capital, which was sold to Franklin Templeton Investments in January 2011, subsequent to which he served as Executive Managing Director at Franklin Templeton Investment (Middle East) Ltd.
Mr. Visser presently also serves as an advisory board member of a technology start-up in the Middle East and as a director in a healthcare services company in the United Kingdom.
He holds a Master’s degree in Banking and Capital Markets Law and is admitted to practice law in his native Africa since 1995.
Year of Investment: 2019
Headquarters: Islamabad, Pakistan
Website Link: https://www.knowledgeplatform.com/
Knowledge Platform (Private) Limited is a leading Pakistani Education Tech platform providing ‘nextgeneration’ learning solutions for the Pakistani and South East Asian markets.
Founded in 2000, Knowledge Platform has developed thousands of e-learning and blended learning courses delivered through its dynamic learning management system that currently caters to 200,000+ students, teachers and corporate professionals in Pakistan. In just two years, Knowledge Platform’s blended learning solution, branded as Learn Smart Classroom, has scaled to over 350 low-cost private and public schools in
Kyber Pakhtunkawa (KPK), Punjab, Gilgit Baltistan, Azad Kashmir and Sindh.
In Pakistan, all digital lessons are aligned with the country’s national curriculum, and then further tailored to meet the needs of each specific school’s textbooks and their respective provincial board. When a teacher launches the system, the content flows similar to how it is laid out in the student textbooks. Furthermore, each student is provided with a low-cost clicker, so that they may be able to individually partake in dynamically generated digital assessments at the end of each lesson. KP now has a question bank of over
25,000 questions, allowing teachers to spend more time providing instant feedback to students, rather than spending hours and weeks creating, and then manually grading, quizzes and assessments. KP’s in-depth and interactive dashboards and analytics provides a vast cross-section of student, teacher, principal and regional performance data, and extrapolates learning outcomes levels on an individual and benchmarked basis by assessing over 450 data-points.
This data-driven approach to K-12 education allows for detailed and transparent performance management, as well as allowing KP to focus on incorporating A.I to provide personalized learning pathways for each learner, as well as Natural Language Processing (NLP) in the form of a “grammar checker” to help learners with practical applications (such as comprehension writing), rather than just focusing on the theoretic and fundamentals of language learning.
Learn Smart Classroom demonstrated its effectiveness by improving student performance by an average of 60% in sample of 26,000 female public-school students. Furthermore, but using a delivery strategy that most “Generation Z” learners prefer (animated videos and interactive games and assessments), KP’s solution is witnessed as having a greater impact on students in the lower quartiles of the class. In order words, while it may help top-performing students do better in class, it especially helps students who are at risk of failing and dropping out to gain better conceptual understanding, achieve pass rates and instill confidence amongst them to continue their education journey.
Looking forward, KP is well-poised to further cement its leadership position in the K-12 education space, as well as grow its presence in complementing areas such as teacher training and certification, skills training and project-based learning.
Year of Investment: 2020
Headquarters: Karachi, Pakistan
Website Link: https://www.mandiexpress.pk/
MandiExpress is the leading online fresh produce and grocery delivery service in Pakistan. The company has a data-driven approach to fulfilment of B2B and B2C consumer orders. The company has documented the value-chain at the Karachi ‘Sabzi Mandi” utilizing a vertically integrated technology platform that autonomously gathers price data for its buyers located at daily auctions. This allows MandiExpress to buy the highest grade produce at the lowest prices through real-time price discovery for customer orders received the night-before.
MandiExpress has warehouses at the Sabzi Mandi where it purchases, sorts, grades and custom-packages high quality produce from farmers and auctions, for delivery to its online customers. The company is leveraging a sourcing practice called ‘Just In Time’ that minimises waste from an industry average of 40% to less than 1%, reducing the lead time between farm-to-table from 1 to 5 days to less than 24 hours.
The service is popular amongst consumers in Karachi and Lahore. Customers can procure vegetables, fruits, meats and seafood, as well as select organic and gourmet foods (dairy, nuts, berries and cheeses) that are not always available at local retailers. The household delivery business is just one of their four business segments. They also cater to popular restaurants and large organisations, other ecommerce platforms as well as trading inside the wholesale markets.
IThe market for fresh produce is over $50 billion in Pakistan, accounting for 20% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Pakistan has some of the lowest yields per acre in the world and many farmers are struggling to make ends meet due to the extraction of value by the multiple stakeholders in the value-chain.
MandiExpress’ platform is aggregating data that will eventually help farmers with fairer price discovery as well as direct market access. Moreover, the platform aims to become the facilitator of financial inclusion for farmers and middlemen in the fresh produce supply chain through its data-driven approach of documenting payment cycles and seasonality in the farm to table value-chain.
Year of Investment: 2020
Headquarters: Karachi, Pakistan
Website Link: https://wwww.bagallerydeals.com
Pakistan’s largest beauty and fashion e-commerce platform Bagallery.com on Thursday announced that it closed a $900,000 Pre-Series A funding round from Lakson Venture Capital (LVC).
Bagallery (Private) Limited started out in 2013 with simple Facebook and Instagram (@worldofbagallery) pages for beauty and fashion products, quickly garnering a large following with their influencer-driven model.
Motivated by the enormous demand the husband and wife co-founders, Salman and Mina, launched a native e-commerce platform with dedicated operations and fulfilment teams in 2017.
The company has since seen tremendous growth to become the beauty and fashion segment market leader and is ranked among the top e-commerce traffic generators in Pakistan with 94% female visitors.
“We are really excited to have received LVC’s backing at a time when Bagallery is growing rapidly. The funding will allow us to expand to multiple cities in Pakistan by upgrading our technology stack, inventory management systems and logistics partnerships to efficiently scale,” said Mina Salman, co-founder of Bagallery.com.
The fashion industry dominates the global B2C e-commerce space with a 30% share in total B2C e-commerce revenues.
According to Euromonitor, the beauty and personal care market in Pakistan is projected to be in excess of $30 billion by 2023. Bagallery focuses on authentic supply for products by entering into partnerships with likes of Unilever, Procter & Gamble, L’Oreal, Kiko Milano, SheIn et al. This gives Bagallery competitive access to brands sought by its target demographic consumers.
“The beauty & personal care market in Pakistan is projected to have billions in revenues over the next five years. This represents a tremendous opportunity for market leaders like Bagallery, especially at a time where internet adoption in Pakistan has attained critical mass with more than 80 million active users,” said Faisal Aftab, managing partner of Lakson VC.
“Bagallery is in line with our core investment philosophy of supporting strong teams with a proven business model and potential to scale,” said Babar Lakhani, CEO of LI.
Regionally, exit prospects of beauty & fashion e-commerce plays have reaped big returns for investors.
UAE-based Namshi.com was acquired by Emaar Malls PJSC (Noon.com) in 2017 for $280 million. Myntra in India, one of the early players in this space, was acquired by Flipkart in 2014 for $300 million. Similarly, Nykaa in India was valued at $723 million in 2019, raising $14 million from TPG Growth.
Faisal Aftab and Babar Lakhani have also joined Bagallery’s Board of Directors.
Year of Investment: 2020
Headquarters: Islamabad, Pakistan
Website Link: https://roomy.pk
Islamabad-headquartered hospitality startup Roomy has raised $1 million in a pre-Series A round led by Lakson Venture Capital with the participation of Pakistan-focused Karavan VC and a syndicate of angel investors. The investment was announced at an online startup conference 021 Disrupt earlier today.
Roomy was started in 2018 by Dr. Asad Samar, a former investment banker who previously worked with Goldman Sachs and different other firms in the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates, to shake things up in the hospitality sector of Pakistan. The leadership team includes Haasin bin Zahid who was previously with Rocket Internet’s travel startup Jovago and Abdul Rehman who previously worked at Convo and Telenor.
The startup partners with unbranded hotel owners by helping them renovate their properties and then take them over to offer rooms to customers through its online platform. Roomy takes care of management, operations, and marketing of the property, sharing revenue with the landlords.
Many would think that Roomy is building something similar to Oyo but that’s not what it’s doing. Oyo does not manage the properties itself. They’re managed by the hotel owners with Oyo offering training and different types of resources for the stakeholders including to staff to help them run better.
Dr. Asad Samar, in a conversation with MENAbytes explained that their partner landlords have seen their income grow by 1.5 to 2.5X after Roomy taking over their properties. But it’s not just the income. The value of the properties also grows several folds as a result of this.
For travelers, the valuation proposition is simple: guaranteed online bookings, contactless check-in & check-out (no front desk queuing), standardized rooms, and branded amenities. These are the things that are usually expected from the top-tier hotels in the country only which cost between $100 to $150 on average for a night. Roomy’s prices start from about $40 per night.
In a statement, Dr. Asad said, “Roomy is a fresh take on the traditional hospitality business. Our rooms are decked out with aesthetically pleasing minimalist interiors, price points tailored for the young and growing Pakistani middle class, tech-stack developed in-house for the smart traveler and an innovative business model designed for scale.”
He had started Roomy with two rooms in a guest house and has now grown the network to have 5 properties with over 200 rooms in four cities across Pakistan, with a team of 100 employees. Its properties include a mix of partner buildings and, pods and yurts set up by Roomy itself in the Northern Areas of Pakistan (which are known for their mountain ranges and are very popular among both local and international travelers). The properties, Dr. Asad has told MENAbytes, have an average occupancy rate of 70 percent.
They’ve recently signed up four more properties that will be made available for the travels within the next few weeks.
It is probably this early success of the model because of which the startup was able to close its round in almost no time during the pandemic (which has proven to be a hell for hospitality/travel startups).
Faisal Aftab, the Managing Partner of Lakson Venture Capital, said, “The hospitality and travel industry in Pakistan is an underserviced market segment with a multi-billion-dollar market opportunity. Roomy is our second pick in the travel vertical as it has a scalable asset-light business model; while addressing the market gap for younger domestic leisure and corporate budget travelers, offering optimally priced standardized rooms & amenities in key locations.”
Roomy plans to use the investment to acquire more properties, grow its team, and increase its marketing spend.