Airlift Technology, an online shopping delivery startup in Pakistan, announced raising $85 million in a Series B funding round, co-led by Harry Stebbings from 20VC and Josh Buckley from Buckley Ventures Ltd.
The funding round is the largest-ever round for a Pakistani startup and is equivalent to the entire amount raised by local startups so far this year and the highest in the MENA region.
A host of high-profile investors also backed the fundraising. These include former Y Combinator president Sam Altman; Twitter co-founder Biz Stone; Bain Capital’s Chairman Steve Pagliuca; former Disney CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg; TransferWise’s founder and CEO Taavet Hinrikus; DoorDash co-founder Stanley Tang; Rappi co-founder and CEO Simon Borrero; and Postmates founder and CEO Baastian Lehman.
The company said existing investors Quiet Capital and Indus Valley Capital also took part in the funding round, which brought Airlift’s total funds raised to date to more than $110 million.
With the fresh funds, Airlift plans to expand its operations to 15 Pakistani cities from the current eight and double its workforce to 400 by end-2022.
Airlift previously provided a marketplace that allows bus owners to operate their buses on fixed routes. The marketplace also allowed users to book rides on premium quality and air-conditioned buses and vans that have fixed routes and stops in Lahore and Karachi.
It raised $12 million in a Series A funding round in November 2019, backed by First Round Capital, K2 Global, and Tony Xu, founder and CEO of US food delivery giant DoorDash.
The startup, however, pivoted into last-mile logistics when its original business was badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, which hampered public and private local transport operations.
Within 12 months of launch, Airlift has scaled operations to eight cities in Pakistan, delivering fresh produce, OTC and prescription medicines, and sports foods, aside from groceries, from its network of fulfillment centres across every city it operates in.
The startup directly competes with players that already have last-mile deliveries or are attempting similar moves. These include names such as Bykea, Uber, Cheetay, and Foodpanda.