On Friday, Prime Minister Imran Khan welcomed the latest $85 million foreign investment in the quick commerce startup, Airlift, by leading Venture Capitals of the world.
“Pakistan has huge potential and we are open for business,” PM Imran Khan stated in a tweet. The prime minister further guaranteed his government’s commitment towards creating such investment opportunities in Pakistan.
Airlift is a Lahore-based online shopping delivery service, has successfully raised $85 million foreign investment in Series B funding round, the largest single private funding round in Pakistan’s history.
Apart from PM Imran Khan, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar also commented on the success of the private firm. He said he was “glad” to share that international investors were showing confidence in Pakistan’s evolving technology ecosystem.
The company has set a new model for bringing world-class financers to invest in Pakistan. This will collect confidence that great technology and user products can be developed in Pakistan, and this area of the world has some of the best expertise for producing practical and innovative tech advancement. Furthermore, Airlift Express alone, with its series B funding of $85 million, has added 5 per cent to the country’s FDI for the monetary year 2021.
Airlift runs a quick commerce service in eight cities covering Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad in Pakistan. Customers can order groceries, farm-fresh produce, other necessary items including medicines as well as sports gear from the company’s website or app and have the articles delivered within 30 minutes.
In addition to this, using the latest foreign investment, the quick commerce startup, Airlift expects to place more offerings to its services in the near future and create nearly a quarter-million more jobs in Pakistan within the next five years.
