KARACHI: Airlift, a Pakistan-based decentralized mass transit startup, announced Saturday had secured $12 million from an American venture capital firm in the country’s largest Series A financing, bringing the total capital of the Pakistani company to $14.1 million and setting a new precedent for startups based in Asia.
Series A financing is an investment in a privately-owned start-up firm after it develops its business model, displays potential for growth and demonstrates the ability to generate revenue.
The financing exercise was carried out by the First Round Capital, a leading US venture capital firm with notable investments in Uber, Square, Roblox, Looker, and Notion. The investment round was among the largest financings in South Asia this year and the first one in Pakistan, the American firm announced on Saturday.
Airlift started operating in the country’s megacities, Karachi and Lahore, in March this year and plans to invest in expanding its fleet of smart buses and technology.
It is a mobile application that connects passengers with bus-owners and enables them to commute across major residential and commercial hubs in the cities. The smart bus operation allows users to book rides on premium quality buses and vans with fixed routes, stops and times.
“The financing would be utilized to expand operations and technology for a decentralized mass transit system,” Usman Gul, Airlift’s co-founder and CEO, told Arab News on Sunday. “We plan to increase the number of buses from 600 in both Karachi and Lahore.”
In August, just five months after launching its operations, Airlift received seed financing of $2.2 million, with the Indus Valley Capital and Fatima Gobi Ventures co-leading the round.
Usman Gul founded the company to bring in a new concept of mass transport for urban centers in the country where old and depleting public transport system had left a huge vacuum for new entrants.
“We wanted to bring about change and create a positive story in Pakistan,” Gul, who has a rich experience of working with DoorDash, the largest food delivery platform in the United States, said.
Tony Xu, the founding CEO of DoorDash, which was valued at $12.6 billion in the last round, was among the first few investors to support Airlift.
“Airlift is spearheading the third wave of ride-sharing, in which higher capacity vehicles are playing an important role in enabling urban commute,” Gul said, adding: “In the future, mass transit systems will be dynamic in nature, catering and adapting to the changing needs of the urban population. Our vision for a decentralized mass transit system is a new concept, one that will fundamentally redefine how people commute in various urban centers of the country.”
He informed that his company had not yet decided to expand its services to other cities of the country, but it could consider the possibility after raising further capital in the future.
