KARACHI: Helpp, a Singapore-based home services startup, has raised $1.1 million for the Pakistan market in its first investment round backed by high-net-worth investors from Saudi Arabia and the United States, said the startup CEO on Friday.
The round has been backed by the US-based E Planet Global, Shahyan Merchant Chairman You Ventures, Turki Al Shehri, a Saudi investor, J Holding Pakistan and other leading individual high net worth and business executives from the US, United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia, according to the startup.
“The funds raised through the first investment round would be utilized for customer acquisition and enhancement of tech stack,” Mustafa Iqbal, the founding CEO of Helpp Technologies, told Arab News.
“The funding round was substantially backed by Saudi high net worth investors,” he continued, adding that the startup would provide on demand salon, laundry, paint and air conditioning services in Pakistan’s biggest cities of Karachi and Lahore.
After launching its operations in 2021, Helpp became Pakistan’s first fully tech enabled player in the home services market that has met over 20,000 orders to date.
Pakistan’s home services despite being a multibillion-dollar industry remains serviced by micro-offline players. With a burgeoning middle class, customer satisfaction remains low, due to absence of standardized services and pricing, according to the startup.
Helpp aims to digitize this space, while not only solving the pain points of the consumers, but also elevating the incomes of the service providers.
Helpp’s impact footprint ranges from providing economic opportunities, income elevation and financial inclusion for its service providers, a majority of them being women.
“The objective is to build a budget brand which caters to the masses while maintaining a laser focus on customer experience and service partners’ economic empowerment,” Iqbal said.
Pakistan’s home service market seems ready for a nationwide tech player emulating the success in ride hailing, food delivery, grocery and e-commerce, he added.
Iqbal said his startup business was aligned with the UN sustainable development goals, contributing toward its targets for 2030.
Pakistani startups emerged on global funding radar in 2021 and raised around $375 million in a funding rush that was more than the overall funds raised in the previous six years.
The cumulative funding of Pakistani startups for 2023 stood at $33.6 million in the nine months of the current year, a mere 10 percent of the total funds raised in 2022, according to Alpha Beta Core, a startup funding advisory firm.
