Karachi-based ecommerce logistics startup Rider has raised $2.3 million in a seed round led by Global Founders Capital, Fatima Gobi Ventures, and Asian Development Bank, it announced in a statement. TPL E-Ventures and Transhold also participated in the deal.
Founded by Salman Allana in 2019, Rider offers last-mile delivery servicers to ecommerce retailers through its technology platform. The startup has over 500 drivers in its fleet with coverage across 80 cities in Pakistan. Rider claims to have delivered 1.5 million ecommerce parcels to date with a success rate of 93 percent. Its clients include the top five online retailers of the country including Khaadi and Daraz, said the startup in a statement.
The ecommerce logistics space in Pakistan is dominated largely by the traditional logistics firms but with offerings like 24-hour cash repayment, 1-day lead time, cash now deliver later, and a high success rate, Rider has made deep inroads into the market. Its tech stack which includes route optimization, live tracking, live scheduling, and highly automated warehousing has also helped the company a great deal to create efficient processes and build real-time connectivity between its shippers, delivery agents, and customers.
speaking about how their tech has helped them improve the success rate, Salman Allana, Founder and CEO of Rider, said, “When we launched Rider, only 80-85% of deliveries in Pakistan were making it to the customers’ doorsteps, translating millions of dollars lost, operational inefficiencies and frustrated shippers and customers. Our tech has improved this, while our operations identify and solve the underlying causes behind these stats. For instance, Rider’s in-house delivery agent behavioral analysis and geo-tagging processes help eradicate fake delivery attempts.”
He was previously head of strategy and business development at UPS Pakistan and assistant vice president at Citi Bank. With the latest funds, Salman and his team plan to expand Rider’s offerings and presence further to cover the entire Pakistan.
“We’re excited about the investors we have onboard – they collectively bring unparalleled logistics industry expertise and emerging markets exposure. Their capital injection will enable Rider’s plans to expand our network and integrate our proven last-mile service into other key parts of the value chain. Ultimately, we want to build an end-to-end e-commerce logistics solution, complete with e-commerce enablement. Our vision is to be the number one logistics solutions provider for Pakistan’s e-commerce needs,” stated the company’s CEO in a statement.
Ali Mukhtar, General Partner at Fatima Gobi Ventures, said, “We are excited to join Rider’s journey towards building a tech-driven end-to-end logistics solution for Pakistan and the region. Rider’s belief that ‘technology moves everything’ has already raised the bar on delivery lead times, cash repayment cycles and delivery success rates in Pakistan’s logistics industry. With so many customer-centric and problem-solving solutions on the horizon, we cannot wait to see how far Rider’s tech offerings will go in supporting Pakistan’s e-commerce growth ambitions.”
Jay Lim, Venture Partner at Global Founders Capital, said, “GFC believes that Pakistan’s startup scene is primed to grow rapidly in the next few years, especially within the commerce the space. We have invested in a number of founders in Pakistan recently and will invest in more in the coming year. Founders like Salman from Rider will play one of the most important roles in developing last mile logistics as well as the entire logistic infrastructure necessary to propel Pakistan’s commerce forward.”
