an e-commerce startup in Lahore has raised $1.7 million in pre-seed funding

ByFaisal Chughtai | Published date:
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Zarya, a B2B eCommerce platform located in Lahore, has raised $1.7 million in a pre-seed round led by Raed Ventures, one of the region's premier venture capital companies. Taager, an Egyptian social commerce business, earned $6.4 million in a pre-funding round earlier this year. According to MENAbytes, Fatima Gobi Ventures, Class 5 Global, and Global Founders Capital submitted proposals to participate.

Zarya intends to use the newly obtained capital to extend its supply chain in the near future to accommodate additional merchants. In a statement on the round of funding, co-founder Zarya said:

Pakistan has over 100 million YouTube and 45 million Facebook users. Pakistan’s social media users are spending more than 3 hours per day on social media Apps. If you’re spending so much time online, it’s quite natural to start buying and selling while on social media Apps. We aim to give our sellers every opportunity to thrive in this environment.

Following that, Wael Nafee, Principal Raed Ventures, stated:

Raed sees the social commerce space growing rapidly in the MENAP [Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan] region. Similar markets such as India, China and LATAM [countries in Latin America] are showing early signs of its potential. Zarya’s early commercial traction and product value in Pakistan demonstrate its strong ability to deliver the experience that independent sellers need. Raed is thrilled to partner with Zarya and its team

The firm presently has over 3,000 goods for sale on its eCommerce site and plans to expand into other categories such as abayas, shoes, home textiles, and beauty. Zarya, which was founded in 2021, enables small merchants to use its platform to source a range of things for sale.

The company oversees the whole process, from product procurement through delivery and payment, and distributes each seller's profit when the transaction is completed.

In hindsight, it should be noted that India's Meesho pioneered the social selling model, which has since been copied by a variety of developing market firms, including Pakistan's Zarya, Brimore, and Taager in Egypt. Meesho was launched in 2015 and has received over $1 billion in total capital to date, with its most recent round valued at close to $5 billion.

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