KARACHI: Bykea, the local ride-hailing technology startup, announced on Tuesday in a press release that it has raised $5.7 million in Series A investment – the first round of financing after seed money.

The funding came from Pakistan-focused venture capital Sarmayacar as well as institutional investors from Southeast Asia and for Middle East. This also marks the highest amount of money raised by a Pakistani tech startup in Series A.

Its user app already boasts over two million downloads while the one for partners has 200,000 motorbike owners across Karachi, Rawalpindi/Islamabad and Lahore. The new financing will be used for expansion in the ride-sharing, driver network and express delivery, including cash to digital services for consumers and businesses in urban areas of Pakistan.

Bykea’s Chief Executive Officer Muneeb Maayr said: “We are working with leading telecommunication providers to enable feature phones, or not-so-smart phones, to connect to our driver partner network of part-timers,” further adding “the additional investment will pave the way for deeper penetration into the masses enabling Pakistanis at large to use technology to better facilitate personal and business activity in the cities.”

Earlier, the startup’s seed round was led by Ithaca Capital, a local investment firm. The announcement included collaboration with Jazz on connecting customers with drivers using a simple dial number.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2019