PostEx, a fintech primarily catering to e-commerce players and providing them credit, announced on Monday that it had acquired Call Courier, one of the country’s leading third-party logistics providers.

“Following the transaction, PostEx will now service 1.3 million users with over 8,000 merchants across 500 cities in Pakistan, on track to becoming the largest fintech in Pakistan with a monthly loan book crossing $12m,” the company said in a press release.

Call Courier will be a wholly owned subsidiary under the PostEx name and its founder and CEO Jawad Mirza will join the Board of Directors, it added.

PostEx was founded in 2020 and has since raised $8.6m over two seed rounds by names like Zayn Capital, MSA, Global Founders Capital, RTP, FJ Labs, Shorooq, VSQ, and others.

PostEx Founder and CEO Omer Khan said the startup was founded to facilitate all players in the e-commerce sector struggling to operate and expand in light of the restrictions around access to capital and inefficiencies of logistics.

“Banks just don’t lend enough to businesses leaving so many of them struggling to maintain their working capital in light of inadequate cash flows. Cash on delivery, while being a problem for such businesses, is very much a reality of the Pakistani ecosystem and is not going away any time soon,” he elaborated.

Khan said Call Courier’s acquisition would help the startup increase its reach and benefit from the “great team” that Mirza had built.

“Over 90 per cent of e-commerce transactions are completed in cash, which represents almost $6.5 billion. The majority of the consumers who shop online in Pakistan pay using the cash-on-delivery payment method and the payment cycles for such orders range between a week to a month which creates cash flow issues for online sellers.

“PostEx is solving these challenges with its fintech and logistics platform. In addition to cash-on-delivery, PostEx also offers revenue-based financing to provide easy access to capital, making it the first and last source of non-dilutive financing for e-commerce,” the press release stated.

For his part, Call Courier’s Mirza said his company had an understanding of not only bulk mail but also e-commerce, cash on delivery, and the needs of the sector.

“With this acquisition, it is time for us to venture into new horizons, accept new challenges, and continue to grow. Call Courier network joining together with PostEx’s fintech capabilities will enable us to provide quality deliveries across Pakistan along with financial support to the sector.”