KARACHI: Pakistani ecommerce logistics startup Rider, backed by YCombinator, is looking into acquiring BlueEx the only listed Express Courier Logistics Company in Pakistan, it told Reuters on Thursday.

Venture funding in Pakistan plummeted to $6.8 million during the third quarter of 2023, dropping 87.7 per cent year-on-year from the $55 million during the corresponding period in the previous year, after a global funding crunch and troubling macroeconomic and political circumstances in the South Asian nation.

“We are carving out and acquiring the e-commerce logistics business which currently operates under the brand name BlueEx. This is not an acquisition of Universal Network System Limited as a whole,” said Salman Allana, founder and CEO of Rider.

If the transaction goes through, this will be the first acquisition of a listed company by a startup, and the first major acquisition of a company listed on PSX’s Growth Enterprise Market board.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2023