KARACHI: InstaMall, an online marketplace, has secured a pre-seed investment from the country’s business magnate, Arif Habib, chairman of one of Pakistan’s largest business conglomerates, said a statement on Friday.

“InstaMall is building a customer-centric and tech-enabled platform which consumers can throw their trust behind. InstaMall sells original products only and focuses on delivering orders promptly,” said the statement. “InstaMall has secured a number of partnerships with leading fashion, cosmetics, footwear, electronics and retail brands since its launch in September 2020. It will continue to build out its partnerships to encompass the best and leading names in the region. InstaMall is founded by brothers, Hashaam Riaz Sheikh (a former Citigroup investment banker) and Basit Riaz Sheikh (Cornell PhD and a certified Artificial Intelligence (AI) expert).”

InstaMall, it said, was essentially a tech company using a sophisticated AI-powered technology stack to efficiently overcome the obstacles that had long hampered Pakistan’s e-commerce sector.

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2021