Pakistani fintech startups are making their mark in what is a relatively small but growing startup ecosystem.
In Q1 this year, Pakistani fintech startups fetched funding of US$19.3 million in what Bloomberg called a fintech “startup funding rush.” Of this, US$15 million came from foreign investors, who ploughed US$48 million into Pakistani fintech startups last year.
With interest in the sector booming, here are our top 8 Pakistani fintech startups to watch in 2021. While some have been featured by us previously, several of these are new entrants, founded in the COVID era.
Top Pakistani Fintech Startups
Finja
Industry: Digital lending and transactions
Founders: Monis Rahman, Qasif Shahid, Umer Munawar
Founded in: 2015
Headquarters: Lahore
Finja’s financial services platform provides payments, lending, and collection services to professionals and SMEs. The company recently received an investment from Habib Bank, the first such investment by a Pakistan-based bank. Since April last year, Finja’s digital lending portfolio has grown by 550%, with over 50,000 loans disbursed to MSMEs.
SadaPay
Industry: Digital bank
Founders: Brandon Timinsky
Founded in: 2019
Headquarters: Islamabad
SadaPay’s branchless digital bank service comes with a digital wallet and a Mastercard debit card. Accounts are also enabled for international transfers from 45 countries. The company raised the largest-ever seed funding round to be closed by a Pakistani startup in March this year, raising US$7.2 million
CreditBook
Industry: Digital bookkeeping
Founders: Iman Jamall, Hasib Malik, and Hisham Adamjee
Founded in: 2020
Headquarters: Karachi
CreditBook digitizes the bookkeeping process for MSMEs in Pakistan. The platform allows small business owners to keep track of payments and receivables, and monitor their financials. CreditBook raised US$1.5 million in seed funding this year from investors including the UAE’s VentureSouq.
CreditPer
Industry: Digital lending
Founders: Owais Zaidi, Tayyab Tariq
Founded in: 2016
Headquarters: Islamabad
CreditPer, previously CreditFix, provides asset-based online microloans through its AI-driven digital lending platform. It recently raised an undisclosed seed funding amount. The round was Pakistan’s first State Bank of Pakistan-approved convertible loan financing from an international investor, the company said.
KTrade
Industry: Online trading
Founders: Ali Farid
Founded in: 2018
Headquarters: Karachi
KTrade is an online brokerage platform owned by Karachi-based stock brokerage KASB Securities. The platform recently raised US$4.5 million from Hong Kong-based TTB Partners and New York-based HOF Capital. One of the oldest brokerage houses in Pakistan, KASB Securities was relaunched in 2018.
Abhi
Industry: Salary advance app
Founders: Omair Ansari, Ali Ladhubhai
Founded in: 2021
Headquarters: Karachi
The newly-founded Pakistani fintech startup Abhi secured US$2 million in a funding round in June this year. The funding will go towards launching Abhi’s salary advance app. The app offers users access to advance salaries based on accrued wages.
TAG Innovation
Industry: Digital bank
Founders: Talal Ahmad Gondal, Ahsan Khan, Alexander Lukianchuk
Founded in: 2020
Headquarters: Islamabad
TAG Innovation is a Pakistani digital retail bank. It raised US$5.5 million in pre-seed funding as it prepares to launch its offering in Pakistan with a limited number of customers. As of June this year, the company was looking to kick off commercial operations in “two to three months.”
Safepay
Industry: Digital payments
Founders: Ziyad Parekh, Raza Naqvi
Founded in: 2019
Headquarters: Karachi
Safepay launched its beta product in 2019 but hit pause to map out its expansion plans. The company graduated from Y Combinator’s Summer 2020 batch, and raised a seven-figure USD funding from US payments giant Stripe In February this year.
