Pakistani startup sees the country’s largest funding round

The online shopping delivery firm pivoted in the pandemic to offer 30-minute deliveries, raised $85m in Series B round.

Airlift Technologies Pvt. has scored the largest single private funding round in Pakistan’s history ahead of plans to enter overseas markets, as the country begins to join a regional startup financing boom. The Lahore-based online shopping delivery firm raised $85 million in Series B financing co-led by Harry Stebbings from 20VC and Josh Buckley from Buckley Ventures Ltd., with participation from former Y Combinator president Sam Altman. That would be the largest-ever round for a Pakistani startup, according to a data tracker from venture capitalist fund Invest2Innovate. Pakistan is “in the very early stages, but the transformation is happening very, very quickly and we are seeing a shift in behavior,” Airlift co-founder Usman Gul said in an interview. “We have a lot of people who previously didn’t shop online.”