Pakistani bus app Airlift raises $2.2m to expand to more urban centers

Pakistani mobility startup Airlift Technologies has raised over US$2.2 million in seed funding from Fatima Ventures and Gobi Partners through their Techxila Fund I and Indus Valley Capital.

A traditional bus in Karachi, Pakistan / Photo credit: Dmitry Pichugin / 123RF

Airlift commenced its business in March with a small founding team, launching its operations with a pilot project in Lahore.

It introduces a marketplace that allows bus owners to operate their vehicles on fixed routes, offering a stop-to-stop solution. Capitalizing on the enormous latent demand in the market, Airlift in less than five months started doing over 50,000 rides per month, according to a statement.

The startup now seeks to build the mass transit infrastructure for the developing world. It said it’s spearheading the third wave of ride-sharing, in which higher capacity vehicles are playing an increasing role in enabling urban commute that is fast, reliable, and economical.

The team is now looking to expand the company’s footprint to other major urban centers in the developing markets.

Several notable angel investors participated in the startup’s earlier stages of funding, according to a statement.

Prior to moving to Pakistan, Airlift founder Usman Gul worked at DoorDash, a food delivery unicorn headquartered in San Francisco. DoorDash founder and CEO Tony Xu is among the first few angel investors to support Airlift.