Pakistani ride-sharing startup raises $5.7m in series A round

Bykea, an on-demand transport and logistics startup in Pakistan, has raised US$5.7 million series A from Sarmayacar, the country’s first venture capital fund, as well as investors from Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

From left: Bykea co-founders Rafiq Malik and Abdul Mannan, new Bykea board member Jonas Eichhorst, Bykea co-founder Muneeb Maayr, Sarmayacar managing partner Rabeel Warraich, Bykea co-founder Ishaq Kothawala, and Ithaca Capital managing director Haider Ali Hilaly / Photo source: Bykea

Bykea’s platform allows a crowdsourced network of motorbike owners to transport passengers and parcels. It will use the fresh funds to expand its ride-sharing and delivery options, as well as further develop its payments segment. It is also looking to expand its network of motorcycle owners and fill more roles within its organization.

The startup claims to have over 200,000 motorbike owners on its platform and over 2 million users in Karachi, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, and Lahore. It also said its app sees 1 million bookings per month.

To help scale its operations, Bykea is working on bringing its services to older-generation feature phones. “We are also working with leading telecommunication providers to enable feature phones or not-so-smart phones to connect to our driver partner network of part-timers,” Bykea CEO Muneeb Maayr said.

The startup competes with other ride-sharing companies with operations in Pakistan such as NextCar and Uber Pakistan.