Co-founder abandons startup weeks after raising funding, joins rival company

Photo credit: jonesytheteacher.

An entrepreneur in Pakistan today dropped a bombshell – he’s leaving the startup he created just weeks after it raised US$200,000 in funding. And he’s going to join a rival.

Talaal Burney co-founded Travly, an Uber-esque app for tuk-tuks, or rickshaws as they’re known in the local parlance.

Talaal announced on his Facebook page yesterday that he has abandoned the rickshaw app company to join ride-hailing startup Careem, a direct rival to Uber in Pakistan and the Middle East. Careem raised US$60 million in series C financing in November.

Talaal says the day he decided to leave Travly was “one of the worst days of his life”, but adds that he’s “ready to take a leap of faith.”

After a few pivots to its business model, Travly raised seed funding less than three weeks ago. At the time, Talaal told local media that the cash would be used to “expand into several new territories,” and that the news should come as a “morale boost for angel investors in Pakistan to have more faith in startups.”

Update on August 12, 6:40 PM:

Shahmir Khan, CEO and co-founder of Travly, tells Tech in Asia that Talaal’s exit from the startup is “very unfortunate.” He adds that Talaal’s family is a staunch believer in divine indication and he left the company after his mother advised him to do so. The investors, Cres Ventures, were kept aware about the whole situation.

“Although we have a non-compete clause in the agreement, the company has decided not to restrict Talaal from working in any organization that is directly/indirectly a competitor,” affirms Shahmir. “We have parted ways on good terms.”