“I’ve never met investors who are this prepared.” Tiger Global is making swift and aggressive moves in the country's startup scene.
Despite being the fifth most populous country in the world, Pakistan has long been ignored by international tech companies and investors: PayPal services are unavailable in the country, Amazon’s e-commerce website doesn’t operate here, and Apple didn’t even have an official reseller in Pakistan until recently. Although Pakistan has been touted as the world’s last big untapped market and drawn almost $366 million in funding in 2021, local investors continue to worry that global venture capital (VC) firms aren’t serious about the country.
That changed in December 2021, when Karachi-based CreditBook, a digital ledger app, raised a pre–series A round co-led by Tiger Global. The single most active investor in the world, Tiger Global made an astonishing 335 deals last year. Pakistani investors and entrepreneurs say its arrival in the country marks a new era. “Their presence is a very big deal. It shows the market is ready, and it’s here to stay,” Faisal Aftab, co-founder of Zayn Capital, told Rest of World.
Tiger’s footprint in Pakistan has spread quickly since: The New York–headquartered investment firm participated in a $70 million series B round for e-commerce firm Bazaar in March and in a $2.1 million pre-seed round for B2B supplies startup Zaraye in April.
These investments by “the world’s biggest unicorn hunter” could go a long way in...
Read Full Story: https://restofworld.org/2022/worlds-most-active-investor-pakistan/
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