Markaz Technologies has upstretched $2.4 million in venture funding.
Markaz Technologies, an Islamabad-based startup, revealed on Tuesday that it had received $2.4 million in seed funding from Indus Valley Capital (IVC).
Angel investors will also participate in the round, including Kyane Kassiri of Suya Fund and executives from Careem, Deloitte, Amazon, and Gojek, according to Markaz.
Markaz Technologies is a Y-Combinator-backed — a prestigious US-based accelerator — startup that offers anyone in Pakistan an online reselling platform that allows them to source wholesale products from across the country and resell them for a profit through their own social media stores, all without having to invest any money.
Markaz describes its purpose as “supercharging the rails of e-commerce and making it accessible for everyone.”
IVC Founder and Managing Partner Aatif Awan was described in the press release as saying, “Markaz is built for all of Pakistan, with the objective of enabling those in smaller cities and villages to source products directly from wholesalers and suppliers.”
Along the way, Awan claims, the startup will build “hundreds of thousands of micro-entrepreneurs” and integrate them into the banking system. “We at IVC are ecstatic to be working with Markaz to assist them achieve their purpose,” he stated.
Shoaib Khan, Fawad Hussain, Sameel Hayat, and Umair Aslam created the company in the fourth quarter of 2021 after working for large-scale Internet companies such as Telenor, Amazon, Easypaisa, and Alipay in Pakistan and around the world.
Markaz will put the money from the successful project to good use.