Bazaar Technologies, a Pakistani blockchain-powered business-to-business (B2B) platform, has raised $30 million in Pakistan’s largest Series A financing to date. Bazaar Technologies is now ranked among Pakistan’s most capitalized startups.
On August 24, Bazaar announced the completion of its most recent investment round, noting that the round was led by Defy Partners of Silicon Valley and Wavemaker Partners of Singapore.
Hundreds of other investors joined the round, including Endeavor, LinkedIn, Saison Capital from Japan, and current investors Indus Valley Capital and Alter Global.
Bazaar claims to be Pakistan’s most popular B2B marketplace platform for small businesses, with 750,000 sellers in 400 towns and villages. Small ‘mom-and-pop’ grocery businesses (locally known as “kiryana” stores) make up a large portion of Bazaar’s users.
Bazaar’s current round of fundraising increases the company’s total funding to $37.8 million, following a $6.5 million seed round in January and a $1.3 million pre-seed round in June 2020.
Saad Jangda and Hamza Jawaid started Bazaar in 2019. Janga formerly worked as a product manager for Careem, a local Uber subsidiary, and Jawaid previously worked for McKinsey, a management consulting firm.
Regulatory concerns in Pakistan
In recent months, Pakistan’s government has taken steps to build a more lenient regulatory framework for the country’s crypto business.
Pakistan’s Securities and Exchange Commission released a consultation paper in November that looked into the advantages of crypto assets and tokenization. Industry input on how local regulations should be formed was also sought in the text.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a Pakistani province, announced in March that it would host two hydro-powered crypto mining farms as part of a state-backed mining pilot.
