Pakistan-based Bazaar raises USD 70 mln to digitise retail

Other companies participating in the funding round count for Indus Valley Capital, Acrew Capital, and Wavemaker Partners, bringing the MENA region startup to a total raise of over USD 100 million so far.

Bazaar aims to build an operating system for traditional retail in the country that would connect 5 million SMEs across Pakistan in a USD 170 billion market.

So far, the startups’s B2B ecommerce marketplace helps merchants in 21 cities and towns but Bazaar is looking to expand nation-wide. The company’s spin-off Easy Khata app helps merchants maintain their bookkeeping, while Bazaar Credit is offering SMEs short-term working capital financing to expand their businesses online, to digitise Pakistan.

Bazaar will use the rest of the funding money to launch new marketplace categories and to scale its lending offering, as well as adding new product lines.