Ride-hailing startup, Airlift, has successfully secured a second round of seed financing of $10m Series A-1 financing led by Quiet Capital, increasing the total investment to $24.1m USD.
The round was led by San Francisco-based Quiet Capital with participation of London-based TrueSight Ventures & RT Ventures, Abu Dhabi-based Shorooq Partners, Taiwan-based ACE Capital, and some other local partners. Existing investors including San Francisco-based First Round Capital (that had led Airlift’s Series A), Fatima Gobi Ventures, and Indus Valley Capital also participated in the round.
Co-founder and CEO Airlift, Usman Gul, said, “At a time of mass turbulence in capital markets, Airlift’s Series A-1 round marks one of the largest capital investments in the region. We are thrilled to partner with investors who share our vision for building decentralized platforms to introduce easier, faster, and more efficient ways of moving people and goods around urban ecosystems.”
Pandemic has hit hard all the startups especially ride-hailing startups, all the transit operations are paused until the situation stabilizes. In this situation, unlike all the startups, Airlift has also come up with an innovative idea to run its business, Airlift has introduced “Airlift Grocer”, a 45-minute delivery service for all household essentials.
“Airlift understands that the world has changed. Our value to our customers must evolve. Our impact on the communities we serve must adapt accordingly. Our service must adapt to the changing times, providing ancillary offerings that provide additional value to customers.” said, Usman Gul.
This new service from Airlift promises to provide an international experience of retail e-commerce to Pakistan’s every growing base of online shoppers, while strictly following safety guidelines as issued by public health authorities to restrict the further spread of Covid-19. Airlift Grocer promises a satisfying shopping experience through its express delivery of all orders within 45 minutes. Shoppers will also be able to choose from a wide range of products which are sure to be delivered with an accuracy of order and fixed transport charges irrespective of order value.
The service is currently introduced for online shoppers in Lahore and will soon be launched in Karachi. Shoppers can log on to the website airliftgrocer.com to start shopping or download the Airlift Grocer mobile app from Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store.
