UAE-Based Unicorn EMPG Invests in Daftarkhwan
The Pakistan-based coworking space Daftarkhwan has raised SEED funding from the regional classifieds company Emerging Markets Property Group (EMPG) to ground its position in the Pakistani ecosystem and explore further digital opportunities in property listing
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UAE-based regional classifieds giant Emerging Markets Property Group (EMPG) has invested seed capital in Daftarkhwan, a Pakistani startup for co-working spaces. This marks the second round of investment raised by the Pakistan-based PropTech startup after angel investment from Walled City Co. in 2018,
Daftarkhwan kicked off operations in 2016 and is one of the pioneers of the coworking movement in Pakistan, a country of 220 million people with a booming startup ecosystem that has captured significant investor interest in 2021. The latest funding round is not only a signifier of global interest in this booming ecosystem but also a mark of cross-market symbiosis amongst Emerging Venture Market players. EMPG owns and operates a staggering 10 brands across 16 countries in the property and classified spaces, and reached unicorn status in 2020. In the UAE, EMPG leads the market with Bayut and dubizzle.
Both the UAE and Pakistan observed exceptional VC funding growth in 2021 as recorded in our State of Startup Funding- 2022 Emerging Venture Markets report, available for download. While UAE-based startups were able to raise almost 60% of all capital invested in the Middle East, funding in Pakistan recorded a 348% YoY growth, raising more capital in 2021 than the past 4 years combined. Most remarkably, after recording no exits in 2019 and 2020, the Pakistani ecosystem disclosed 2 exits in 2021, which were both by acquires in the Middle East. Over the past year, the UAE-based TruKKer acquired its Pakistani counterpart TruckSher, and Jordan-based EdTech platform Abwaab also entered the Pakistani market by acquiring Edmatrix. Many of these cross-pollinations are expected to increase in the upcoming years as scaling startups mature to become regional players, and established startups like Airlift continue to explore new market opportunities.
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With this seed round, EMPG joins Walled City Co as investors in Daftarkhwan as the company gears up to change how people work all over Pakistan. This new investment will help EMPG explore the new domain of co-working spaces, which have seen a boom following the post-pandemic shift to creating more remote models creating a greater demand for such economical business setup options. This move is in line with the Unicorn’s vision to support more tech entrepreneurs and create more success stories in their many markets of operation. EMPG CEO Imran Ali Khan expressed his belief in the hardworking team behind Daftarkhwan which represents Pakistani ingenuity at its best. "One of the key drivers of EMPG's own success has been its investment in the right people above all else, and the team at the helm of Daftarkhwan are some of the most hard-working, ambitious, and dedicated people in Pakistan's startup ecosystem,” said Khan.
Over the years, Daftarkhwan has been a core driver of the startup ecosystems of Lahore and has seen some of the most anticipated startup tenants including Airlift, Jugnu, Unlayer, and Careem, among many others, take root and take-off. Some of the leading Pakistani and regional startups currently operating out of Daftarkhwan have raised $570M in investments in 2021 alone. “Since its inception, Daftarkhwan’s singular focus has been to help founders build and scale their businesses. This has given us a front-row seat to the phenomenal growth of the startup industry in Pakistan,” said Saad Idrees, the co-founder of Daftarkhwan. The new funding will allow the partnership to explore further market possibilities in PropTech and further support Daftarkhwan’s efforts in support the rising startup ecosystem as Saad Idrees concluded, "Daftarkhwan has always taken great pride in being more than just an office for its community of entrepreneurs and innovators, and we are excited to expand this community further.”
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