Pakistan-based digital marketplace Jugnu raises first VC funds
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The Pakistan-based B2B E-commerce startup and online marketplace Jugnu has successfully raised an undisclosed amount in its latest round led by Sarmayacar the Pakistan-based VC investing in Early-Stage startups locally. This round marks Jugnu's first external direct investment from a Venture Capital firm.
Founded in 2019, by former cloud-based SaaS startup Salesflo founders, Jugnu offers an integrated suite of technology applications built to digitize every element in the retail supply chain, from the store owner placing an order conveniently on a mobile application all the way to the warehouse operations being tracked to eke out cost and time savings in procuring, sorting, stacking, and packing orders.
The E-commerce ecosystem in Pakistan has been at top performance this year as most recently recorded in our August Venture Investment Dashboard. While number of E-commerce funding rounds in 2021 YTD is equivalent to that closed in 2020 around this time, Pakistan-based E-commerce startups observed a 370% YoY growth in amount of funding. This latest investment comes in a spectrum of funds raised by B2B marketplaces focusing on SMBs, from larger funding rounds raised by Bazaar Technologies and Tajir Pakistan, to more equally weighing rounds raised by Dastgyr. This puts Jugnu in a favorable place for untapped potential.
Jugnu’s experience from having scaled Saleflo equips the team with unparalleled intel that has helped them develop deep insights into the complex problems within the distribution supply chain in Pakistan. Jugnu is putting the previously forgotten kiryana store-owner at the core of its product, some previously dealing with more than 100 middlemen to shop for nearly +2,000 SKUs spending hours commuting to procure goods each month. Sharoon Saleem, Jugnu’s co-founder said: “SMEs form the backbone of Pakistan’s economy, we have watched this space grow and accelerated its digital evolution for over 6 years now - with Jugnu our aim is to positively impact livelihoods of the small and medium retailers through access to a wide catalog, reliable service and access to the credit line. We are excited to partner with Sarmayacar that shares our belief of laser focus on fundamentals and building a long-term business with high impact.”
Despite facing well-funded competition, Jugnu has demonstrated leading growth and retention metric while developing the largest retailer network in the cities in which it operates in a capital-efficient manner. This funding will help the company double down on growing its retailer base and warehouse network in Lahore and expand to Rawalpindi, Islamabad, and Karachi. Bernhard Klemen, General Partner at Sarmayacar concluded “We have been studying the space closely for well over a year and are delighted to make our single largest investment in Jugnu, who we believe have the most sustainable competitive advantage owing to their solution-centric approach, long-term orientation, and laser focus on finding the business model-market fit that will enable them to scale their offering throughout the country.”
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