Pakistan-based and MENAP servicing FinTech, empowering SMBs and startups by digitising their accounting processes and helping them foul-proof their budget disbursement efforts, Metric raises $900K in Pre-SEED financing and welcomes first time investors in the Pakistani market
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MENAP based Fintech and a digital accounting app for SMBs and startups Metric has successfully raised $900K in its latest funding round. The oversubscribed Pre-Seed round was led by I2I Ventures and saw participation from local and international VCs, including Ratio Ventures, Deosai Ventures, Kinnow Capital, Outliers Venture Capital, and Augmentor Capital the latter two marking their debut investments in a Pakistan-based startup. Angels, including Aspire & Lifepal’s founder Giacomo Ficari, Alam Zafar (Chairman and Director at Arif Habib Limited), deep tech VC Farid ul Haque, and founder of Eligible.ai Rameez Zafar, also took part in the round.
Metric was launched in August 2021 by Meenah Tariq and Omar Parvez Khan, who have been involved in the rapid growth of Pakistan’s startup ecosystem over the last decade, having worked with and trained over a thousand small businesses over the years. Both of them were Partners in venture capital funds before making a switch to the operator side. They have also worked with startups in other emerging and frontier markets including Bangladesh, Nepal, Iraq, Myanmar and Vietnam. Their third co-founder and CTO, Dr. Habiba, holds a Ph.D. in machine learning and artificial intelligence.
As recorded in our Pakistan 2022 Venture Investment Report, the FinTech space raised the highest number of deals over 2021 to observe more than 2,500% YoY increase in capital investment. Over the past year, FinTech TAG has raised major rounds to become the trusted partner for corporate payroll and issuance of Tag physical and virtual cards, while posted supports E-commerce platforms with Cash-before-delivery along with its last-mile logistics solutions. We have also marked great interest in financial inclusivity for SMEs and commercial segments alike, with startups like CreditBook and DigiKhatta helping SMEs digitize their cashflow directories, and most recently, NayaPay has secured $13M in its latest SEED round to create a seamless digital wallet and p2p payment platform available for the masses.
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Metric reached $20 million in annualized recorded transactions within five months during closed alpha. Hundreds of businesses from various countries are on the waitlist to join the closed beta which will be launched at the end of this month, according to CEO Meenah Tariq. “There are over 30 million SMBs and startups in the MENAP region contributing USD 2 trillion to the region’s GDP. However, most founders are held hostage by their fear of numbers and can not afford high-quality accountants. Current accounting software solutions are either cost-prohibitive or are designed for accountants to use, not founders. As a result, their businesses suffer and fail to grow.”, she said. “Metric lets you take control of your company’s finances and get access to real-time dashboards, professional reports, and insights from day one - in a very conversational, friendly way. This is not a cash-book or ledger app; this is an accounting and business intelligence solution that founders can start using on day one of their business, all the way up to 50 employees. Our goal is to make Metric the most founder-friendly business finance app in the world.”
Early-stage founders can start using the app for free so that they don’t need to worry about spending resources on accounting while striving to get their business off the ground. As their business grows, they can graduate to the paid version which gives them access to fully digitized, auditable accounts. “We want founders to use accounting as a tool to drive growth,” highlighted Omar Parvez Khan. “Metric monitors the health of your businesses in real-time. Not only does it track core metrics such as CAC, AOV, CLV, growth, and retention - it proactively helps business owners make strategic decisions that enable them to take their business to the next level. This is the modern way of doing accounting. Traditional accounting is a cost center. Modern accounting is a profit center.” Khan concluded.
Metric plans to use its newly acquired funds to grow across Pakistan and quickly expand to other markets in the MENA region. Founders that want to join the closed beta can sign up on the website. “I’ve been lucky to have worked closely and alongside both Meenah & Omar the past seven years in the Pakistan startup space. They both not only care deeply about the problem, they’ve also been close to it, and have designed a solution with the user at the center. We are so honored to back them and Metric, which we know will solve the challenges faced by millions of SMBs in Pakistan and the region,” concluded Kalsoom Lakhani, Co-Founder & GP at i2i Ventures.
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