Bazaar Raises $70 Million In Series B Led By Dragoneer And Tiger Global
Funds will be utilized to expand into more cities across Pakistan, launch new marketplace categories, scale lending offerings and accelerate new product development
By Saptak Bardhan •
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B2B e-commerce and fintech platform, Bazaar, on Tuesday announced to have raised $70 million in Series B funding round led by Dragoneer Investment Group and Tiger Global Management. Existing investors, including Indus Valley Capital, Defy Partners, Acrew Capital, Wavemaker Partners, B&Y Venture Partners and Zayn Capital also participated in the round. Funds will be utilized to expand into more cities across Pakistan, launch new marketplace categories, scale its lending offerings and accelerate new product development.
"We are humbled and excited to continue on the path to create a generation defining story for Pakistan. With significant backing of two of the largest venture growth funds in the world, we believe this will continue to change the narrative on the country and inspire countless more and bigger stories in near future." said the co-founders, Hamza Jawaid and Saad Jangda.
Bazaar's B2B e-commerce marketplace is servicing 21 towns and cities across Pakistan, covering 30 per cent of Pakistan's population through more than a dozen functional fulfilment facilities. Bazaar is adding three to four new cities and towns to its last mile network every month, putting it on course to establish the country's largest tech-enabled last mile footprint by the end of the year. Through this last mile network, Bazaar provides hundreds of top brands and manufacturers direct access to underserved merchants and geographies across retail categories powered by real time analytics and intel on brand performance significantly improving their distribution capability, said the company in a statement.
Bazaar Credit, the recently launched short-term working capital financing product, provides much-needed liquidity to its largely unbanked merchant base. Bazaar has provided thousands of digital loans, with 100 per cent repayment and significant uplift in merchant buying volumes. Bazaar's proprietary credit model incorporates customer data from both its marketplace and merchant software products, giving it a differentiated ability to lend to this underserved segment.
"We believe that Pakistan is at an inflection point in its tech ecosystem development. Bazaar is tapping into the massive merchant opportunity and is leading the charge in the country. We are excited to back their incredible team and phenomenal growth in such a short span of time." said John Curtius, partner, Tiger Global Management.
Founded in June 2020 by Hamza Jawaid and Saad Jangda, Bazaar aims to capitalize on these fundamentals by building an integrated platform of B2B offerings that can aggregate, digitize, and finance the country's fragmented retail landscape. Bazaar provides procurement, fulfilment, operating software, digital lending, and supply chain products to merchants and suppliers in Pakistan. The investment, which comes just 6 months after its Series A, takes Bazaar's total institutional funding to over $100 million.
