Hajra Naz
DealCart and NayaPay, two Pakistani startups, are on the Forbes Asia 100 To Watch List. This list highlights emerging small businesses and startups across the Asia-Pacific region.
This year’s list features businesses from 16 nations and territories. They operate in ten different industries, including;
- Manufacturing and energy
- Robotics and enterprise technology
- Banking.
With twenty enterprises, India is the most represented this year, followed by;
- Singapore (15),
- Japan (9)
- Indonesia (8).
DealCart, founded in Karachi in 2022, is an online grocery store serving Pakistan’s growing middle class. It offers fresh produce, snacks, detergents, and more. To reach DealCart’s consumer base, small grocery retailers can also sell there. The startup closed a $3 million seed investment round in July, according to Forbes. It is co-led by Sturgeon Capital in London and Shorooq Partners in Abu Dhabi.
NayaPay is a fintech firm. It was established in 2016. The company runs a payments processing platform in Pakistan.
Online payments, virtual debit cards, and e-wallets are all supported by the NayaPay app. Additionally, NayaPay offers point-of-sale devices that businesses can install in retail spaces. According to Forbes, the financial business raised $13 million in a 2022 seed investment round headed by Graph Ventures, MSA Novo, and Zayn Capital.
In addition to inviting accelerators, incubators, universities, venture capitalists, and others to suggest firms, Forbes Asia also invited online applications from companies in order to choose the finalists on the 100 to Watch list. Companies had to be privately held, for-profit operations with headquarters in the Asia-Pacific area, with yearly revenue no more than $50 million and total capital no more than $100 million until August 7 in order to be eligible for consideration.
The Forbes Asia team evaluated each proposal based on a number of factors, such as market fit, innovation, impact and contribution to the industry and region, a history of consistent revenue growth, and potential for finance attraction.
