Airlift raises record $85 million in Series B funding

Airlift, a Lahore-based startup, recently raised a record $85 million, making it not only the biggest funding round for a Pakistani startup, but also the largest Series B raised by a startup in the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan.

Airlift was founded in 2019 by Usman Gul, Ahmed Ayub and Meher Farrukh, and is a mass transit and quick commerce startup with the latter being a result of the Covid-19 pandemic as the company had to halt its transit operations in its wake. 

The startup launched Airlift Express, a 30 minute grocery delivery service which also includes fresh produce and prescription medication, that can be accessed through its dedicated website and app. This service is now available in 8 cities across Pakistan, including Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Faisalabad, and Peshawar. Airlift is also looking to construct a farmer-to-consumer distribution channel for fresh produce that will no doubt benefit customers greatly. The finances secured will also contribute to the startup’s international expansion plans for Airlift Express.

Josh Buckley, from Buckley Ventures who co-led the round, regarding the financing, said, “the best operators in the space are backing Airlift, in large part due to the track record of the team and the company’s focus on Asia and Africa — for this model, developing markets will get to profitability much faster than similar companies in developed markets.”

Usman Gul, the co-founder and CEO of Airlift, stated, “with this financing, we must return to where we started from — fighting against the odds and staying true to our core values of hustle, teamwork, resourcefulness, and bias to action. If this is the journey of a thousand miles, we have taken only the first step.”