A Pakistani startup based on financial technology or fintech has raised $7.2 million in the recent seed round, taking its total funding to $9.3 million since it was launched in 2019.
The Islamabad firm said that it secured the giant funding following a surge its demand among consumers adding that its is now crossing 200,000 registrations.
Earlier this year, SadaPay rolled out its digital wallet and numberless debit card in its pilot phase under the supervision of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
The firm does not have any costly physical branches like a traditional bank as it works on a “neobank” business model using the Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license framework.
According to the company, Pakistan is the fifth most populous country globally with over 220 million people, but it has the third-largest unbanked population after China and India.
SadaPay’s CEO and founder, Brandon Timinsky comments: “Pakistan has a refreshingly progressive regulator, a burgeoning unbanked middle class, widespread smartphone adoption, and over 70 per cent of the population is under the age of 35. We believe that a combination of factors makes Pakistan one of the best places for emerging fintech in the world and we are excited to be a leader in that ecosystem.”
The ultimate goal for the company is to become a fully-fledged bank, says Timinsky, taking advantange of an up-and-coming framework from the SBP to issue digital banking licences.
