Pakistan’s PostEx raises $1.5 million seed to offer upfront payments to online sellers for their cash-on-delivery orders

Lahore-based fintech and logistics startup PostEx has raised $1.5 million in a seed round led by MSA Capital, it announced in a statement today. Shorooq Partners, Zayn Capital, VentureSouq, PNO Ventures, +92 Ventures, and Arbisoft’s CEO Yasser Bashir also participated in the deal.

Founded in 2020 by Omer Khan, Saad Mahmood, Babar Razzaq, and Adil Naseem, PostEx offers online sellers with upfront payments for their cash-on-delivery orders, for a fixed fee. The startup works with online sellers as their last-mile logistics partner but what makes it different from so many other players in the market is that it doesn’t make sellers wait to receive the payments for their cash-on-delivery orders.

The majority of the consumers who shop online in Pakistan pay using the cash-on-delivery payment method and the payment cycles for such orders range between a week to a month which creates cash flow issues for the online sellers. PostEx is trying to solve these challenges with its fintech and logistics platform. In addition to cash-on-delivery, PostEx also offers a payment gateway that the sellers can integrate on their website to accept online payments using cards, bank accounts, and mobile wallets.

Omer Khan, co-founder and CEO, commenting on the occasion, said, “Pakistan’s ecommerce landscape is rapidly evolving and lack of access to financing opportunities is hampering the growth of online merchants and ecommerce landscape broadly. Our goal is to be the first and last source of funds of fast-growing ecommerce businesses to meet all their capital requirements to accelerate their growth. With fresh funds and a capacity to provide over $50 million a year in financing to companies, we are on a mission to change the face of lending in Pakistan.”

The startup plans to use the latest funds to grow its products and expand its team. It currently employs 150 people in Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad – majority of which are part of its logistics team.

MSA Capital’s Tim Chen, said, “The rapid growth of ecommerce in Pakistan is being held back by high levels of Cash on Delivery (CoD). PostEx’s integrated instant payments with logistics is a model we have backed globally to resolve the hurdles posed by CoD and believe that Omer and team have the execution capabilities to build a regional leader.”

Faisal Aftab, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Zayn Capital, said, “PostEx is solving key problems for the rapidly scaling ecommerce market in Pakistan through its factoring and logistics solution. Their innovative approach creates stickiness with retailers, providing them last mile and working capital solutions eventually becoming their financial products solutions provider.”

Tamer Azer, Partner at Shorooq Partners, said, “For us at Shorooq Partners, PostEx represents the perfect intersection for our views on the potential of the Pakistani market as well as our deep appreciation for infrastructure support organizations in the ecommerce industry. A fantastic team building the right product that eliminates clear complexities facing many merchants looking to grow their ecommerce businesses.”