Sequoia Enters Pakistan’s Startup Economy by Backing Fintech

(Bloomberg) -- Pakistani fintech company Dbank pulled off the nation’s largest early-stage fundraising round, which also marked venture giant Sequoia Capital’s entry into the nation’s startup economy.

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Dbank raised $17.6 million in the seed round co-led by Sequoia Capital Southeast Asia and Kleiner Perkins. Digital banking platform Nubank, RTP Global, Rayn and local partner Askari Bank Ltd. also participated.

Pakistan, the world’s fifth-most populous nation, came under the spotlight with record funding of about $350 million in startups last year. The South Asian nation is in the early stages of its startup economy.

Still, the nation is feeling the impact of the global downturn with Uber Technologies Inc.’s Careem Inc. unit suspending food deliveries and Airlift Technologies Pvt. shutting down after raising the nation’s largest-ever round last year.

Dbank was formed by two former Google employees, Tania Aidrus and Khurram Jamali, who have worked together for over a decade. The company has applied to become a digital retail bank in Pakistan, with an aim to operate in the Pan-Islamic world.

Pakistan as an emerging market has immense potential, according to Mamoon Hamid, a partner at Kleiner Perkins. Dbank is targeting the country’s 110 million adults without access to banking services, which makes it the third-largest unbanked nation after India and China, according to World Bank.

“Pakistan has a fast-growing middle class with increasingly sophisticated banking needs,” said Johan Surani, vice president at Sequoia Southeast Asia. “This signals a unique opportunity to build a large, customer-centric bank for millions of people.”

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