A Lahore-based co-working startup, Daftarkhwan, has successfully closed a seed round of an undisclosed amount from The Emerging Markets Property Group, the parent company of Zameen.com and Olx.
Daftarkhwan began operations in 2016 and is regarded as one of the forerunners of the coworking movement in Pakistan, a country with a population of 220 million people and a thriving startup ecosystem that has attracted substantial investment interest as of 2021. The company claims to have grown to five locations in three cities, with a daily capacity of 1,650 individuals, with plans to expand to over 3,000 people in the next three months.
“They were impressed by the dedicated team behind Daftarkhwan, which epitomizes Pakistani inventiveness,” said Imran, CEO of EMPG.
“Investing in the right people has been one of the primary drivers of EMPG’s success, and the team at the head of Daftarkhwan is some of the most hardworking, ambitious, and passionate people in Pakistan’s startup scene,” Khan added.
With this seed investment, EMPG joins Walled City Co as a Daftarkhwan investor as the startup prepares to transform the way people work across Pakistan. This additional investment will assist EMPG in exploring the new realm of co-working spaces, which has experienced a surge in popularity as a result of the post-pandemic shift to more remote models, which has increased demand for such low-cost company setup possibilities. This move aligns with the Unicorn’s goal of assisting more tech entrepreneurs and creating more success stories in their various sectors.
“Daftarkhwan’s sole goal has been to assist founders in building and scaling their businesses since its inception.” “This has given us a front-row seat to Pakistan’s remarkable growth of the startup business,” said Daftarkhwan co-founder Saad Idrees.
“Daftarkhwan has always prided itself on being more than just an office for its community of entrepreneurs and innovators, and we are delighted to grow this community even more,” Idrees said.
Following the funding, the firm intends to expand its footprint in Lahore, Islamabad, and Rawalpindi by opening new outlets, as well as expanding into smaller cities. Saad exuded confidence that co-working had shown to be a successful real-estate concept, particularly in the aftermath of the pandemic. As a result, the market has adequate room to expand.
“Daftarkhwan has progressed from solely hosting startups to include house legacy enterprises’ employees in our co-working spaces. As a result, coworking is working now and for everyone. It’s all about providing the proper kind of experience and providing service flexibility that can accommodate both senior and young enterprises,” Saad told Profit.
“You can do it for everyone on board as long as you can do it in a viable way,” he continued. In terms of viability, Saad stated that Daftarkhwan is not profitable at the moment because it is in high growth mode, but that it is on course to become profitable by Q4 2022.
Image Courtesy: Daftarkhwan
