PriceOye, an electronic marketplace with headquarters in Pakistan, has raised $7.9 million in preliminary funding round, marking Peter Thiel’s founder of PayPal’s first investment in Pakistan.
PriceOye is one of the new eCommerce startups that have emerged as a result of the tremendous flood of eCommerce that Pakistan has experienced over the past two years. a website selling goods that makes the promise to offer the most affordable, high-quality cell phones, TVs, and home appliances.
Big-name companies contributed to the fundraising, which was led by JAM Funding, the venture capital firm founded by Tinder creator Justin Mateen. Names including Beenext, DG Daiwa, Mantis VC, HOF Capital, Jet.com, Palm Drive Capital, and Peter Thiel were among the investors.
PriceOye began operations at the beginning of the epidemic, but it continued to develop admirably and eventually served 45 million unique users in Pakistan, or around 37.5% of the nation’s population.
Before starting their companies, founders Adan and Adeel Shafi worked at two firms. The brothers claim that while attentively examining South Asian market trends and customer behavior, the concept for PriceOye came to them. The brothers determined what would be successful for Pakistan’s eCommerce business by examining several companies from India and Indonesia.
The brothers continued with a marketplace where only brands were permitted to sell their phones, with no involvement from third parties, after realizing the importance of trust in South Asian markets. They were able to eliminate the risk and anxiety customers feel before placing an online order by doing.
“We understood that the managed marketplace model, which was pioneered by Flipkart and many other players in Southeast Asia, can only function in a market where trust is one of the most important aspects and there is a significant trust deficit between the consumer and the brand,” said Adnan Shafi.
PriceOye, the largest online marketplace for selling mobile phones, has popularity not only in Tier 1 cities but also in smaller towns. The platform receives about 35% of its orders from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
After securing fresh funding, PriceOye is now focusing on growing its 97-person staff. More recent plans include for expanding the marketplace to include more electronic goods and providing offline experiences to clients in locations like shopping malls.
“Spending significant sums of money on high-quality products while being doubtful of their legitimacy is always a difficult decision for buyers. According to Seamon Chan, managing partner of Palm Drive Capital, “I was fascinated by the concept of PriceOye founders Adnan and Adeel of providing transparency and bringing convenience to customers when it comes to buying consumer goods.
