Metric, a digital accounting platform for SMBs and startups, has secured $900,000 in a pre-seed round that was oversubscribed.
“The firm intends to use this financing to expand beyond Pakistan and into other markets in the MENA area,” says the founder.
Metric was founded by Meenah Tariq and Omar Parvez Khan in August 2021, and during closed alpha, it hit $20 million in yearly recorded transactions in just five months.
Tariq and Khan, it added, had been “engaged in the rapid rise of Pakistan’s startup ecosystem over the previous decade, having worked with and trained over a thousand small businesses.”
“Both of them were partners in venture capital funds before switching to the operator side,” according to the news statement, which also noted that they have worked with businesses in Bangladesh, Nepal, Iraq, Myanmar, and Vietnam.
“The MENAP region has over 30 million SMBs and startups, contributing $2 trillion to the region’s GDP (gross domestic product”),” says Dr. Habiba, co-founder.
“Most entrepreneurs, on the other hand, are held hostage by their phobia of numbers and are unable to afford high-quality accountants. Current accounting software is either too expensive or built for accountants rather than entrepreneurs “she emphasized, “As a result, their companies struggle and are unable to expand.”
“Metric allows you to take charge of your company’s finances and have access to real-time dashboards, professional reports, and insights from day one,” the co-founder explained in a conversational, courteous manner.
“This isn’t a cashbook or ledger software; it’s an accounting and business intelligence solution that founders may use from the first day of their company up to 50 employees.” “Our goal is to make Metric the world’s most founder-friendly business finance app,” she continued.
According to the press release, early-stage founders can use the app for free so they don’t have to worry about spending resources on accounting while trying to get their business off the ground. As their businesses grow, they can upgrade to the paid version, which will give them access to “fully digitized, auditable accounts.”
“We encourage founders to utilize accounting as a tool to promote growth,” Khan remarked in this regard. Metric keeps track of the health of your company in real-time.”
“But not only tracks fundamental indicators like CAC (customer acquisition cost), AOV (average order value), CLV (customer lifetime value), growth, and retention — it also proactively assists business owners in making strategic decisions that enable them to take their company to the next level,” he stated. “This is how accounting is done nowadays.” Accounting is a cost center in the traditional sense. Accounting in the 21st century is a profit center.”
“I’ve been happy to have worked closely and alongside both Meenah and Omar [over] the past seven years in the Pakistan startup ecosystem,” i2i Ventures co-founder Kalsoom Lakhani said after the business raised the money. They are both intensely concerned about the problem, have been close to it, and have devised a solution that puts the user first.”
“We are extremely proud to support them and Metric,” she said in the press release, “which we know will solve the difficulties faced by millions of SMBs in Pakistan and the region.”
Metric, according to Kinnow Capital partner Fayez ul Haq, will make bookkeeping and financial management as simple for SMB entrepreneurs as it is for large organizations with professional accounting teams.
“With their significant accounting and finance expertise and a tech-forward attitude, the Metric team is uniquely positioned to solve this acute pain point for small business owners today. We are ecstatic to be a part of this journey with them “he stated.
SMBs and startups around the world are being challenged by “backend operations that don’t fit within their founders’ primary capabilities,” according to Rayan Dawud, an investment partner at Outliers Venture Capital.
“We’re excited to partner with Meenah and Omar and assist Metric’s growth across the MENAP area as they construct a platform that allows enterprises to run their day-to-day operations while also providing business owners with tools for proactive decision-making,” he added.
“Metric is one of those unusual platforms that lets you start using it with minimal effort and then organically delivers you really powerful tools to build your business and mature as a manager,” says Shehryar Hydri, partner at Deosai Ventures.
“It’s simple to use,” he continued, “and it might quickly become the secret sauce for improving the quality of MSMEs (micro, small, and medium enterprises) around the world.”
Image Credit: Metric
