PakWheels.com today announced that Frontier Digital Ventures — a Malaysia based venture capital fund — will invest US$3.5 Million in PakWheels to take the auto portal to the next level.
This is one of the largest, publicly announced, venture capital investment deals into a Pakistan technology ventures.
Over the last 10 years, PakWheels.com has helped millions of Pakistanis buy & sell cars and bikes, read automotive reviews and news, check automotive prices and find solutions to their automotive needs.
Despite the introduction of competing classifieds websites by giants like Naspers, Schibsted and other international internet firms, PakWheels.com has managed to grow its market share owing largely to the cult-like following of its brand, a very loyal user base, great execution by the management team and marketing programs that are inclusive of the brick and mortar car dealerships in the country.
Muhammad Raza Saeed, Co-Founder and CEO of PakWheels.com, said while commenting on the deal,
“Pakistan’s internet user base is expected to grow to 100 million users by 2019 and we want to be the go-to place for anything and everything to do with wheels for this online population.
This round of funding will help us strengthen our leadership position, improve existing services and build new offerings. Think Wheels, Think PakWheels.”
CEO and Founder of Frontier Digital Ventures, Shaun Di Gregorio, remarked,
“PakWheels.com epitomizes the kind of business that Frontier Digital Ventures is seeking to invest in. We love frontier and emerging markets and have a wealth of expertise and a proven track record of extracting value in the opportunities these markets present, so we are really looking forward to working with the team to take the portal to its full potential.”
The investment by Frontier Digital Ventures follows a recent trend of investments by international seed stage funds and angel investors into tech focused Pakistani start-ups with high growth potential. Frontier Digital’s earlier investment in the property portal of Pakistan Zameen.com, and Kima Venture’s funding of Shopistan and computer vision products company Eyedeus Labs are recent examples.
Keep it up, PakWheels (y)
Any idea what services/improvements will PakWheels rollout with this investment?
I think information about auto sector will be provided.Excellent venture of digital marketing at a time when 3G/4G users have crossed 4 million and internet access through other means have crossed 3.6 million in data hungry market.It is expected that total internet users will cross 100 million within 3 to 4 years. Any investment in digital marketing side will prove fruitful in future due to unlimited internet access.
Superb
“Pakistan’s internet user base is expected to grow to 100 million users by 2019” It’s true! We can expect more than 150 million users if we invest in education. The more the people educate, the more revenue will be generated.But our government want to give away something strange.
PakWheels and PakGamers are two of the most important websites in Pakistan
Along with those ‘You need IE 5 to access this site’ Govt websites.
The founder of Pakwheels is Hanif Bhatti and Co founder is Jagdesh Pajuja.
Pakwheels have a huge fan club and their blog are good, informative and interesting
with the Pakistani car industry in such a mess do you really think they need 3.5 million usd for a website which sells cars?
Hats Off to Pakwheels team. Feeling proud to be member of PW since 2008. PW you are really wonderful.