In Pakistan, 80% of the population travels via Auto Rickshaws. A startup named Travly saw a need in this space and decided to capitalize on this.
Travly started off as a one stop shop for rickshaw commuters and has since expanded into buses, taxis and cargo services. They were incubated in Plan9 in the 3rd cycle and later accelerated at PlanX in 2014.
After 3 years of hardships and struggles they have now raised a seed investment of $ 200,000 by CresVentures, said a statement issued by the startup.
Co-founder of Travly, Talaal Burny shared:
This investment is what Travly needed to expand its operations into several territories. This investment is CresVentures first linear investment in the Pakistani industry.
He further added that this investment consolidates market validation. The numbers should show to local Angel Investors in Pakistan that what CresVentures has done can be replicated by others and generally this should be a moral boost for other Pakistani Angel Investors to have more faith in startups.
On hearing the news, Dr. Umar Saif, Chairman Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) said:
It is heartening to see such exemplary investable tech products coming out of Plan9 and PlanX that build the entrepreneurial eco-system in Pakistan. I hope this encourages the Angel community to invest in Pakistani startups that have the potential.
The Travly team comprises of 5 co-founders, Talaal Burny, Shahmir Khan, Faizan Khan, Mehmood Ali and Muhammad Zohaib.
“Having seen these boys work really hard over the last few years, they have set the bar high for their peers in the industry to follow. Their passion, determination and work ethic is worthy of applaud and perhaps it’s one of the reasons why they have raised seed funding today.” Mr. Nabeel A. Qadeer, Director Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development, PITB.
This is what Humayun Mazhar, CEO CresVentures had to say about this:
Travly tackles several issues concurrently. From a practical standpoint it introduces notions of convenience to the average rickshaw user, who currently resorts to hailing his/her ride physically by stepping out onto the street.
An overwhelming majority of rickshaw users are women, with children being next on the list – Travly empowers both users by giving them freedom of movement, something that they never had. Once I was convinced Travly had a model to ensure all these conveniences to the average Pakistani, there was no turning back.
He also added: “We were interested in working with Travly from the get-go. My takeaways from several interactions with the team were overwhelmingly positive and I see huge potential for Travly in the travel space. We like the people, the idea and the execution – it’s a recipe for success. We’re expecting to teach the team a few tricks while learning a few new ones ourselves.”