The online marketplace platform InstaMall has announced that it has secured a pre-seed investment from Pakistan’s business magnate, Arif Habib.
InstaMall was founded by brothers Hashaam Riaz Sheikh (a former Citigroup investment banker) and Basit Riaz Sheikh (a Ph.D. from Cornell University, and a certified Artificial Intelligence expert), with collective prior working experience in leadership roles in the telecom, technology, media, and finance sectors.
Habib is the chairman of one of the largest business conglomerates of Pakistan, with holdings in multiple industries including financial services, fertilizers, cement, steel, renewable energy, and real estate development.
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According to the statement by InstaMall, Pakistan has significant mobile and broadband penetration but has one of the worst-performing e-commerce sectors. It also detailed that the e-commerce sector here comprises only one percent of the total retail market in the country. Counterfeit products, poor customer support, and delayed deliveries are some of the key obstacles hampering e-commerce adoption in Pakistan, as is evident from extremely low net-promoter scores of existing e-commerce companies.
InstaMall has secured a number of partnerships with leading fashion, cosmetics, footwear, electronics, and retail brands since its launch in September 2020.
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Its Co-founder and COO, Dr. Sheikh said,
InstaMall is essentially a tech company using a sophisticated AI-powered technology stack to efficiently overcome the obstacles that have long hampered Pakistan’s e-commerce sector. Our strong growth and positive customer feedback demonstrate the value of our platform and validate that it is solving a major pain point in the market.
Habib remarked,
Pakistan is now in the early stages of its e-commerce life cycle and has a growing middle class that is seeking a trustworthy online marketplace that provides a seamless customer experience. InstaMall has a promising vision and strategy to offer quality shopping experiences parallel to those of the best platforms in the region.
