Airlift Technologies

Airlift Technologies was a Pakistani company that initially started its operations in Pakistan as a Mass Transit ride hailing service. Amidst COVID 19 and a total lockdown in Pakistan, the company was unable to continue its operations and quickly pivoted into instant delivery service. It was founded in March 2019. It closed all operations on 13th July 2022. Customers of the company used a mobile application or website to order groceries and essentials online, and airlift and secure the items from their warehouse, delivering the items to the consumer within 30 minutes.

Airlift Technologies
IndustryTransportation Grocery Delivery
FoundedMarch 2019
FoundersUsman Gul
Ahmed Ayub
Meher Farrukh
Defunct13th July 2022
FateInsolvency
HeadquartersLahore Karachi,
Lahore
,
Pakistan
Area served
South Africa (Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town) and Pakistan (Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Sialkot)
Key people
Usman Gul
Ahmed Ayub
Meher Farrukh
ProductsAirlift Express (Airlift Grocer) and Airlift Transit
Websitehttp://www.airlifttech.com

History

The idea of Airlift was conceived by the founding Chief Executive Usman Gul after he experienced the congestion during his visit to Lahore for vacations which was caused by the inefficiency of local transportation.[1]

In March 2019, Gul along with a small team founded the Airlift and launched its operations with a pilot project in Lahore.[2] Gul initially self funded the startup using US$ 50,000.[1] With COVID 19 spreading in Pakistan, the company was forced to halt operations for an indefinite period in order to contain the spread. Gul realized a potential opportunity and quickly pivoted into Q-Commerce Grocery Delivery Business model raising a funding of $ 12 million in the Series A financing round.

As of July 2019, the company was operating in two Pakistani cities, Karachi and Lahore.[1] In August 2019, Airlift raised $2.2 million in seed funding from local and international institutions.[3]

According to a report, Airlift acquired 50,000 riders in Lahore in less than five months of its operations. In November 2019, the company raised Series A funding of $12 million which included participation from American venture capital firm First Round Capital. [4][5]

The downturn of economic conditions in 2022 and depleted venture capital funding resulted in the company's suspension of business operations.[6][7]

Funding

Airlift introduced an online grocery service in Pakistan with the name of "Airlift Express" bringing $10 Million foreign investment. Later in 2021, Airlift secured 85 million USD funding in Series B financing which is the largest in Pakistan. [8]

See also

References
  1. Khan, Mutaher (21 July 2019). "Tech Talk: Smart buses to make intracity commute easier". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
  2. "Pakistani bus app Airlift raises $2.2m to expand to more urban centers". techinasia. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
  3. "Pakistan's ride hailing startup Airlift raised 2.2m seed". Daily Times. 9 August 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
  4. "Pakistan's Airlift raises $12 million in country's largest Series A to build a decentralized global mass transit system". MENAbytes. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  5. "Pakistani Startup Airlift Raises $2.2M As Investors Flock To Transit-Hailing Apps". finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
  6. Hassan, Syed Raza (2022-07-13). "Global downturn claims first Pakistan startup as Airlift closes". Reuters.
  7. Singh, Manish (2022-07-12). "Pakistan's top startup shutting down following funding crunch". TechCrunch.
  8. "Airlift introduces a new online grocery shopping service in Pakistan". nation.com. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
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