Pakistani startup PostEx acquired logistics company Call Courier in a deal that makes PostEx the nation’s largest ecommerce delivery firm, according to its founder. PostEx provides courier and financing services to online merchants.

The combined entity will be handling about 50,000 orders a day, a scale that makes it profitable, founder Muhammad Omer Khan said without disclosing a value for the deal. The acquisition gives PostEx delivery operations in 500 Pakistani cities, compared with its previous base that consisted of just the three main ones.

“While others are going on the backfoot and slowing down, we plan to become even more aggressive,” Khan, who is PostEx’s CEO, said in an interview in the southern city of Karachi.

Pakistan has a population of about 230 million, making it the world’s fifth-largest nation. The majority of the population still hasn’t switched to online shopping. That provides room for the sector to grow and transactions to reach $10 billion before 2025 from about $6 billion now, Khan estimates.

More than 90% of Pakistan’s ecommerce deliveries are paid with cash. That results in long delays before the merchants receive the proceeds for the sale. PostEx offers these businesses upfront payments before deliveries, giving them liquidity. The financing services help PostEx stand out from the region’s other delivery companies, Khan said.

Khan started PostEx in 2019 with a friend. They went door-to-door to small shops to convince them to allow the company to handle their deliveries. The acquisition more than triples its number of employees to 2,400.

PostEx funding

The country’s startups raised more than $350 million in 2021, a record, with several global venture funds investing for the first time. PostEx raised $8.6 million last year in one of Pakistan’s largest early-stage funding rounds.

Pakistan’s ecommerce industry has lured the most investment in the recent funding rush. The majority of the population still hasn’t switched to online shopping, providing room for the sector to grow and transactions to reach $10 billion before 2025 from about $6 billion now, Khan estimates.

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