Pakistani FinTech NayaPay has raised $13m from a seed funding round that is one of the largest ever seed rounds in South Asia.
The round was led by Zayn Capital, MSA Novo and VC Graph Ventures. Also taking part in the round were Maple Leaf Capital, the Lakson Group and Empower Finance CEO Warren Hogarth.
According to FinTech Finance, NayaPay is the first FinTech of its kind in Pakistan having recently secured the first EMI licence from the Pakistan central bank, the State Bank of Pakistan.
NayaPay claims it is on a mission to make financial services simpler and more accessible to millions of Pakistani users and aims to be at the forefront in the digitisation of Pakistan with its platform for the underbanked.
Nayapay CEO and founder Danish Lakhani said, “NayaPay is empowering young Pakistani adults starting their financial journey, from students stepping into adulthood to freelancers and entrepreneurs taking an active role in managing their finances. In many senses, it’s a coming-of-age moment for many and our goal is to continue to innovate and build functionality to become a part of their daily lives, for the rest of their lives.
“Micro, small and medium businesses make up 90% of the merchant-base in Pakistan and yet they are underserved when it comes to access to basic financial services. NayaPay Arc will provide universal payments acceptance and a range of business financial management tools to empower entrepreneurs and small business owners. The tools are intended to give business owners the visibility of their cash flows, pay suppliers and grow sales. Our goal is to enable them to focus on growth while we take care of the rest. By helping small businesses harness the power of technology, we believe we can transform the Pakistani economy.
“Customer trust is a key pillar of any platform’s success. At NayaPay, we are consumed by our obsession to simplify the lives of both consumers and merchants with our app and NayaPay Arc while supporting our customers with robust and scalable technology and fanatic customer service. We are also partnering with leading banks to provide additional value and convenience to our mutual customers, eventually leading to a full digital banking experience.”
