Online publication ‘Dale Street Asia’ has reported that the service of quick commerce startup ‘Airlift’ in Pakistan is being shut down permanently.
According to the sources, Airlift was initially a bus service that later became a delivery service, which last year raised $8.5 million more than any local startup.
However, the airline had shut down its services in cities like Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Hyderabad and Peshawar a few months ago and laid off about a third of its employees to reduce the payload.
According to startup data portal Crunch Base, Airlift raised a total of $109.2 million in six rounds with its recent investors Future Positive and Moving Capital.
The startup ecosystem in Pakistan has been in crisis for the past few months due to which several reputed companies have announced to suspend, limit or partially suspend their services.
Leading riding service ‘Careem’ has recently suspended its food delivery service due to the changing economic scenario, while online bus service ‘Swvl’ has also been suspended in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Faisalabad last month due to global recession.
Freight management startup ‘Truck it In‘ has also recently redesigned its strategy, citing global economic uncertainty, and dedicated some of its staff to tackle the current challenges.
At the moment, start-ups are increasingly finding it difficult to attract new customers, while investors are reluctant to openly invest heavily, which could help start-ups to gain new customers.
The startups raised a total of $103.8 million in 22 deals in the April-June quarter, down nearly 40 percent from the previous quarter, when it was $173 million.