Pakistani startup Finja raises $1.5 million in series A funding round

Pakistani fintech startup Finja mostly known for its mobile wallet application SimSim has closed Series A funding round of $1.5 Million USD led by Vostok Emerging Finance, the same investment company which invested in Finja as a convertible note last year. Another participant in this funding round is Gray Mackenzie Engineering Services, a Descon company.

The funding announcement by Finja comes on the heels of a series of exciting news from the company and its partner, Finca Microfinance Bank. The State Bank of Pakistan awarded SimSim commercial launch go-ahead after a successful pilot lasting several months in June.

According to Finja, the SimSim has been doubling its mobile wallets every month with 80,000 accounts since it went live a few months ago. The application has already clocked more than Rs. 1.5 Billion in transactions through peer to peer payments, QR code led merchant payments, an e-commerce marketplace, bill payments and mobile top-ups. All transactions through SimSim are completely free with zero transaction fees aiming to accelerate digital payments in Pakistan.

“In a few short months, our dream of digitizing payments in Pakistan through zero transaction fees is becoming a reality”, said Qasif Shahid, CoFounder and CEO of Finja.

“This financing round by notable international and local investors is a strong vote of confidence for our early traction and the potential of the Pakistani market” added Monis Rahman Co-Founder and Chairman of Finja.

David Nangle, partner at Vostok Emerging Finance said,

“We are delighted to participate again in Finja’s Series A and are very pleased with the execution of the team in this large untapped high barrier to entry market.”

While plenty of startups continue to emerge in Pakistani tech ecosystem only a handful are able to execute, acquire customers and raise investments to scale. Finja as a fairly new entrant in the market has set a strong footing and can serve as a guiding light for upcoming startup founders.