Influential Venture Fund Sequoia Invests in Pakistani Startup Dbank

Amidst all uncertainties and political instability, the startup sector is still proving to be a bearer of good news. Just recently a Pakistani fintech startup named ‘Dbank’, was able to raise around $17.6 million in its seed round, and set the record for the biggest seed funding in Pakistan.

This investment was co-led by one of the world’s most influential venture fund named ‘Sequoia’, which for the first time has invested into a Pakistani startup therefore adding them into a long list of VC’s that have bet their money on the South Asian startup market.

Apart from Sequoia, other investors included a Brazilian neobank named Nubank, Askari Bank and Rayn. The seed fund raising round was surely a success, and is something that would surely motivate entrepreneurs to not lose hope in the Pakistani market despite the problems we are going through.

What is Dbank?

Based out of Islamabad, Dbank was founded in 2021, and is working towards creating a user friendly digital banking system that is completely transparent, and aims to capture a majority of the Pakistani population that does not have bank accounts. With their startup, founders Tania Airdus and Khurram Jamali wants to finish the informal, unpredictable and exploitive credit systems that the country currently has.

Describing Dbank goals Airdus said that “Nearly half of the population of Pakistan, home to over 220 million people, currently don’t have bank accounts. “We want our users to be in control of their money and to make informed choices”. VP Sequoia South east, while speaking about Dbank, said that the startup has firm goal of democratizing banking, however it plans and roadmap are kept to be a secret by the founders.

“Unique opportunity to build a customer-centric bank for millions”

Both Airdus and Jamali are both former Google employees, and worked on payment rails for the tech giant. All this while, the duo kept a close eye on the Pakistani market and identified a core problem ‘user-centric banking’. As the State Bank of Pakistan released digital banking certificates and welcomed new players into the financial markets, the duo thought of it to be the perfect opportunity and took their leap of faith.

Monetary authorities in the country have been aggressive about digitalization, thus making this the perfect time for financial startups to start their operations. ‘Jamali’ while speaking on the topic said that “the reason it is the perfect time to launch a venture like Dbank is that the key building blocks are now in place – Raast, the real-time payment system by State Bank of Pakistan supported by seamless digital identity through NADRA. We have seen the multiplier effect that digital public infrastructure can have on the private sectors’ ability to help move economies from cash to digital”.

“Pakistan, the world’s fifth-most populous nation, has a fast-growing middle class with increasingly sophisticated banking needs. This signals a unique opportunity to build a large, customer-centric bank for millions of people. Dbank is addressing this by taking a digital-native approach to democratize banking and make a broad set of financial services” said Sequoia in its statement about Dbank.