Pakistani Startup BookMe goes international with service launch in Myanmmar

Home-grown venture, BookMe – which lets you book bus and cinema tickets through mobile and web applications, has just entered the international arena with the service launch in Myanmmar.

According to BookMe founder, Faizan Aslam, Myanmmar is an exciting space and in many ways quite similar to Pakistan. Mobile phone penetration is already past the 50% mark of the adult population and is expected to be as high as 75% by the end of 2016. With the population of 52 million citizens, Myanmar is a young country with a median age of just 28 years.

Earlier this year, Bookme raised funding at a valuation of 4 million dollars and Faisal Sherjan joined the venture
as a Director. Ever since the development, Faizan and his venture has never looked back.

BookMe believes this is the right time to venture into international market. The startup has entered the market by parterning with Lychee Ventures. Lynchee Ventures has a strong footing in the country with several media publications focussing on food and entertainment.

Faizan Aslam the CEO and Founder of Bookme commented,

‘We are very excited to be signing up cinema and bus partners in Myanmar and see this as a first step towards expansion in frontier and emerging markets. Myanmar is on the cusp of major change and we want to be part of this process of growth. Mobile telephony is showing explosive growth and that is fertile territory for e ticketing. In Lychee Ventures we have found the perfect partner to strongly and aggressively develop this market” Faizan Aslam the CEO and Founder of Bookme shared his excitement on signing an agreement with Lychee Ventures.

Andreas Sigurdsson CEO of Lychee Ventures responded, “ I am very excited to enter the online ticketing market for cinema and buses in Myanmar. During my last three years in Myanmar I have witnessed a booming market leapfrogging in many areas. Just in the last year we have had sim cards drop from USD150 to USD 1.5 overnight leading to millions of people getting access to the Internet through their smartphones. With the recent addition of electronic payment methods making online purchases possible we are excited to be the first player to offer cinema tickets online and through mobiles and this is just the beginning”

Bookme was a part of Plan9 and PlanX, incubation and acceleration programs respectively, in the past.