Pakistani startup Sukoon closes seed investment round from multiple investors

Sukoon.com.pk, Karachi based online home repair company has successfully closed its seed investment round and has become the highest valued startup from The Nest I/O as online home repair company in Pakistan.

The seed investment round was led by Crescent Ventures as the lead investor and followed by The Indus Entrepreneur (TiE) Islamabad Chapter and DotZero Ventures. This comes as the first investment of 2016 of a local startup and also the inaugural one of TiE Islamabad and Crescent Ventures of Crescent Group. The investment comes from three diverse groups based out of Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore.

The terms of the agreement have not been revealed but according to Mr. Yusuf Hussain, Charter Member of TiE Islamabad Chapter will be given a board seat. The investors have decided on a non controlling minority stake. It is worth to be noted, that the venture was critically analyzed by the investors as two of them belong to cities other than Sukoon.com.pk showing their confidence in the startup. Mr. Humayun Mazhar is the lead investor who shared his thoughts:

“Sukoon is a project founded by passionate entrepreneurs and offers a compelling and much needed innovative solution for a need in the home and office space i.e. individuals and corporations looking to contract handymen. While doing so, Sukoon also acts as a catalyst for social impact by improving the material wellbeing of blue-collar workers. We at CresVentures are big on social impact and feel that Sukoon’s innovative solution for customers backed by funding, advisory, industry knowhow and mentoring of CresVentures has the potential to be a game changer in the services industry. We look forward to working with this team of talented individuals and have full faith in their potential to completely change the landscape of home and office space in Pakistan and beyond.”

Speaking at this occasion Mr.Yusuf Hussain, Chair TiE Islamabad Angel Fund and Advisor Crescent Ventures, also said,

“We were impressed by the Sukoon team’s relentless focus on learning and applying lessons learnt to deliver convenient, dependable and professional home and office services to its customers. If you look at the number of households and offices that struggle with quality repair and maintenance services, which can benefit, you can see there is a huge upside. What makes this deal unique is that it brings together leading and new angel funds from Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad in a spirit of cooperation and risk sharing, which bodes well for the tech startup ecosystem.”

The dynamic duo behind Sukoon, Shoaib Iqbal and Qazi Umair, expressed their sentiments over the development and said,

“This investment shows the confidence of the investors in the business model, team and the vision we have for Sukoon. We are unwaveringly confident to change the way home repairs are being done in Pakistan and other similar countries. From the initial days we have received an overwhelming response from the consumers who were longing for such services to be launched in our country. We are very focused on the service delivery and would use the investment in the areas that would improve customer satisfaction and lives of our workforce.”

Sukoon is the online, one-stop solution for hiring highly skilled and background verified workers (electricians, plumbers, masons, carpenters and painters). It was incubated at P@SHA’s Tech Incubator, The Nest i/o. In a statement, Jehan Ara, President of P@SHA and the Big Bird at The Nest i/o said:

“One rarely comes across young founders as committed to their cause as Shoaib and Qazi are. During their incubation at The Nest i/o we saw strong qualities of maturity, passion, a deep understanding of their domain and complete focus on their business goals. These are the qualities that will help them to achieve their true potential.”

Sukoon.com.pk happens to be the highest valued startup of The Nest i/o as well as the highest valued online company dealing in home improvement, repair and maintenance services in Pakistan.