PostEx buys Call Courier, on the way to becoming the country’s ‘biggest fintech’ – Business

PostEx, a fintech that primarily targets e-commerce players and provides them with credit, announced on Monday that it had acquired Call Courier, one of the country’s leading third-party logistics providers.

“Following the transaction, PostEx will now serve 1.3 million users with over 8,000 merchants in 500 cities in Pakistan, on track to become the largest fintech in Pakistan with a monthly loan book crossing $12 million,” the company said in a press release.

Call Courier will be a wholly owned subsidiary under the PostEx name and its founder and CEO Jawad Mirza will join the board, it added.

PostEx was founded in 2020 and has since raised $8.6 million over two seed rounds from names like Zayn Capital, MSA, Global Founders Capital, RTP, FJ Labs, Shorooq, VSQ and others.

PostEx founder and CEO Omer Khan said the startup was founded to facilitate all players in the e-commerce sector who are struggling to operate and expand in light of the constraints around access to capital and inefficiencies in logistics.

“The banks just aren’t lending enough to businesses, which is why so many of them are struggling to maintain their working capital in the face of insufficient cash flows. Cash on delivery, while a problem for such businesses, is very much a reality in the Pakistani ecosystem and is not going away anytime soon,” he elaborated.

Khan said Call Courier’s acquisition would help the startup increase its reach and benefit from the “great team” that Mirza had built.

“Over 90 percent of e-commerce transactions are completed in cash, representing nearly $6.5 billion. The majority of consumers shopping online in Pakistan pay using the COD payment method and payment cycles for such orders vary from one week to one month, creating cash flow problems for online sellers.

“PostEx solves these challenges with its fintech and logistics platform. In addition to cash on delivery, PostEx also offers income-based financing to provide easy access to capital, making it the first and last source of non-dilutive financing for e-commerce, the press release said.

For his part, Call Courier’s Mirza said his company had an understanding of not only bulk mail, but also e-commerce, postal collection and the needs of the sector.

“With this acquisition, it is time for us to venture into new horizons, accept new challenges and continue to grow. The Call Courier network paired with PostEx’s fintech capabilities will enable us to deliver quality deliveries across Pakistan along with financial support to the sector.”