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Flo by Shahi Sawari, a leading local ridesharing platform, recently launched daily commute services in Pakistan. The platform provides first of its kind app-based, door-to-door daily commute services on a monthly subscription model. The company has launched two products: Flo Kids (flokids.com) and Flo (rideflo.com), catering to different market needs. Flo Kids provides monthly school pick and drop services for school going kids. While Flo pool offers a monthly subscription for daily pick and drops to people traveling for work or education. Available vehicle formats include AC mini-vans, cars and rickshaws at the moment. Since its pilot launch in October 2019, thousands of daily trips are now completed on Flo. Flo is currently operating in Lahore and plans to expand operations in other metropolises such as Faisalabad, Islamabad, and Karachi.
The tech-based platform offers unique features like door-to-door pick and drop services; same verified drivers for daily travel, and live trip tracking to ensure reliable, secure and convenient services for the users. The platform offers carpool as well as dedicated transportation services to cater to various consumer needs. The app uses algorithms to calculate fares on the basis of distance from users’ pickup locations to destinations. Product’s carpooling feature makes it considerably affordable compared to other on-demand transportation services available.
Flo is the shared mobility platform by Shahi Sawari Pvt. Ltd. that started its services in 2016 as an on-demand transportation platform. Shahi Sawari was first incubated at LUMS Center of Entrepreneurship, presently known as the National Incubation Center (NIC), Lahore, in 2015. After successfully catering to 1 mil+ trips on the platform with a user base of more than 300,000 users and a partner network of 7000+, the Shahi Sawari team launched their new product: Flo. The co-founders Mehras Tayyab, CEO; Junaid Mir, COO; and Hashim Zahid the CTO saw a dire need for a more sustainable and long-term transportation solution for daily travel in Pakistan. Recognizing the need, especially in traffic-heavy, big metropolises, the co-founders decided to build a product that was better suited for the needs of Pakistani urban population and infrastructure. The team has raised more than 1 mil USD investment through angel investors and notable local VCs including 47 Ventures and CresVentures.
“Our vision is to build a transportation network that would resolve a majority of daily commute issues currently prevalent in our cities due to the lack of a public mass transit system. Technology and innovation have made it much easier to curate solutions for problems that have haunted us for a long time. It is, therefore, crucial for the authorities to support local startups that are working to improve systems and hence the living standards of general masses. Daily commute is a great hassle for many in Pakistan, but our mantra is that it doesn’t have to be. Since it is an unavoidable part of our lives, it is only fair that people be given a permanent and reliable solution for their daily commute.”, said Mehras Tayyab.
About Flo
Flo, powered by Shahi Sawari, is Pakistan’s leading platform providing smart solutions for daily travel on a monthly subscription basis. Shahi Sawari, started its journey in 2016 as an on-demand transportation platform from Lahore, which catered to more than 250,000 users for two years. Later on, the company realized a public need for a more sustainable, long-term transportation system for daily commute. Therefore, in 2017, Shahi Sawari pivoted and launched Pakistan’s first ever long-term smart solution for everyday commute, called Flo.
Presently, the company has two products under its umbrella: FloKids and Flo Pool. FloKids provides reliable monthly school pick and drop services for students, and offers unique features like live trip tracking, same verified driver daily, and 24/7 customer support system. Whereas, Flo Pool provides door-to-door services for users who need to travel on a daily basis for work or education.
The core team comprises of 3 co-founders with a combined experience of more than 5 years in building and managing the on-demand market place. Flo is a VC funded startup that has been backed by renowned investors such as 47 Ventures and Cres Ventures.
