3 min read
Founded by a passionate young entrepreneur from Ali Pur Chattha near Gujranwala, Sabzi.pk, an online fruits and vegetables delivery startup housed at LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship (LCE) just announced that it has closed its seed financing from the owners of a large Pakistani retail conglomerate. The deal values sabzi.pk at USD 7.5 Million, the highest value fetched by an LCE company for seed round funding.
Sabzi.pk has been growing north of 100% month over month, growing its customer base primarily in Lahore for now. Aside from same day delivery of fresh fruits and vegetables to consumer door steps, the company has started deliveries to hotels and restaurants in Lahore also. With a constant effort to increase procurement direct from farmers, Sabzi.pk is able to deliver the goods to its customers at highly competitive prices while ensuring highest quality and grade of the fruits and vegetables.
Farooq Haider, CEO of Sabzi.pk, while commenting on the funding said, “We had multiple offers for the six figures seed capital investment we were seeking but decided to go with the investors we thought most complemented our business from a strategic standpoint. The capital will primarily be used to build HR capacity, streamline our supply chain and customer relationship operations and marketing the sabzi.pk brand.”
Sabzi.pk is already planning to expand its operations in other major cities of Pakistan to cater to an ever-expanding demand from both consumers and corporate customers. “I want to turn Sabzi.pk into a national brand and trading platform that doesn’t only benefit our customers but also improves the lives and livelihoods of Pakistani farmers as we increase direct-from-farm procurement and reduce or eliminate their dependence on multiple intermediaries,” Farooq further commented.
“Farooq’s passion for his start-up, the work ethic he instilled in Sabzi.pk’s team, constant drive to make the business better and accumulate happy customers, are all key ingredients for business success. I am happy that local, Pakistani investors are beginning to value the importance of good founders and growth potential of new startups. Farooq has made us all proud and we wish his venture success,” said Khurram Zafar, Executive Director of LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship commenting on the deal.
About Sabzi.pk
Sabzi.pk is a startup accelerated by LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship that provides an online and phone based fruits and vegetables delivery service for household consumers and corporate customers in the HORECA sector. By procuring direct from farmers and mandis, sabzi.pk is able to deliver fruits and vegetables to its customers at their doorsteps at prices usually cheaper than most retail outlets. The company is founded by Farooq Haider, Aown Abbas and Muhammad Awais.
