Dbank Raises Largest Seed Round in Pakistan at $17.6M

Pakistani FinTech startup Dbank has raised $17.6 million in a seed funding round, the largest ever in Pakistan. Dbank is in the process of building a user-centric digital banking system based on ethical banking. The startup is also planning to expand its services in the countries in the near future.

Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia Southeast Asia, co-led the round. It is for the first time that Sequoia has invested in a Pakistani company. However, Nubank, Askari Bank and Rayn also participated in the round.

Dbank Raises Largest Seed Round in Pakistan at $17.6M

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“Pakistan, the world’s fifth most populous nation, has a fast-growing middle class with increasingly sophisticated banking needs,” said Sequoia Southeast Asia Vice President Johan Surani in the report. “This signals a unique opportunity to build a large, customer-centric bank for millions of people.

Dbank Co-Founder Tania Aidrus said in the report that FinTech will attempt to expand the reach of financial services in a “transparent and friendly” way in Pakistan, taking on the often-exploitative informal credit system.

Dbank is connected to government-led initiatives to modernize the country’s payment infrastructure to increase financial inclusion. For example, Pakistan has developed Raast, a real-time payments system for instant digital transactions, and NADRA, a digital identity platform.

“We have seen the multiplier effect that digital public infrastructure can have on the private sector’s ability to help move economies from cash to digital,” said Dbank Co-Founder Khurram Jamali in the report.

Dbank has also applied for Pakistan’s central bank’s new digital banking license.

Check Also: What is Raast? How to create a Raast ID? A Comprehensive Guide