DealCart, a social commerce startup based in Karachi, Pakistan has raised $4.5 million in pre-seed funding. The round was led by Shorooq Partners with participation from Fatima Gobi Ventures, Vibe Capital, 500 Global, i2i Ventures, Julian Shapiro, Rally Cap Ventures, and Alex Lazarow, and several “strategic angel investors.”
Founded by Haider Raza and Ammar Naveed, both of the founders have previously worked in Careem, while Raza was part of the team that launched and scaled Swvl, an Egyptian mobility startup in Pakistan. The funding will be used to build the tech and product team for the startup and the startup will use this amount to build the brand for the startup.
The startup operates on a social commerce model, Users of DealCart can post offers on WhatsApp and other social media sites and purchase items in groups. Consumers can access lower costs by taking part in group purchases.
Customers can either join already-existing groups or start new ones, sharing a link to their social network in the process. Lower costs become available when that number reaches a predetermined threshold (often four persons in 24 hours).
The founders claim that gamification is a fundamental component of their app. As an illustration, group purchasing is made more engaging by providing users with constant updates on the number of participants needed to complete the group and the remaining time once they join a group.
Users can earn credits by introducing new users or by promoting goods and offers on social media. They can also participate in lucky draws that can only be entered when a user has shared a particular number of bargains on social media, spin an online wheel for free goods and app credits, and other features.
The global social commerce market is expected to reach $713 billion in 2022, the global market is full of success stories in this model for e.g China’s Pinduoduo and India’s Meesho. Locally DealCart will be competing against social commerce startups such as BaazarGhar.
