In today’s fast-tracked era, where technologies are taking over the world, it didn’t come as a surprise when Q-Commerce (quick commerce) rose to stardom, especially after the advent of the global pandemic, making everything possible with just the tap of a finger. Just like e-commerce, Q-Commerce is now making its way into the lives of the masses and revolutionizing the concept of online shopping. At present, around 82 percent of Pakistani urban consumers make online purchases.
The pandemic further helped increase this percentage by pushing online grocery shopping into the mainstream, as our favourite stores and restaurants were shut. According to Nielsen Pakistan, Pakistan is the 46th largest market for online shopping, with revenues that went up to $4 billion in 2020.
Among some of the newly emerging Q-commerce startups is the Karachi-based Karve Mart. Krave Mart is an online store, selling a wide range of assortments ranging from food staples, fruits and vegetables, tea and beverages as well as personal care catering to thousands of customers.
Background of Founders
Kassim Shroff
Kassim graduated as an Arts major from the University of Toronto Scarborough, back in 2011. After coming back to Pakistan and working with various organizations, including some big names like Daraz, Kassim with the help of his other partners kickstarted Krave Mart in 2021, when Q-commerce had emerged as the need of the hour after the pandemic had isolated people to their houses.
Hammad Bawany
Hammad is an IBA alumnus and completed his BBA back in 2012. He started his professional career as a graduate trainee from Daraz and after three years left the company as a Sr. Manager Product, Warehouse & Production. He then worked at a number of organisations including Foodpanda. And in 2021, founded Krave Mart along with his partners.
Haziq Ahmed
Haziq graduated from the Textile Institue of Pakistan as a business major, after which he completed his Master’s in Science from the University of Manchester back in 2013. He then started working as the Brand Manager for Kapray in 2014 and after two years, i.e. in 2016 joined Alkaram as Head of Retail Operations.
In 2019, Haziq joined Foodpanda as head of Logistics and Delivery and joined Dukan.pk in 2021. In the same year, he along with his other Co-Founders started Krave Mart.
Ahsan Kidwai
Ahsan completed his bachelor’s from the University of Manchester in Economics and Business and later did his Masters’s in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from the University of Warwick.
He kickstarted his professional career as a Trade Marketing Executive at GlaxoSmithKline and after two years moved to Unilver as Assistant Channel Marketing Manager – Trade, he also worked at a number of other well-known organizations including Daraz, Swvl and DairlyLand. Then in 2021, Ahsan along with the other founding members launched Krave Mart.
What is Krave Mart?
Krave Mart is a Karachi-based Q-commerce startup, that provides a one-stop online delivery store for groceries, everyday essentials and as the company promises, much more!
At the moment, the company’s product catalogue includes groceries, personal care products, health essentials, beauty products and other everyday essentials, promised to be delivered in 10 minutes.
Founded by Kassim Shroff, Hammad Bawany, Haziq Ahmed, and Ahsan Kidwai, Krave commercially launched back in December 2021 and is currently active in Karachi through a network of dark stores.
The goal behind building Krave Mart
Quick commerce is on the rise ever since the pandemic started with Europe’s Gorilas and Flink, US-based JOKR, and Turkey’s Q-commerce startup Getir raising big rounds in very short durations and vaulting into the unicorn club.
However, in Pakistan, quick commerce picked up pace as soon as the pandemic started with startups like Airlift raising a record funding in 2021, the year which has seen Pakistan’s startups rake in a record high of $313 million.
So, how does Krave Mart plan to compete in such a space? Kasim Shroff, the company’s co-founder and CEO claims that given that their team, includes people from some diverse companies like Foodpanda, Cheetay, Careem and Swvl, who know the space and the logistics operations, this gives them an edge over others.
It is the team that is going to help them establish the dark store’s infrastructure with speed and ensure more delivery orders. The startup claims that they have been growing phenomenally ever since its launch.
The startup’s promise to deliver its orders in 10 minutes, faster than all of its competitors, ensures its commitment to developing a loyal customer base.
According to one of the Co-founders, Kassim Shroff:
“Our aim is to give people back some of their valuable time that they would otherwise spend by going to neighbourhood grocery stores. We will do that by ensuring a 10-minute delivery of quality products.”
Funds Raised by Krave Mart
Pre-Seed Funding – Raised $6 million
The startup raised $6 million in December 2021, less than four months after its establishment. The investment was led by:
- China’s MSA Capital
- Russia’s ru-Net
- German Global Founders Capital and Islamabad-based Zayn Capital co-led the deal.
- Other participating investors included Saison Capital, +92Ventures, 2AM, Mehta Ventures, Jeddar Capital, Lakson Investment along with multiple strategic angel investors.
Future Plans
The startup plans to set up more dark stores within a period of the next few months, with an aim to scale their presence in multiple geographies locally, followed by setting up operations in South Asian countries like Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh as the startup chases the unicorn status.
Krave Mart’s COO Haziq Ahmed, in a statement, said:
“The 10-minute delivery model is going to be the game-changer for this industry and will set a bar for all the players to come in the q-commerce landscape.”
