Imdad 
Commerce company Airlift is permanently closing
According to a late Tuesday report from the online site Deal Street Asia, the quick commerce company Airlift is permanently closing.
Initially, a bus service, Airlift later shifted its focus to the last-mile delivery market. It completed the largest investment round for a local firm last year, raising $85 million.
Company stopped operating in lower-tier cities
A few months ago, the company stopped operating in lower-tier cities like Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Hyderabad, and Peshawar. In order to save costs on salaries, it also let go of close to one-third of its workforce.
The company has raised a total of $109.2m in six rounds, according to startup data portal Crunchbase, with Future Positive and Moving Capital among its most recent backers.
For the past few months, Pakistan’s startup ecosystem has been in disarray as a number of notable companies have announced service suspensions, rollbacks, and layoffs.
Read Also | Motorola Set To Launch World’s First 200MP Phone
Read Also | Tesla hit by lawsuit alleging racial abuse against black workers
Recently, the ride-hailing company Careem shut down its meal delivery service due to changing economic conditions. Due to the “global economic slowdown,” the app-based bus service Swvl also stopped operating in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, and Faisalabad last month.
Truck It In, a startup in freight management, has “recalibrated” its approach and relocated some of its team to “address other difficulties,” citing the “global economic uncertainties.”
For quick client acquisition, startups are finding it difficult to secure new investments. Venture investors no longer offer firms blank checks to enable them to pay a steep price to gain new clients. Instead of concentrating primarily on revenue mobilisation, investors are requesting that entrepreneurs reach early breakeven points.
No wonder startup funding fell by over 40% from the prior quarter, when flows totaled $173 million, to $103.8 million in 22 agreements during the April–June period.
