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Pakistan’s Bookme gains funding for domestic expansion

Bookme, a Pakistan-based ticketing platform, has raised an undisclosed amount of investment in a Pre-Series A round in an effort to boost growth in the country.

The firm, which was founded in 2012, enables users to buy cinema, event and bus tickets online through its web-based platform and mobile apps.

Lakson Investments Venture Capital (LIVC) led the funding round.

Faizan Aslam, founder and chief executive of Bookme, said, according to MenaBytes: “The capital raise will accelerate our scaling across Pakistan and facilitate the enhancement of our platform as a trusted market leader by customers, operators and payment partners. We’re excited to get LIVC’s investment in the largest e-ticketing funding round in Pakistan.”

The startup partners with cinemas, event organisers and bus operators in the country to digitise their seat maps, ticketing, and payment collection.

Bookme claims to be one of Pakistan’s largest e-commerce platforms in terms of digital transaction flow, selling cinema tickets in six cities including Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.

Faisal Aftab, managing partner of LIVC, said: “We anticipate that digital payment systems and smartphone adoption will be the underlying drivers of technology growth in the next five years. Bookme’s growth trajectory is well positioned to mimic the digital adoption curve in Pakistan due to its well-seeded platform and lead in API integrations with payments systems.”

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