EMPG, a regional classifieds powerhouse, has provided early money to Daftarkhwan.
In the property and classified spaces, EMPG owns and operates ten brands in 16 countries, earning unicorn status in 2020. With Zameen.com, Zameen Developments, OLX, and Lamudi.pk, EMPG is the market leader in Pakistan.
Daftarkhwan began operations in 2016 and is regarded as one of Pakistan’s forerunners in the coworking trend. What began as a small 20-person coworking space has grown to five sites and 1,650+ workers across three cities on a daily basis. Daftarkhwan grew 5X during COVID-19 and expanded into two more cities. Daftarkhwan is poised to double in size once more, hosting 3,000+ people across its locations nationally by Q3 2022, thanks to the new sites now under construction.
Daftarkhwan’s rise has mirrored that of Pakistan’s startup environment in many aspects. Daftarkhwan and the coworking paradigm have expanded and become major actors in the mainstream Pakistani economy as tech firms have. Daftarkhwan has been a key driver of Lahore’s startup ecosystems for many years, having helped firms like Airlift, Jugnu, Unlayer, and Careem, among others, establish a root and take flight. In the year 2021, the top Pakistani and regional startups based in Daftarkhwan had raised $570 million in funding.
“Since its inception, Daftarkhwan’s singular focus has been to help founders build and scale their businesses. Inadvertently, this has given us a front-row seat to the phenomenal growth of the startup industry in Pakistan,” said Saad Idrees, the co-founder of Daftarkhwan.
“Daftarkhwan has always taken great pride in being more than just an office for its community of entrepreneurs and innovators, and we are excited to expand this community further,” Idrees added.
Daftarkhwan, according to EMPG CEO Imran Ali Khan, “represents Pakistani ingenuity at its best.”
“One of the key drivers of EMPG’s own success has been its investment in the right people above all else, and the team at the helm of Daftarkhwan are some of the most hard-working, ambitious and dedicated people in Pakistan’s startup ecosystem,” said Khan.
With this seed investment, EMPG joins Walled City Co as a Daftarkhwan investor as the firm prepares to transform the way people work across Pakistan.
