KARACHI: Used car startup CarFirst said on Friday that it was ceasing operations in Pakistan.The auto market thanked its stakeholders in a message on its LinkedIn page and said that a team will continue to be in place to manage the “closure of the organisation.”
CarFirst promised its clients a “safe, convenient and hassle-free process” as it purchased used automobiles and sold them on at a profit. Both a smartphone app and a physical network of more than 35 purchase-and-sale locations across Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Faisalabad, Multan, and Hyderabad were used to operate it.
Crunchbase, a prospecting tool for dealmakers, reports that CarFirst secured $89 million in fundraising across two stages. Their most recent funding came from a Series A on May 31, 2018.Frontier Car Group, a German company that creates, implements, and manages used-car marketplaces in emerging market economies, provided funding for the venture.
Bayut-Dubizzle in the United Arab Emirates, Zameen in Pakistan, OLX in both Pakistan and Egypt, Lamudi in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Mexico, Mubawab in North Africa, and Kaidee in Thailand are some of its other business operations.
A similar firm with Turkish roots called VavaCars shut down its Pakistani operations earlier in June. Its closure came after numerous other significant ecommerce businesses recently announced layoffs, service reductions, and outright closures. VavaCars has secured as much as $50 million in a Series B financing in October 2021, with the support of Dutch oil colossus Vitol.
