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ABR 2025 26(Entrepreneurial)printed 44 · PDF 54
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In 2021, Airlift was Pakistan's golden
startup. It was celebrated as the proof
that we had finally entered the global
startup scene — at a $275 million
valuation and a $85 million Series B
raise (the biggest in Pakistan's history),
the Lahore-based startup was feted on
every
newspaper
page,
LinkedIn
update, and economic conference. By
mid-2022, it no longer existed. What did
occur? How does a startup transition
from meteoric ascent to complete
breakdown — not over the course of
years, but within months? And what can
Airlift teach the next generation of
young Pakistani entrepreneurs? Let's go
back.
The Origin Story: Solving Urban Chaos
Airlift
began
in
2019
with
a
straightforward, compelling vision: make
city travel efficient. In Lahore and
Karachi, city transport is unreliable,
congested,
and
in
poor
condition.
Owning a car is costly. Ride-hailing is
scarce
and
uncontrolled.
Airlift's
concept was to operate intelligent, air-
conditioned buses on fixed routes,
reserved through an app — offering
middle-class
commuters
a
reliable,
secure, and affordable option. Within a
year, Airlift had grown to Karachi and
Islamabad from Lahore, and raised $12
million in Series A. It was not only
lauded for its technology, but also for its
potential to transform urban mobility.
Then came COVID.
Pivoting to E-Commerce
When lockdowns brought city travel to
a standstill, Airlift had to shift — and
quickly. It introduced Airlift Express, 30-
minute grocery delivery with extensive
SKUs and dark stores in major cities. It
made sense at the time. Global investor
attention was through the roof for Q-
commerce
(quick
commerce),
and
Pakistan — with a 230 million population,
increasing smartphone penetration, and
inefficient grocery networks — looked
like the ideal test market. This strategy
paid off, initially.
Airlift raised a record $85 million in
Series B, from investors such as Sequoia
Capital and First Round Capital — the
kind of firms that normally never gave
Pakistani startups a second glance. It
was a symbol of "Pakistani innovation",
and
poster-child
for
the
digital
economy. But beneath the bonnet,
things were starting to go wrong.
Growth at Any Cost
Like
most
startups
pursuing
the
blitzscaling formula, Airlift prioritized
expansion over profitability. The firm
was said to be losing rupees by the
hundreds on each delivery. Delivery
riders and warehouses were hired in
bulk. Millions went up in flames on
advertising,
discounts,
and
product
development
—
all
under
the
assumption that scale would later
correct the losses. Scale didn't correct it.
And Airlift was not the only one. Around
the world, a 2022 downturn saw venture
capital firms retreat. Investors became
risk-averse with high inflation, rising
interest
rates,
and
recession
fear.
Numerous startups were compelled to
demonstrate profitability, not merely
potential. For Airlift — which was losing
millions of dollars every month and did
not have a sustainable revenue stream
— the money ran out. In July 2022, it
went
dark
completely.
Dozens
of
employees were let go. Warehouses
44
Enterprise Edition