DealCart, the Karachi group buying grocery app that makes shoppers recruit each other
DealCart raised $7.5 million to sell flour and lentils through group buying, then added food delivery and a Yango partnership. Its current trading status is harder to confirm, and the discount model has yet to prove it can carry a wider business.
DealCart sells cooking oil, rice, pulses and nappies to Pakistani households, and it gives you the good price only if you bring other people with you. The Karachi company calls itself a social ecommerce platform. In July 2022, about three months after its operational launch, it told TechCrunch that it had closed the previous month with $1.1 million in annual recurring revenue.
Two Careem alumni and a grocery thesis
The founders are Ammar Naveed and Haider Raza. TechCrunch reported that Naveed had been a senior director at Careem, overseeing operations across the Middle East and Pakistan, while Raza had launched and scaled Swvl in Pakistan and also worked at Careem. A profile of Raza published by London Business School adds that he is a Procter and Gamble alumnus, was Swvl's first employee in Pakistan and cofounded a travel marketplace that was bought out earlier in 2022.
What turned them towards groceries was a summer internship at Jokr, a New York on demand grocery delivery company, according to the same profile. Raza concluded that the economics of ultra rapid delivery would not work in Pakistan. He looked instead at Pinduoduo in China, which built its business on friends buying together, and at Facily, a similar model in Brazil. On delivery speed, he put his conclusion bluntly.
“The costs are too high and customers are prepared to wait.”
How group buying makes flour cheaper
The mechanics, as TechCrunch described them, are simple. A shopper picks a deal in the app and shares it on WhatsApp and other social platforms. When the group reaches a threshold, usually about four people within 24 hours, the lower price unlocks, and users get regular updates on how many people are left. The London Business School profile gives the range as two to four buyers. Orders are delivered the next day and, according to the same profile, the company has scaled on a single warehouse.
The economics rest on two choices. DealCart sources directly from manufacturers and works with locally made brands, TechCrunch reported. And because customers bring in other customers, the company says its acquisition costs are lower; users also earn credits for referrals. In effect, the neighbour who persuades three friends to join is doing the marketing, and the savings, TechCrunch reported, pay for efficient warehousing and last mile delivery. ImpactAlpha reported in 2024 that DealCart says staples such as flour and lentils cost about 24 percent less than at general stores, with free delivery. The app's Google Play listing adds games, a spin the wheel feature and a reward currency called DC Coins that keep the sharing loop turning.
The target is a shopper whom Pakistan's ecommerce industry had mostly ignored. The founders told TechCrunch that their focus customers spend about 50 to 60 percent of their income on groceries. Pakistan's inflation soared past 30 percent in 2023, as Arab News noted, which only sharpened that pitch.
Raising $7.5 million in two rounds
DealCart's first round came quickly. In July 2022 it raised $4.5 million in pre seed funding led by Shorooq Partners of Abu Dhabi, with Fatima Gobi Ventures, Vibe Capital, 500 Global, i2i Ventures, Rally Cap Ventures, Julian Shapiro, Alex Lazarow and several strategic angel investors, according to TechCrunch. TechCrunch named three rivals at the time: BazaarGhar, CelebShop and Gahhak. By December 2022 the company reported tens of thousands of active users and 50 employees.
The second round came in a tougher market. In July 2024 DealCart announced a $3 million seed round led by Shorooq and London's Sturgeon Capital, with 500 Global, Evolution VC, Rayn Capital and Khyber Venture Partners, as Arab News reported. ImpactAlpha put the context plainly: Pakistani venture funding had fallen 77 percent the year before, to $75.6 million. The two announced rounds add up to the $7.5 million that Tracxn lists as total funding. The founders described the aim in a single line that appeared in ImpactAlpha and e27's reports of the round.
“Our goal is to make everyday necessities more affordable and accessible.”
From group chats to Yango and restaurants
Since then, DealCart has been widening what it delivers and where it appears. In May 2025 it announced a food delivery service in Karachi, onboarding dhabas, cloud kitchens and established restaurant brands. The company's own pitch, reported by Brandsynario, was to support restaurants rather than compete with them, with zero commission for the first wave of Karachi partners during onboarding. It also said it had passed 2 million app downloads, a company claim.
In July 2025 came a bigger partner. Yango Pakistan, the local arm of Yango Group, launched grocery delivery across Karachi inside its SuperApp, built with DealCart. Pakistan Today carried the press release, which listed flour, rice, cooking oil, snacks, beverages and personal care products. Profit later quoted Mohammad Ahsan Akbar, regional head for South Asia at Yango Delivery, on the group's super app strategy.
“Super App is our global strategy which has successfully helped us to win over multiple markets and geographies.”
Is DealCart still operating in 2026?
The evidence points both ways, and readers should know it. Tracxn, whose profile was updated on 14 October 2026, shows the company at seed stage with no closure marked and 74 employees as of 30 September 2026. DealCart's Google Play listing, which now bills it as a grocery, beauty and fashion app, shows more than a million installs and a 3.8 rating from 14,600 reviews. It was last updated on 27 February 2026, and the reviews run to April 2026.
Against that, the website address given on DealCart's LinkedIn page and by Tracxn, dealcart.io, now redirects to an unrelated website. The latest posts on the LinkedIn page, a hiring call and a newsletter, were about ten months old when I looked. A search of Apple's Pakistan App Store did not turn up the app. I found no announcement of a closure, and I could not confirm recent trading from the company itself. This article treats DealCart as operating on the strength of Tracxn's profile and the Play Store listing.
What DealCart is now, and what is hard
My reading is that the group buying mechanic was the hook but may no longer be the whole business. The Play Store listing now leads with discounts on beauty and fashion as well as groceries, and the company has gone after restaurants, a category in which customers expect speed. In 2022 Raza called ultra rapid delivery uneconomic for Pakistan, so the shift deserves scrutiny. Selling through Yango may trade some direct customer ownership for volume, at a time when ride hailing apps are moving into grocery: the i2i Ventures half year review notes that inDrive bought quick commerce startup Krave Mart in the first quarter of 2026.
The public record is also thin. DealCart has not disclosed valuation, revenue or order volumes since the 2022 revenue figure. Tracxn shows no round after July 2024 and counts 74 employees, against the 50 reported in 2022. I found no announcement of new funding. What the evidence supports is a venture that has survived two funding cycles and kept finding partners. It does not yet show that group buying alone can pay for a warehouse network.
Reported from TechCrunch, Arab News, ImpactAlpha, e27, London Business School's StartHub, Pakistan Today, Brandsynario, Profit, i2i Ventures and Tracxn, and from DealCart's Google Play listing and LinkedIn page.
