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Bangladesh Startup Funding Report 2021

  • 53+ Bangladeshi startups raised more than $380Mn in disclosed investments, this includes bKash’s $250 million round from Softbank Vision Fund II in November 2021. Apart from this, many startups raised undisclosed seed and pre-seed investment. 
  • The country saw a few exits in Chaldal acquiring BanglaMeds, Shikho acquiring Bohubrihi.
  • Although bKash, ShopUp, Chaldal, Paperfly, Praava Health, Frontier Nutrition, and Truck Lagbe make up the bulk of it, the increase in total funding is meaningful compared to previous years. In 2020, the total funding was around $40Mn. 
  • While the angel and seed-stage funding environment has improved in the country, late stage funding remains a challenging terrain for startups. Medium to large deals comparable to India and other similar emerging markets remain few and far between. 
  • Given the socio-economic and demographic developments, Bangladesh should become a technological innovation hotbed in the coming decades. Investors should pay closer attention to the developments of the country. 
  • Funds have been raised by a wide range of companies. However, ecommerce, healthcare, logistics, education, travel, and fin-tech continue to attract the most investment. Bangladesh's startup scene has grown rapidly in recent years, producing increasing numbers of high-quality startups. 
  • Read about the most active investors in Bangladesh here. We published an earlier version of this report in September 2021.
  • See which companies have raised money in 2021 below. And please feel free to email us your feedback, comments, critical thoughts to [email protected]   
Company Transaction Name Money Raised Investors
ShopUp Series B $75Mn Valar Ventures, Prosus Ventures, Flourish Ventures, Sequoia Capital India, and VEON Ventures.
Chaldal Series C $10Mn Taavet Hinrikus (co-founder of Wise), Sten Tamkivi (CPO of Topia), and Xploration Capital, Mir Group
Protein Market - $100k M Asif Rahman, Nazmul Hasan Rupok, Jahangir Alam, and Md. Shahjahan
Frontliners Technologies - Undisclosed M Asif Rahman, and Nazmul Hasan Rupok
Jatri Pre-series A $1.2Mn Reflect Ventures, Brain-Too-Free Ventures, SBK Tech Ventures
Alice Labs Seed $500K Anchorless Bangladesh, HOF Capital.
Shuttle Seed $750k Accelerating Asia. Robi Axiata Limited (r-ventures), Impact Collective (The Ventures, South Korea), and Bangladesh Angels Network (BAN), Uber's Head of Mobility Innovation Programs Zulkarnain, and Co-founder & Managing Director of foodpanda Bangladesh Zubair Siddiky
Shadhin FinTech Pre-seed $165k Bangladesh Angels
Praava Health Series A Prime - General David H. Petraeus, Esther Dyson, SBK Tech Ventures, Dr. Jeremy Lim, Dr. Rushika Fernandopoulle, and Geoff Price
Zingo Pre-seed - -
Shikho Seed $1.3Mn Anchorless Bangladesh, LearnStart, Learn Capital, Wavemaker Partners, Ankur Nagpal.
MedEasy (Daktar Bondhu) Pre-seed - SBK Tech Ventures
ROOTs Edu Pre-seed Undisclosed Omicon Tech Ventures
Arogga pre-seed $200k -
DataBird Bridge Round $3Mn Skycatcher
Kludio pre-Series A Undisclosed Steve Vickers, Impiro
Maya Seed $2.2Mn Anchorless Bangladesh, The Osiris Group,
Frontier Nutrition Series B $6Mn Adjuvant Capital, the International Finance Corporation, DSG Consumer Partners, DSM Venturing, Shazi Visram, Seth Goldman, Bridgette Heller, and Great Point Ventures.
Intelligent Machines - BDT 4cr IDLC Venture Capital Fund I
Paperfly - BDT 100cr Ecom Express
Arogga - Undisclosed Falcon Network
Pathao - - Startup Bangladesh Ltd
Dhaka Cast - - Startup Bangladesh Ltd
Moner Bondhu - - Startup Bangladesh Ltd
Chaldal - - Startup Bangladesh Ltd
Eduhive - - Startup Bangladesh Ltd
Sheba.xyz - - Startup Bangladesh Ltd
Intelligent Machines - - Startup Bangladesh Ltd
Ajke.live Pre-seed $50,000 Mohammad Maaz Mamoon
Happihub Seed $60,000 -
Shebika Pre-seed $600,000
E-Desh $235k Maslin Capital
Mainframe Labs Pre-seed $75k Tiger IT Foundation
Chaya Pre-seed $45k Mohammad Maaz Mamoon and Isra Mamoon
Markopolo Pre-seed - Deko Isho Group
StridesCo Pre-seed - Bangladesh Angels
Truck Lagbe Series A $4Mn IFC, IDLC VC Fund 1, Millville Opportunities
Upskill Pre-seed $110k Vint Valley
Merchant Bay Pre-seed $260k --
Go Zayaan Seed $2.6Mn Wavemaker Partners
SWAP Seed $1.25Mn Accelerating Asia, ZA Capital Advisory, Bangladesh Angels
Bondstein - $1Mn Runner Trading Limited
SWAP Seed $1.25Mn Accelerating Asia, ZA Capital Advisory, Bangladesh Angels
Pulse Tech Pre-seed $120k --
Nuport -- $125k ODX Flexport
Green Grocery Pre-seed Undisclosed M Asif Rahman, Nazmul Hasan Rupok, Jahangir Alam, Pran Krishna Paul, Ashif Anam Siddique and Md. Shahjahan
Fashol -- Undisclosed Dekko ISHO Technologies
E-Desh Series B Undisclosed BD Venture, Maslin Capital
HypeScout -- $50k --
Loop Freight Seed Undisclosed ADB Ventures
AmarLab Pre-seed $200k Accelerating Asia
SMEVai -- Undisclosed M Asif Rahman, Nazmul Hasan Rupok
Future Startup reporting, FS Research, Crunchbase, media reports: Sources

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Ruhul Kader
Mohammad Ruhul Kader is a Dhaka-based entrepreneur and writer. He founded Future Startup, a digital publication covering the startup and technology scene in Dhaka with an ambition to transform Bangladesh through entrepreneurship and innovation. He writes about internet business, strategy, technology, and society. He is the author of Rethinking Failure. His writings have been published in almost all major national dailies in Bangladesh including DT, FE, etc. Prior to FS, he worked for a local conglomerate where he helped start a social enterprise. Ruhul is a 2022 winner of Emergent Ventures, a fellowship and grant program from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He can be reached at [email protected]

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