Islamabad-based fintech Metric, a digital accounting app for small and medium businesses and startups, has raised $900,000 in a pre-seed round was led by I2I Ventures with participation from Ratio Ventures, Deosai Ventures, Kinnow Capital, Outliers Venture Capital, and Augmentor Capital.
Angels, including Aspire & Lifepal’s founder Giacomo Ficari, Alam Zafar (Chairman and Director at Arif Habib Limited), deep tech VC Farid ul Haque, and founder of Eligible.ai Rameez Zafar, also took part in the round. Metric was launched in August 2021 by Meenah Tariq and Omar Parvez Khan, who were both partners in venture capital funds before making a switch to the operator side. Their third co-founder and CTO, Dr. Habiba, holds a Ph.D. in machine learning and artificial intelligence.
The app claimed to reach $20 million in annualized recorded transactions within five months during closed alpha. “There are over 30 million SMBs and startups in the MENAP region contributing USD 2 trillion to the region’s GDP. However, most founders are held hostage by their fear of numbers and can not afford high-quality accountants. Current accounting software solutions are either cost-prohibitive or are designed for accountants to use, not founders. As a result, their businesses suffer and fail to grow,” she said.
“Metric lets you take control of your company’s finances and get access to real-time dashboards, professional reports, and insights from day one – in a very conversational, friendly way. This is not a cash-book or ledger app; this is an accounting and business intelligence solution that founders can start using on day one of their business, all the way up to 50 employees. Our goal is to make Metric the most founder-friendly business finance app in the world”
“We want founders to use accounting as a tool to drive growth. Metric monitors the health of your businesses in real-time. Not only does it track core metrics such as customer acquisition cost, average order value, customer lifetime value, growth, and retention – it proactively helps business owners make strategic decisions that enable them to take their business to the next level,” said Managing Director Omar Parvez Khan.
“I’ve been lucky to have worked closely and alongside both Meenah & Omar for the past seven years in the Pakistan startup space. They both not only care deeply about the problem, they’ve also been close to it, and have designed a solution with the user at the center. We are so honored to back them and Metric, which we know will solve the challenges faced by millions of SMBs in Pakistan and the region,” said Kalsoom Lakhani, Co-Founder, and General Partner at i2i Ventures.
“Globally, we see SMBs and startups alike challenged by backend operations that don’t fall within their founders’ core competencies. We’re thrilled to partner with Meenah & Omar and support Metric’s growth across the MENAP region as they build a platform that enables companies’ day-to-day operations while also equipping business owners with tools for proactive decision-making,” said Rayan Dawud, Investment Partner at Outliers Venture Capital
Metric plans to use this round to grow across Pakistan and quickly expand to other markets in the MENA region. Founders that want to join the closed beta can sign up on the website.
