Pathao gets new MD

Homegrown tech startup Pathao has witnessed the promotion of its chief financial officer, Fahim Ahmed, to the posts of managing director and CEO.

An economics graduate of Middlebury College, Ahmed joined Pathao in early 2018.

He replaces co-founder Hussain Elius, who will remain a member of the board of directors and assume a new role as senior adviser.

Ahmed's appointment comes as little surprise in the country's burgeoning startup industry as he has been steering the company since the middle of last year throughout the pandemic, said industry people.

"Since mid-2020, Fahim, as the president of Pathao, has been overseeing the day-to-day operations and executing the company's strategy to address the accelerating demand for digital services during the pandemic," Pathao said in a statement yesterday.

He took up the day-to-day operations of Pathao when it was reeling from the pandemic-induced downfall amidst dwindling demand from ride-sharing services due to lockdowns, off-line service from drivers and government enlistment issues.

And since the middle of last year, Ahmed intensified the company's logistics services for e-commerce and now it provides over 30,000 deliveries daily, making it the largest e-commerce logistics company, said industry people.

"Our e-commerce logistics have grown threefold in the past 18 months," Ahmed told The Daily Star.

Originally launched as a courier company, Pathao started its operations in 2015.

In the middle of 2016, a few months before Uber arrived, Pathao started its journey as a ride-hailing company but with motorcycles.

In 2019, Forbes valued Pathao at $100 million. Through several funding rounds, it has so far raised $35 million.

In the past year, Pathao's key operating and financial metrics hit record highs: it now has more than 8 million users, 300,000 drivers and delivery agents, 30,000 merchants and 10,000 restaurants.

The market share of Pathao Food, its food delivery arm, also increased with daily deliveries reaching around 10,000, making it the second largest platform after foodpanda.

Its logistics service is available all over the country while ride-hailing and food delivery in Dhaka, Chattogram and Sylhet inside the country and in Nepal's Kathmandu outside.

The company's sustainable position paid off locally as Startup Bangladesh Ltd, a flagship venture capital fund of the ICT ministry, provided it a fund of $0.5 million in July.

This was also noticed by global backers as the company poised to get a hefty amount of fresh foreign funding within a few weeks.

 "I can't disclose anything now. But, there will be good news related to funding soon," said Fahim.

"Pathao is building the next generation platform for digital commerce — powered by fintech," he added.