We’re spotlighting two e-commerce platforms that are working to unlock a massive consumer base in their respective markets – CityMall in India & DealCart in Pakistan.

While quick-commerce caters more to a higher-income segment who care more about convenience, these companies are more focused on capturing a much larger middle-income segment who are value conscious, who care more about the price of products vs how quickly it'll be delivered to them. And while there is a much larger amount of these users, many of them are transacting online for the very first time, which means capturing them is no easy task. 

CityMall was established in 2019 in India by Angad Kikla and Naisheel Verdhan aims to bridge the gap in e-commerce access for the estimated 300–500 million underserved consumers outside major urban centers. DealCart launched in 2022 in Pakistan, founded by Haider Raza & Ammar Naveed, who were both previously part of Careem, the Uber competitor in MENA that was later acquired by Careem. Originally inspired by Pinduoduo in China, DealCart aims to transform how Pakistan’s middle income households shop by offering high-quality low-priced everyday essentials through an online platform.

This show features interviews with CityMall co-founder Angad Kikla & DealCart co-founder Ammar Naveed.

*Small correction: at the top of the episode we say CityMall raised funding from Sequoia, which is incorrect. They've raised from players like Accel & General Catalyst.