24 Seven: Ensuring Food Distribution Despite Worsening Climate Risks
24Seven CEO Jarrar Shah shares how building his business with deep awareness of climate risks drives his company’s tremendous growth.
Pakistan is the world's fifth largest country with 220,000,000 population. Its food value chain is huge, valued at over 60 billion U.S. dollars, but it's terribly fragmented and inefficient with up to 40% of produce going to waste. What's worse, Pakistan is in the top ten list of most vulnerable countries to climate change.
We saw a glimpse of this just recently with the biblical level floods that ravaged Pakistan just a few weeks ago. Climate scientists predict erratic climate patterns for South Asia and the years ahead with blistering heat waves and unpredictable monsoons. A more intense cycle of flood and drought is unfortunately on the horizon for our region.
24Seven is a tech company that's aggregating and digitizing existing mom-and-pop corner stores under our own brand name 24Seven Apni Dukan. We're doing this to distribute FMCG, fresh produce and digital financial services to communities across Pakistan. We are creating infrastructure that's supporting a distribution channel already trusted by communities. This infrastructure is using data and technology at scale to build a more resilient and sustainable supply chain to mitigate the effects of climate change catastrophes.
Our GMV grew at an average of 38% month over month. In the last 12 months, with GMV in September 2022, clocking in at a little over 7,000,000 U.S. dollars. We currently are projecting to grow at 5X in the next 12 months.
Betatron Venture Group is an early-stage VC fund investing in resilient businesses across Asia (excluding mainland China). We look for fast-growing, asset-light B2B companies who are positioned to thrive even in the face of increasing risks caused by climate change and changing global financial markets. Learn more at Betatron.co.
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