Pakistan's first homegrown messaging app raises $1.6 million in funding.

TelloTalk, Pakistan's first homegrown and locally hosted messaging platform, has raised $1.6 million in funding from a consortium of international and domestic investors, a press release issued by the company on Wednesday said.

The round of funding, known as the 'Seed Round', included global venture funds ALM Holdings (UAE), SparkLabs FinTech (Asia), One Market Capital (USA) and Cocoon Ignite Ventures (Hong Kong), besides local institutional investors TPL eVentures, and i2i Ventures.

The co-founder and CEO of TelloTalk, Shahbaz Jamote said that the app, launched in 2017, "is the single best local messaging app, customised for Pakistanis, fully committed to Pakistan, with all our technology and management infrastructure present in Pakistan".

He said that the app has been made with the local culture and values in mind. "For example, we provide our users with a regional language keyboard, localised stickers and integrated content across a variety of categories."

Jamote said that TelloTalk can be used by corporations, big or small, for improving productivity, for internal communications or customer interactions "via multimedia chat channels".

"TelloTalk is the only messaging app that fully complies with local regulations to enable critical services such as digital payments and eGovernment," he added.

The TelloTalk logo.

TelloTalk Chairman Arshad Ashraf remarked that there are "more social media accounts in Pakistan than there are bank accounts" and with around 150 million people below the age of 30 it made sense to connect those who are digitally unconnected "with a...

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