Demand for South Asian fashion is growing globally as more South Asians migrate and settle in new markets and purchase ethnic clothing for events such as local festivals and weddings.
However, today there are not many online platforms that sell extensive clothing and footwear catalogs from local South Indian sellers to the global market. Design choices are often limited and typically focused on a specific age group or gender.
Arif Iqbal is trying to solve this problem through a Lahore-based online marketplace called Laam. Laam has raised $5.5 million in a new all-equity seed round led by Disrupt Ventures and Zayn VC.
Iqbal spent more than 10 years in the United States working at various technology companies, including Meta, Pinterest, Microsoft, and eBay. While living in Seattle and the San Francisco Bay Area, Iqbal remained connected to the Pakistani-Indian community. He discovered that although there were places to eat South Asian cuisine and play cricket, a sport enjoyed and talked about by Indians and Pakistanis, ethnic fashion was not available everywhere he lived. At home, he discovered that while technology was far ahead of its time, fashion was not technology-driven and sellers relied on traditional methods to ascertain demand and meet supply.
Iqbal returned to Pakistan after the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world. The move became a blessing in disguise, giving him the impetus to make fashion more accessible to South Asians abroad. He founded Laam in January 2021, recruiting former Microsoft colleague Ahmed Muneeb to develop products for consumers and sellers, and his younger brother Amir Iqbal, who previously worked with local clothing sellers and brands, to create the supply chain. Fashion enthusiast Sahar Arif has joined as the fourth co-founder.
“When we started, there were not many sellers doing business online in Pakistan. However, today a major portion of sales comes from online activity. We have seen our team grow from 2-3 sellers to 200-300 sellers in this journey,” Iqbal said in an exclusive interview with TechCrunch.
Currently, Laam offers a catalog of more than 100,000 items, including casual, ethnic and formal clothing, shoes and accessories for men, women and children from approximately 1,200 sellers based in Pakistan. The startup’s revenue spans over 100 countries, with the US, Canada, UK and the Middle East being the top five markets by revenue. Pakistan still has the largest number of buyers, with more than 300,000 out of the startup’s total 500,000, but it is nowhere near Laam’s top global markets in terms of revenue.
The startup blends data and machine learning to bring personalization to consumers. Machine learning algorithms were deployed to extract information such as product description, available quantity, fabric, and size. The startup also offers chatbots and search capabilities for easy searching using structured data.
For sellers, Laam provides logistics, supply chain infrastructure, and warehouses, along with technology to help them understand what kind of inventory they need, what inventory they need, what inventory they expect to need, and which products are suitable for “express” shipping.
Iqbal told TechCrunch that sellers can use the app to connect to online marketplaces without human interaction. The startup offers services such as taking physical and AI photos of items ready for sale, barcoding to prepare products for shipment, and an app button to order a vehicle to transport items from a warehouse or factory to Laam’s warehouse. .
The startup also offers customization for luxury suits. In this case, you provide instructions to the customer to upload their requirements and send the data directly to the seller. The startup also has an additional verification process in place to ensure that the products meet the specifications provided by the customer before shipping.
Along with its marketplace for consumers, Laam also provides infrastructure for sellers with a platform called Octane, helping local businesses build an online presence and expand globally. Currently, the platform serves more than 50 businesses that sell their products through Laam’s online marketplace.
Laam has some competition in Pakistan as SanaullaStore, Bagallery and Clicky are among the emerging regional online marketplaces and platforms in Pakistan. Retail brands such as ETHNC and Sapphire sell their products through online sites. Likewise, some D2C players have started using Spotify in the country for their online presence, Temu entered Pakistan in September and Alibaba-owned Daraz is also in the fray.
Nonetheless, Iqbal maintained that Laam has a unique proposition, selling a wide range of items from individual brands from Pakistan and around the world.
Laam’s $5.5 million seed round also included participation from Graph Ventures, Mentors Fund, and technology executives from Oracle, Microsoft, Google, and Salesforce. The funding aims to expand Laam’s presence and win over sellers in other South Asian regions beyond Pakistan. The startup also plans to enter key markets outside Pakistan. Iqbal said Laam plans to set up an office in the UAE to begin expansion, followed by a branch in the United States.
Laam’s funding comes amid a continued slowdown in the overall Pakistani startup ecosystem. According to Tracxn data shared with TechCrunch, funding for Pakistani startups declined 65% year-on-year from $35 million in 2023 to $12.3 million YTD in 2024. The number of domestic funding rounds also decreased from 16 to 7.
