Overview
Airlift began with app-booked shared bus rides in Pakistan and switched to groceries during the pandemic. The pivot changed its operating burden: fast delivery required stock, local fulfilment, and riders. Its original business ended in July 2022. The company blamed the funding downturn; employee reporting also identified weaknesses inside its warehouse operation. Company statement Rest of World investigation
The headline financing figure needs care. Airlift announced an USD85 million Series B in August 2021. Contemporary reporting questioned how much had actually arrived. That announcement establishes fundraising ambition, but does not establish an audited cash balance or an exact investor loss. Profit
Founding Story
Usman Gul had worked at Mastercard and DoorDash before starting Airlift. In an October 2019 interview, he named five fellow founders: Ahmed Ayub, Awaab Khakwany, Meher Farrukh, Muhammad Owais, and Zohaib Ali. Gul said most came together through an online forum and cold email. The team built an initial product about three weeks after validating the idea. MENAbytes
A launch release traced the idea to Gul's visit to Lahore during summer 2018. It said he later left business school to pursue the company, which piloted service in Lahore on March 1, 2019. Those dates distinguish the initial observation from the operating launch. Company release, reproduced by Daily Times
Gul described the team's priority: “From the very beginning, velocity of execution has been a core part of the Airlift DNA.” Speed helped launch the service. It did not remove the need to measure whether each new route or warehouse earned its cost. MENAbytes
Timeline
- March 2019: The company piloted shared transport in Lahore using existing buses. Launch release
- August 2019: Airlift announced USD2.2 million in seed financing from investors including Fatima Gobi Ventures and Indus Valley Capital. ProPakistani
- 2019: A USD12 million Series A followed. Investor Aatif Awan later described First Round's involvement. Investor account
- March 2020: Pandemic restrictions halted the transit operation. Groceries became the new focus. Investor account
- August 2021: Airlift announced its USD85 million Series B, co-led by investors associated with Buckley Ventures and 20VC. Profit
- May 2022: It cut about 31% of staff, withdrew from South Africa, and reduced its Pakistani footprint to three cities. Closure reporting
- July 2022: Its official statement designated July 12 as the permanent shutdown date. Reports about an employee meeting described July 13 instead. The original statement is the date used here. Company statement Profit
What They Built
The first product let commuters reserve seats on shared buses and vans through an app. Fixed stops and routes reduced the detours of conventional door-to-door rides. Early coverage described a marketplace using available transport capacity rather than purchasing an entire new fleet. The value proposition combined predictable travel, lower prices, and a seat booked in advance. ProPakistani
Pandemic restrictions removed the immediate use case. Airlift Express then offered groceries delivered in roughly 30 minutes. Investor Awan's 2021 account describes recruitment across commercial operations, delivery, and warehouse teams, showing that the pivot required a different workforce. Existing software and hiring ability could transfer; bus-route demand could not establish grocery demand. Investor account
Market Position
Target Customers
Transit initially served urban commuters who wanted an alternative to individual ride-hailing. The grocery service targeted households buying everyday goods without visiting a shop. Those are different buying decisions: a repeated commute is relatively predictable, while a grocery basket changes by availability, price, and household needs. This distinction follows from the two product models, rather than a measured comparison of customer retention. ProPakistani Investor account
Market Size
A large population did not establish a profitable delivery market. The useful boundary was the number of reachable households ordering often enough, at margins sufficient to cover each local operation. No audited addressable-market estimate or city-level profitability study was found. Announced valuations therefore provide no substitute for a measured customer market.
Competition
Alternatives included neighborhood shops, existing delivery arrangements, and grocery apps. The competitive field continued after the closure. GrocerApp currently advertises scheduled delivery slots. Bazaar offers next-day ordering for households and businesses. Karachi's separate service Grocers accepts WhatsApp orders and lists free delivery above PKR2,000, with PKR200 delivery below that amount. These are different businesses with different fulfilment promises. GrocerApp Bazaar Grocers FAQ
In January 2026, inDrive announced a Karachi grocery service with Krave Mart. Its launch offer included free delivery above PKR499 and most deliveries within 30 minutes. That is evidence of continued competition, not proof that every operator has profitable economics. inDrive
Business Model
Transit monetized booked rides. Grocery retail depended on merchandise margins and delivery income covering fulfilment costs. Profit's examination of figures presented to investors reported USD21.9 million in first-quarter 2022 gross revenue, USD900,000 in net revenue, and negative USD5.3 million in adjusted EBITDA. These are reported company figures, not independently audited results. Adjusted EBITDA also does not equal a complete cash-flow statement. Profit
Those figures explain why order volume alone was insufficient. A grocery purchase can increase sales while leaving too little margin after picking, delivery, stock loss, discounts, and overhead. The company needed additional financing while attempting to change that relationship. The evidence does not establish a reliable lifetime funding total, liquidation recovery, or investor return.
Outcome and evolution
Airlift's closure statement cited global economic conditions and the capital-market downturn. Contemporary closure coverage reported a failed fundraising effort after retrenchment. This supports a financing trigger; it does not prove that capital supply was the only cause. Company statement Closure reporting
Rest of World's later investigation described excess stock, waste, weak warehouse controls, and discount-driven buying by resellers. Those accounts came from former employees. Gul disputed the scale of some problems and characterized stock losses as normal for the industry. A reproduced internal email had already urged spending “more time on the front lines.” The disagreement limits any claim that one operational problem alone explains the shutdown. Investigation
The original venture is inactive. This review found no verified operating successor that assumed its entire service. Other Pakistani delivery companies continuing to trade do not constitute a restart of Airlift.
Key Lessons
- Revalidate after a pivot. A transport marketplace's early demand does not validate the economics of holding and delivering groceries.
- Track contribution alongside orders. Revenue growth can coexist with losses when fulfilment and stock costs consume the margin.
- Treat financing as a dependency. Expansion that needs another round must include a credible plan for a delayed or failed round.
- Verify the physical operation. Inventory records and forecasts need comparison with actual stock, waste, and completed deliveries.
- Keep the funding record precise. An announced round, cash received, valuation, and investor recovery answer different questions.
Sources
- MENAbytes interview with Usman Gul — 2019-10-21.
- Airlift launch press release reproduced by Daily Times — 2019-08-08.
- ProPakistani seed financing coverage — 2019-08-06.
- Aatif Awan on investing in Airlift — 2021-08-22.
- Profit examines the announced Series B — 2021-08-18.
- Airlift official closure statement — 2022-07.
- Rest of World closure reporting — 2022-07-12.
- Inside the Airlift collapse — 2022-09-12.
- Profit examines closure and operating economics — 2022-07-12.
- GrocerApp mobile ordering — accessed2026-10-23.
- Bazaar current product — accessed2026-10-23.
- Grocers Karachi FAQ — accessed2026-10-23.
- inDrive launches groceries with Krave Mart — 2026-01-12.