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.

We’re zooming in on digital payments, spotlighting two leading fintech players: Paystack in Nigeria and PayMongo in the Philippines. As digital commerce accelerates across emerging markets, companies like these are transforming how businesses and consumers transact—making payments faster, more secure, and more seamless than ever before.

Paystack has become a major player in Nigeria and across Africa, powering online and in-person payments for hundreds of thousands of businesses. The Nigerian market is experiencing explosive growth: digital wallet and prepaid card transactions are projected to reach $15.2 billion this year, fueled by a growing e-commerce sector, improved infrastructure, and a population shifting away from being cash-based to cashless.

On the other side of the world, PayMongo is leading the charge in the Philippines, enabling businesses of all sizes to accept payments through cards, e-wallets, and over-the-counter channels with developer-friendly APIs and seamless integrations. The Philippines’ digital payments market is on a similar trajectory to Nigeria, expected to triple in size to $1.7 billion by 2033, driven by smartphone adoption, government support, and a similar shift away from cash.

Both companies have attracted global attention, with Stripe—the U.S. payments giant—playing a pivotal role. Stripe acquired Paystack in a landmark deal in 2020 to expand its African footprint, and is also a key investor in PayMongo, signaling the immense potential seen in these fast-growing markets. 

In this episode, we’ll explore how Paystack and PayMongo are reshaping financial access, the challenges they faced and continue to face, and the massive opportunities that lie ahead in two of the world’s most exciting fintech frontiers. We’ll sit down first with Paystack’s COO Amandine Lobelle & Paymongo’s CEO Jojo Malolos, and are later joined by Kola Aina of Ventures Platform and Sam Gibb of Resolution Ventures who will share deeper investor insights about the companies and the markets we’re spotlighting. 

Test preparation for young students is high stakes eventually leading to how they get into university, get the right job, and (supposedly) be set up for life.

In emerging markets, traditional solutions often focus on private centers and private tutors.  While many families will invest significantly in exam preparation for their child’s future, the space is often fractured, informal, expensive & quality can be lacking depending on where you live.

In this episode, we explore two edtech startups looking to democratize access to high-quality education through technology, with a focus on test prep.  Abwaab, which is headquartered in Jordan but building for the broader Middle East North Africa or MENA region, and Shikho, building in Bangladesh. We also feature investor insights from Rahat Ahmed of Anchorless Bangladesh and Nafez Dakkak of Anara Impact Capital.

The rise of digital banks is significant for emerging markets as a whole because they can fundamentally transform financial access, economic opportunity, and inclusion for millions who were previously underserved or excluded by traditional banking systems. In countries where access to finance is filled with obstacles and barriers, digital banks can serve to unlock potential for both individuals and small & growing businesses.

As far apart as Vietnam & Mexico seem, they’re both significant hubs for financial innovation and technology in their regions, and have some interesting similarities that work well for this episode.

This episode showcases the stories of Timo, led by CEO Jonas Eichhorst, Vietnam's first digital bank that recently celebrated their 10 year anniversary, and Hey Banco, co-founded & led by CEO Manuel Rivero Zambrano, a digital bank in Mexico that is spinning out from being the digital arm of reputed and well established Mexican bank Banregio. It also features insights from Tushar Roy, Partner at Square Peg and Leticia Jauregui, GP at Leap Global Partners.

The potential for electric vehicle mobility in emerging markets is enormous. In Nigeria, there are 5.1M motorbikes on the road, the most in Subsaharan Africa. Pakistan has the 6th largest motorcycle ownership in the world, with 17.5M motorbikes on the road. At the same time, rising fuel prices and governments committed to converting vehicles to electric to combat the climate crisis, mean there's an opportunity for businesses building in this space.

This episode showcases the stories of MAX, co-founded by Adetayo Bamiduo, based in Nigeria (expanding across Africa), and ezBike, co-founded by Ali Moeen, based in Pakistan. It also features insights by Brian Waswani Odhiambo, Partner at Novastar Ventures, a key investor in MAX.

The Comparable is a series that seeks to uncover the journeys and stories of emerging market startups, but instead of looking at one company in one market, we look at two in a side by side comparison in order to showcase the commonalities but also some of the nuanced differences of both markets, as well as the stories of the founders building these innovations.