Befiler raises $1.5 million in Seed Funding

Befiler, Pakistan’s leading online tax filing portal, has raised $1.5 million in seed funding from international and local investors. The seed round was co-led by Cistech Capital and Lakson Venture Capital with participation from local angel investors as Befiler looks to expand its product and service offerings to customers.

Akbar Tejani and Mudassir Jokhio, co-founders of Befiler, stated, “We are grateful for the seed funding from our investors. Despite economic challenges, Pakistan is undergoing a major digital transformation and formalization of the economy, and we are proud to be at the forefront of this positive and direly needed change. Befiler is Pakistan’s first fintech company in the field of digital tax filing and advisory services, and has experienced significant growth in the past two years. We have established ourselves as a reliable digital tax advisory solution by making tax services more accessible and affordable for the average taxpayer. Befiler’s app has been downloaded over 1 million times on the Google Play Store, with 460,000 users and a rating of 4.5 stars out of 5. In the coming years, we plan to serve over two million individuals, SMEs, and corporates.”

Cistech Capital, co-lead investor in this fundraising round, is thrilled to aid in the company’s expansion, and digital transformation of Pakistan’s tax system. Befiler’s rapid growth to this point has been impressive, and we strongly believe that their services with streamlined user experience and online access is essential for Pakistan’s push towards a formal economy.

Since its founding, Befiler has excelled in the startup industry. In 2019, the Company received a grant from the Innovation Challenge Facility (ICF) for Digital Financial Services, funded by DFID and evaluated by a committee led by the State Bank of Pakistan. In 2021, Befiler was awarded ‘Startup of the Year’ at the Pakistan Digital Awards (PDA) and also received a grant from Karandaaz Pakistan, a non-profit funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to increase digital financial inclusion for women. Recognizing the significant gap in advisory services, Befiler has also started offering a range of business and advisory services such as sales tax, corporate tax and compliance, intellectual property, and business formation and tax advisory in the United States.