en.Wedoany.com Reported - Malaysian customer conversation platform Respond.io has secured $62.5 million in Series B funding. The company was co-founded by Pakistani entrepreneur Hassan Ahmed and is headquartered in Kuala Lumpur. The round was led by New York-based growth equity firm Camber Partners, an early investor in Dropbox and Pipedrive. Existing investor Endeavor Catalyst, whose board chairman is LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, also participated.
Founded in 2017, Respond.io provides AI-powered software that helps businesses manage customer conversations across messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, Messenger, Telegram, and WeChat. The company serves over 180 countries, with more than 10,000 customers and processes over 2 billion messages per quarter. Its current annual recurring revenue stands at $35 million, representing 169% year-over-year growth, with a profit margin of approximately 30%.
According to Data Darbar, Pakistani startups raised approximately $36.6 million in public equity funding through 10 rounds in 2025. Another report by Invest2Innovate shows a total of $74.23 million, including 11 publicly disclosed blended financing deals. Respond.io, co-founded by Pakistanis, secured $62.5 million in a single round, nearly matching the total annual funding of Pakistan's domestic startup ecosystem. These figures highlight the capital gap between Pakistani founders operating in mature markets and local entrepreneurs, whose funding levels remain far below the peaks of $347 million and $331 million reached in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
Respond.io was founded in Hong Kong by CEO Gerardo Salandra, Hassan Ahmed, and COO Iaroslav Kudritskiy, relocating its headquarters to Kuala Lumpur in 2019. The new funds will be used to expand operations in North America and Europe, invest in hiring, and advance acquisition plans. The company stated it is already in talks with potential acquisition targets in both regions.
Although Respond.io is not included in Pakistani startup funding databases due to its Malaysia-based headquarters, this round is a significant indicator for Pakistan, as Hassan Ahmed is one of the few founders from the country who has helped build a globally scaled tech company backed by internationally renowned institutions.
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