KARACHI: Quick commerce startup Airlift is shutting down permanently, online publication Deal Street Asia reported late on Tuesday.

Airlif t was initially a bus service that later pivoted to the last-mile delivery segment. It raised $85 million last year in the largest funding round by any local startup.

The firm shut down its operations in second-tier cities like Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Hyderabad and Peshawar a couple of months back. It also sacked almost one-third of its employees to reduce the salary bill.

According to startup data portal Crunchbase, the company had raised a total of $109.2m in six rounds, with Future Positive and Moving Capital among its most recentinvestors.

The start-up ecosystem in Pakistan has been in turmoil for the last couple of months with a number of prominent players announcing service suspensions, rollbacks andlayoffs.

Ride-hailing service Careem recently suspended its food delivery service, citing shifting economic conditions. App-based bus service Swyl also suspended its services in Karachi, Lahore Islamabad and Faisalabad last month because of the `global economic downturn`.

Freight management start-up Truck It In referred to the `global economic uncertainty` when it `recalibrated` its strategy recently and moved some of its staffers to `solve other challenges`.

Startups are struggling to find new funding for rapid customer acquisition. Venture capitalists aren`t willing to write blank cheques anymore to help startups acquire new customers at a heavy price. Investors are asking entrepreneurs to hit early breakevens instead of focusing solely on revenue mobilisation.

No wonder startups raised a total of $103.8 million in 22 deals in the April-June quarter, down almost 40 per cent from the preceding quarter when the flows amounted to $173m.