The Comparable

Kalsoom Lakhani
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The Comparable is a podcast by i2i Ventures 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. Host: Kalsoom Lakhani Assistant Producer: Sarah Rana Editor: Sagheer Muhammad Artwork: Hafsa Ashfaq

Episodes

  1. 12/22/2025

    Bonus: Season 1 Takeaways w/ Misbah Naqvi (i2i Ventures)

    Our first season (10 episodes!) is done, and Kals sits down with her partner at i2i Ventures Misbah Naqvi to reflect on major takeaways and how they're applying it to their work at the fund.

    27 min

  2. 12/03/2025

    BNPL: Brazil (Pagaleve) & Pakistan (Qist Bazaar)

    Buy Now Pay Later, or BNPL is a short-term installment loan that lets consumers buy a product immediately and spread the cost over several payments, often with no interest if they pay on time. In developed markets, platforms like Klarna, Afterpay and Affirm are well-known BNPL plays, and act as a layer on top of mature credit rails, allowing consumers to shop more seamlessly online. In developed markets, with strong credit infrastructure and a highly banked population, BNPL is a tool of convenience. In emerging markets, with limited credit data and large unbanked or underbanked populations, BNPL can be seen as a tool of financial inclusion. In this episode, we spotlight two companies building robust BNPL companies at scale: Pagaleve in Brazil and Qist Bazaar in Pakistan.

    48 min

  3. 11/17/2025

    b2b E-Commerce: West Africa (OmniRetail) & LATAM (Chiper)

    In emerging markets, b2b “business to business” e-commerce platforms service the millions of small retailers and corner shops that power many of these economies. In Africa, the informal retail sector accounts for ~ 90% of transactions in Nigeria, 96% in Ghana & 70% in Kenya. In Latin America, there are over 3.7M corner stores that generate an annual revenue of $330 billion. While these small businesses account for a tremendous amount of transactions and commerce in these markets, these small businesses owners face a number of challenges in staying competitive, with major inefficiencies including fragmented distribution networks, limited access to working capital, unreliable logistics, and a lack of transparency in their supply chains. Digital platforms and marketplaces rose as a way to solve for these inefficiencies, digitizing and streamlining interactions among manufacturers, distributors, and retailers, allowing them to buy and sell goods and services to one another online, instead of through traditional, offline channels. These platforms streamline procurement, logistics, and payments, connecting informal and formal retailers more directly with brands, large suppliers, or manufacturers. This process removes intermediaries, reduces costs, improves efficiency, and often provides additional services such as delivery and credit.For this episode, we are highlighting OmniRetail and Chiper not only as two examples of leading players in this space, but also as two platforms that were asset light from day 1, and have showcased resilience within the highs and lows of the past 5 years. OmniRetail, founded by Deepankar Rustagi in 2019, which was named Africa's fastest-growing company by the Financial Times in both 2024 and 2025. They’ve raised $38 million in equity and debt since their inception.Chiper, founded in 2018 in Colombia by Jose Bonilla, Oscar Sarria Guerrero, and Carolina García, started as a platform and have evolved to become more of a software play, an operating system for retailers across Latin America. They’ve raised over $78 million to date.

    45 min

  4. 10/20/2025

    Comparable Compact w/ Dina el-Shenoufy (F6 Ventures)

    This is the second minisode in our series called The Comparable Compact, where we speak with investors on emerging market trends. Dina El Shenoufy is the co-founder & General Partner at F6 Ventures, which is part of the newly formed F6 Group that houses both this VC fund & Flat 6 Labs, which has been a player in the Middle East startup ecosystem since 2011. As a driving force in the VC ecosystem, Dina led Flat6Labs to become one of the most active venture capital firms in Africa and the Middle East. With over 20 years of experience across venture capital, private equity, and asset management, she has played a pivotal leadership role in expanding the F6's presence to 7 countries in the region, investing in 300+ startups, and managing over $90M in assets under management.

    35 min

  5. 10/02/2025

    Stablecoin: LATAM (Felix) & Africa (HoneyCoin)

    Stablecoin, a cryptocurrency pegged to a stable asset like a fiat (or a government-backed currency), has been proliferating for years, and received a further boost by the recent GENIUS Act signed by the United States in 2025. Stablecoins have a number of use cases, especially for emerging markets, where local currencies and markets can be volatile. Instead of holding their money in their more volatile local currency, someone can hold it in USDC (or a stablecoin pegged to the US Dollar), preserving their value. In this episode we're highlighting two companies leveraging stablecoins to move money faster and more seamlessly across borders in their respective markets. Honeycoin, founded in 2020 in Kenya by David Nandwa, is a platform that enables customers to collect payments, move money in real-time using stablecoins and traditional rails, as well as issue bank accounts, debit cards, or wallets in over 45+ markets and across four continents. In August 2025, they announced their $4.9M seed round led by Flourish Ventures, with participation from players like Visa, Stellar Development Foundation and Musha Ventures. Felix, co-founded by Bernardo Garcia & Manuel Godoy in 2021, is a fintech platform that uses Whatsapp to enable people in the US to send money quickly and safely to users across Latin America, leveraging stablecoins to reduce foreign exchange costs (FX) and operational inefficiencies. They most recently announced their $75M Series B round in April 2025 led by QED Investors with participation from investors like Endeavor Catalyst.

    44 min

  6. 09/02/2025

    Comparable Compact w/ Alex Lazarow (Fluent Ventures)

    This is a shorter minisode in our series called The Comparable Compact, in which we speak with investors on emerging market trends.Alex Lazarow is the Managing Partner of Fluent Ventures, a next-gen global venture capital firm focused on direct investments in early-stage technology companies. He has spent his career investing in and studying startups across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and other emerging markets and ecosystems. He’s also the author of Out-Innovate, a playbook that challenges the dominant Silicon Valley narrative and highlights how the world’s most resilient and impactful startups are emerging from what he calls the “frontier”—startup ecosystems outside the Valley, such as Delhi, Nairobi, Sao Paulo, and beyond.

    29 min

  7. 07/28/2025

    b2c E-Commerce: India (CityMall) & Pakistan (DealCart)

    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.

    44 min

  8. 07/07/2025

    Payments: Nigeria (Paystack) & Philippines (PayMongo)

    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.

    56 min

  9. 06/16/2025

    Edtech: MENA (Abwaab) & Bangladesh (Shikho)

    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.

    55 min

  10. 05/26/2025

    Digitial Banks: Vietnam (Timo) & Mexico (Hey Banco)

    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.

    52 min

  11. 05/05/2025

    EV Mobility: Nigeria (MAX) & Pakistan (ezBike)

    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.

    53 min
  12. The Comparable Intro

    SEASON 1 TRAILER

    The Comparable Intro

    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.

    2 min

Trailer

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

The Comparable is a podcast by i2i Ventures 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. Host: Kalsoom Lakhani Assistant Producer: Sarah Rana Editor: Sagheer Muhammad Artwork: Hafsa Ashfaq

Information

  • Creator
    Kalsoom Lakhani
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    12
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Kalsoom Lakhani
  • Show Website
    The Comparable