Investing for positive impact in emerging markets

Pomegranate Investment AB (publ) is a venture capital investment company (VC) based in Sweden, which was founded in 2014 by a pioneering team with a long and successful track record of investing in high growth companies in emerging markets, particularly in the online sector such as e-commerce and online classifieds.

Portfolio companies

Digikala

The first, largest and leading e-commerce company in Iran which is active within Retail, Marketplace, Fashion, Digital content and Online Supermarket.

Read more
Café Bazaar Group

A leading consumer internet company that runs the largest Android app store in Iran; Bazaar, serving over 50M Persian speaking people worldwide.

Read more
Sheypoor

Offers a general classifieds platform, with a focus on certain key classifieds verticals for about 8-10mn regular users.

Read more
Griffon Capital

A domestic market-focused financial group providing Asset Management (Capital Markets & Private Equity) as well as Investment Banking Advisory.

Read more
Takhfifan

The first and most popular group discount platform in Iran. A one-stop platform which provides goods and services frequently used in daily life.

Read more
Alibaba Travel Group

A leading online travel group in Iran holding the largest market share and the highest Alexa ranking among Iranian online travel agencies.

Read more

The Iran Tech opportunity

Iran’s consumer internet sector represents a unique emerging market opportunity.

Iran’s young consumer internet sector is driven by demographics. Above 70% of the population is aged under 45 and highly connected, with >80% internet penetration, >140% cellular mobile penetration and >50 million smartphone users. And yet, the value of Iran’s internet companies only accounts for between 1-2% of GDP, way behind other companies with similar dynamics. Online retail penetration is estimated to be around 2% in Iran; in comparable markets like Turkey, that number is 10-15%, therefore offering a unique structural growth aspect. As a result, rapid growth in the online shopping sector offers huge potential for value appreciation and to provide new, world-leading services to Iranian consumers.

The unique demographics of Iran with a growing large, young and well-educated, and central and urbanised population is ideal for Pomegranate’s investments in consumer online sectors such as e-commerce, online classifieds, and online travel to mention a few.

Large economy

Iran’s current GDP (ca. €400 billion) is comparable to Hong Kong and Denmark and roughly half of Turkey’s GDP.

Population

With more than 85 million people (growing at 1% p.a.), Iran’s population is comparable in size to Turkey and Germany. Iran’s large population is urbanised and highly educated, representing one of the biggest consumer markets that is yet to be fully developed.

Resources

Iran has 18% of the world’s proven natural gas reserves (1st in global rankings), 9% of the world’s crude (4th globally) and huge mineral deposits.

Outlined map of Iran

Subscribe

To subscribe to our press releases, please confirm that you have read and understood our privacy policy.

Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.