Nagad becomes Bangladesh's fastest unicorn

Nagad has turned into a unicorn startup in only four years of its launch – the fastest in Bangladesh to reach this impressive feat.

In recognition of the achievement, Tanvir A Mishuk, founder and managing director of Nagad Limited, received the "Fastest to Unicorn Award" from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at "Bangladesh Startup Summit 2023" in Hotel InterContinental Dhaka on Saturday. At the award-giving ceremony, eight organisations received awards in eight categories. 

Startup Bangladesh Limited, the flagship venture capital company of the Information and Communication Technology Division of the Government of Bangladesh, organised the two-day event that brought together startups, enterprises, venture capitalists, angel investors, regulators, think tanks, and experts from various countries

Inaugurated by Honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on 26 March 2019 with a motto of changing lives, Nagad has reshaped the country's MFS industry with one after another disruptive innovation and inspired confidence among a large number of people to embrace diversified products and services offered by it.  

In this way, the state-owned mobile money carrier has established itself as the fastest unicorn startup in Bangladesh with a valuation of $1 billion, equivalent to Tk10,000 crore, only in four years of its journey.  

This is for the first time in Bangladesh, such a grand event has been organised to honour startups. And Nagad, an arm of the Bangladesh Postal Department, was the first startup to have got this recognition. 

State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak presented the keynote at the startup summit. He lauded Nagad's contribution to building a smart economy in Bangladesh.

Nagad has reached a milestone of 8 crore customers only in four years of its inception, with its daily transactions hitting Tk1,300 crore on average.  

After receiving the acknowledgement memento, Managing Director of Nagad Limited Tanvir A Mishuk said, "This day will remain memorable for the Nagad family and me. What I'm now feeling cannot be expressed in words. Today we have got the recognition of the dream, with which we embarked on our journey, from the Honourable Prime Minister. We cannot ask for anything else."

Currently, Nagad disburses education stipends, and social safety allowances, such as allowances for elderly people, widows and the disabled. It has so far given BDT 25,000 crore among beneficiaries. 

Md Shamsul Arefin, chairman, Board of Directors, Startup Bangladesh Limited and secretary, ICT Division, and Sami Ahmed, managing director and CEO of Startup Bangladesh Limited, also spoke at the startup summit.