One of the world’s most prominent all-female investor networks has doubled down on a Pakistani startup built specifically around how women actually save money. Epic Angels, described as the world’s largest all-female investment collective, has invested in Pakistani fintech Oraan, joining existing investors WaveMaker and i2i Ventures in a new funding round that will help the company expand its gold savings business and support its push into new international markets.
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Key Takeaways
- New investor: Epic Angels, the world’s largest all-female investment collective
- Joining: Existing investors WaveMaker and i2i Ventures
- Investment size: Not disclosed
- Planned use of funds: Expanding Oraan’s gold savings product, building gold inventory, and supporting entry into new markets
- Company: Oraan, founded in 2018 by former investment banker Halima Iqbal
- What Oraan does: Digitizes Pakistan’s traditional women-led savings circles (“committees”), letting users save, access credit, and purchase gold through a digital platform
- The gap it targets: Only 2% of women in Pakistan have access to formal credit, despite an estimated 60 million participating in informal savings groups
- Relationship history: Epic Angels first invested in Oraan in 2021 this is a continued, not first-time, bet on the company
What Was Actually Announced
According to a company statement, Epic Angels has joined Oraan’s existing investor base WaveMaker and i2i Ventures in a new funding round, though the size of the investment was not disclosed. The fresh capital is earmarked for three specific purposes: expanding Oraan’s gold savings product, building out its gold inventory, and supporting the company’s entry into new international markets a combination that points to both product deepening and geographic expansion happening in parallel, rather than one at the expense of the other.
Notably, this isn’t Epic Angels’ first bet on Oraan the collective first invested in the company back in 2021, meaning this round represents a continued vote of confidence rather than a new investor discovering the company for the first time.
What Oraan Actually Does
Founded in 2018 by Halima Iqbal, a former investment banker, Oraan digitizes one of Pakistan’s oldest informal financial practices: committees, a widely used, women-led group savings and credit system (a version of what’s known internationally as a Rotating Savings and Credit Association, or ROSCA). Through Oraan’s app, users can save collectively, access credit, and as the company has expanded its product line purchase gold, all through a single digital platform built around a savings model women already trust and use.
The company frames its approach deliberately around meeting existing behavior rather than changing it. As Founder and CEO Halima Iqbal put it, Oraan’s products are built around the way women already save, rather than trying to convince them to adopt an unfamiliar financial habit a positioning that distinguishes Oraan from more generic digital banking products competing purely on app features or interest rates.
The Gap Oraan Is Built to Close
Oraan’s own framing of the problem is stark: an estimated 60 million people in Pakistan participate in informal savings groups, yet only 2% of women in the country have access to formal credit. That gap enormous informal financial participation alongside almost negligible formal credit access is precisely the space Oraan has positioned itself to bridge, treating the informal committee system not as something to replace, but as the trusted foundation to build formal financial products on top of.
This kind of gender-specific financial inclusion challenge isn’t unique to Oraan’s customer base it echoes a broader, persistent gap in Pakistan’s fintech landscape overall, where digital access alone hasn’t been sufficient to meaningfully close the country’s gender gap in formal financial services.
Why Gold Specifically
Oraan’s expansion into gold savings is a deliberate product choice rather than an arbitrary add-on. Gold has long functioned as a culturally trusted store of value in Pakistan, particularly among women, often serving as a practical form of savings and financial security independent of formal banking relationships. By building a digital gold savings and inventory system, Oraan is extending its core insight meet women where their existing financial trust already lies into a second asset class, rather than only offering cash-based group savings.
Why This Matters
- It reflects continued, not one-off, investor confidence. Epic Angels re-investing five years after its initial 2021 bet suggests a longer-term thesis about Oraan’s model, rather than opportunistic, short-term capital.
- It reinforces Pakistan’s growing appeal to specialized global investor networks, not just generalist venture capital Epic Angels’ specific focus on all-female-led or women-focused ventures signals Oraan’s continued relevance to a distinct global investment thesis around gender-focused fintech.
- It targets a documented, severe financial inclusion gap directly. A 2% formal credit access rate among women, despite 60 million informal savings participants, represents one of the more extreme documented gaps in Pakistan’s financial inclusion picture precisely the kind of gap that’s difficult to close through general-purpose digital banking products alone.
- It shows product expansion and geographic expansion happening together. Rather than choosing between deepening its core Pakistani product (gold savings) or expanding abroad, Oraan is pursuing both simultaneously with this round’s capital.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who invested in Oraan’s latest funding round?
Epic Angels, the world’s largest all-female investment collective, joined existing investors WaveMaker and i2i Ventures.
How much was invested?
The size of the investment was not disclosed.
What will the funding be used for?
Expanding Oraan’s gold savings product, building its gold inventory, and supporting the company’s entry into new international markets.
What does Oraan do?
Oraan digitizes Pakistan’s traditional women-led savings circles, known as committees, letting users save, access credit, and purchase gold through a digital platform.
Who founded Oraan?
Halima Iqbal, a former investment banker, founded the company in 2018.
What problem is Oraan trying to solve?
It targets Pakistan’s significant gender gap in formal financial access an estimated 60 million people participate in informal savings groups, yet only 2% of women in Pakistan have access to formal credit.
Is this Epic Angels’ first investment in Oraan?
No. Epic Angels first invested in Oraan in 2021, making this a continued investment rather than a new entry.
