Understand any stock in simple English
Enter a ticker to learn what the company does and how it makes money.
Pathao Ltd.
Pathao is a Bangladeshi super app that lets people book rides, order food, and send packages, and also offers a way to pay for things.
Pathao is a super app in Bangladesh — the kind of app many people there open several times a day. You use it to hail a motorbike or car ride, order food from restaurants, or send a parcel across town. It also runs Pathao Pay, a digital wallet, and it is the country's biggest ride-sharing service by users.
The company makes money by taking a cut of each transaction. When a rider pays for a trip, Pathao keeps a slice and pays the driver the rest. Restaurants pay a commission on food orders, and customers pay delivery fees for parcels. It also earns from the wallet and from partnerships. Its main competition comes from foreign players like Uber and local rivals such as Shohoz. Pathao's edge is that it is local, understands the market, and bundles many services into one app so users don't need five different apps. Pathao began in 2015 as a simple motorbike ride-hailing service, founded by Hussain Elius, Fahim Saleh, and Shifat Adnan. One early idea — delivering food on the back of a bike — grew into Pathao Food. It also expanded into Payments and Courier. The company became a rare Bangladeshi start-up to raise serious foreign venture money, drawn by the country's huge young population and booming smartphone use.
There are real challenges. Ride-hailing and food delivery are thin-margin, price-sensitive businesses, and Pathao has had to spend heavily to keep drivers and customers loyal. Bangladesh's economic pressures — inflation, fuel costs, and tight consumer budgets — can squeeze both riders and drivers. Still, as a homegrown brand with multiple services and a large user base, Pathao sits at the center of how many Bangladeshis move, eat, and pay day to day.
Saved answer · last researched 10 Nov 2026