About the Organization
Pathao is one of Bangladesh's best-known technology companies and a pioneer of the country's ride-sharing and on-demand economy. It is a Bangladeshi transportation technology company headquartered in Dhaka, and "Pathao" is a Bengali word meaning "send it." Founded in 2015 with the aim of making lives better, Pathao began its journey as a logistics service provider using just bicycles before growing into one of the fastest-growing tech startups in the country. The company was founded by Fahim Saleh, Hussain Elius, and Shifat Adnan.
From those delivery roots, Pathao expanded rapidly. It started bike-sharing services in mid-2016 and signed up more than 100,000 drivers and around one million users by March 2018, and by April 2018, the company was valued at over USD 100 million. A notable milestone in its growth was international expansion: in September 2018, Pathao became the first Bangladeshi ride-sharing company to launch operations overseas, in Kathmandu, Nepal. It also helped formalise the sector, becoming the first major ride-sharing company in Bangladesh to receive an enlistment certificate from the authorities on 3 December 2019. The company is currently led by Fahim Ahmed, who was appointed Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer on 1 November 2021.
Business Operations
Pathao has evolved from a single-service ride-hailing app into one of Bangladesh's largest "super-apps." Beyond ride-sharing, it operates e-commerce, merchant delivery, courier, and food delivery services, with its core ride-sharing offering provided through both motorcycles and cars across major cities including Dhaka, Chittagong, and Sylhet. Its food delivery arm scaled quickly after launch: Pathao Food, launched in January 2018, became one of the country's leading food delivery services within three months of its inception.
The company's strength has long been rooted in solving a structural market gap. Initially a logistics service provider for online stores, Pathao's growth catapulted through its expansion into ride-sharing, built on a business model that tapped into a market suffering from a supply-demand gap in urban transportation, in a country where traffic congestion affects the daily commute of millions.
More recently, Pathao has pushed deeper into fintech and diversified services. It evolved from a 2015 Dhaka ride-hailing startup into one of Bangladesh's largest super-apps, achieving early scale in logistics and food delivery before expanding into payments and fintech. Among its innovations, Pathao pioneered a localized digital mapping system tailored to Bangladesh's informal addressing and urban topology, and launched Pathao Pay along with a Pathao Pay Later buy-now-pay-later product, positioning itself as a regulated fintech after earning a payment service provider license. During the pandemic, when ride-sharing revenue fell by roughly 80% at its peak, the company pivoted toward Pathao Pharma and grocery delivery to recover volume and revenue.
Affiliations With BUP Career Club
Pathao is a participating organisation at the BUP Career Club's flagship event. Previously in 2025, Pathao was a participating organization in BUP Career and Education Fest 2025. In 2026, Pathao again attended the BUP Career & Education Fest 2026 at Bangladesh University of Professionals, describing itself as the fastest-growing technology company in Bangladesh, solving some of the country's most challenging problems in logistics and transportation. This places Pathao among the recruiters and industry organizations engaging directly with BUP students at the festival, the kind of participation the event is built around, where students can interact with employers, explore job and internship opportunities, and submit CVs.
The affiliation is a strong thematic fit. The BUP Career Club exists to create a bridge between the corporate world and the university, helping fresh graduates reach their desired professions while equipping students with the skills to stay ahead of the competition. As one of Bangladesh's flagship technology companies, Pathao gives students direct exposure to careers in the country's fast-growing tech, logistics, and fintech sectors, while the company gains access to a talent pool of business and professional graduates well-suited to its expanding operations.
