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§ Private Profile · San Francisco, CA, USA
Peer-to-peer cross-border e-commerce marketplace connecting shoppers with travelers for international product delivery, avoiding high shipping costs.
Backpack has raised $67.0M across 2 funding rounds.
Key people at Backpack.
Backpack was founded in 2014 by Fahim Aziz (Founder/CEOM).
Backpack has raised $67.0M in total across 2 funding rounds.
Backpack is a San Francisco, California-based peer-to-peer cross-border e-commerce marketplace that connects international shoppers with travelers who have extra luggage space to deliver overseas products. The platform allows consumers to request specific items from major online retailers like Amazon and eBay, generating revenue by charging a commission fee on the transactions between buyers and couriers. Operating with a team of two employees, the company experienced early traction by recording 70,000 website hits from 86 countries in its first week and maintaining a 15% weekly growth rate. Backed by seed funding from the startup accelerator Y Combinator, the firm historically focused on the Bangladeshi market before its core travel delivery model was severely disrupted by global COVID-19 travel restrictions in 2020. Backpack was founded in 2014 by Fahim Aziz, Sakib Sauro, and Mahmudul Hasan.
Key people at Backpack.
Backpack was founded in 2014 by Fahim Aziz (Founder/CEOM).
Backpack has raised $67.0M in total across 2 funding rounds.
Backpack's investors include Placeholder, Hashed, Race Capital, Amber Group, Robot Ventures, Selini Capital, Wintermute.
Backpack has raised $67.0M across 2 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $50.0M Other Equity in February 2026.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 10, 2026 | $50M Venture Round | — | — | Announced |
| Feb 1, 2024 | $17M Series A | Placeholder | Hashed, Race Capital, Amber Group, Robot Ventures, Selini Capital, Wintermute | Announced |
Backpack is a peer-to-peer marketplace platform that connects shoppers with travelers to facilitate purchasing products from overseas at discounted prices. It enables consumers to access foreign goods—ranging from electronics to rare medications—by having travelers buy and deliver these items during their trips, bypassing high shipping costs and counterfeit risks. Shoppers submit product requests and pay the product cost plus a traveler’s fee held in escrow, while travelers earn money by carrying items in their luggage. The platform has shown strong early traction, especially in Bangladesh, with growing adoption in China and plans to expand globally[1][2][3].
Founded in 2014 by Fahim Aziz, Backpack emerged from the insight that many people rely on friends or relatives traveling abroad to bring back products unavailable or expensive locally. Aziz, leveraging advice from ex-Googler Nash Islam, built Backpack to formalize and scale this informal marketplace. The company quickly gained attention, receiving 70,000 hits from 86 countries within its first week and sustaining 15% weekly growth. Its vision is to provide global consumers with authentic, cost-effective products with minimal friction, rejecting counterfeit goods and excessive shipping expenses[1][3].
Backpack rides the growing trend of the sharing economy and peer-to-peer marketplaces, leveraging global travel flows to solve cross-border e-commerce challenges. The timing is favorable due to increasing international travel, rising consumer demand for authentic foreign products, and frustration with high shipping costs and counterfeit goods. By decentralizing international shopping logistics, Backpack influences the broader ecosystem by empowering individual travelers as micro-logistics providers and expanding consumer access to global markets without traditional intermediaries or shipping infrastructure[1][2][3].
Backpack’s next phase likely involves scaling its traveler network and expanding into new regions such as South America, Europe, and China to increase request fulfillment rates. Trends shaping its journey include continued globalization, growth in international travel, and rising consumer preference for authentic and affordable foreign goods. As it matures, Backpack could evolve into a key player in cross-border commerce, potentially integrating more advanced logistics, verification technologies, or partnerships with travel platforms to streamline and secure transactions further. Its mission to democratize access to global products while creating income opportunities for travelers positions it well for sustained impact in the global e-commerce ecosystem[1][3].
