Startup fever is gripping, Pakistan, the world’s last big untapped nation
Investors from the United States, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates joined the rush into Pakistan’s embryonic technology sector in 2021, more than in the previous six years combined. About half of the fundraising agreements have involved a former Microsoft Corp. or LinkedIn Corp. employee.
Aatif Awan, a Pakistani native, has been living the dream in Silicon Valley until 2018. He’d become an angel investor for American startups and bought a property in San Francisco after more than a decade working for software behemoths. Then he travelled to see his folks in Lodhran, a small town famed for mango and cotton cultivation, and fresh opportunities became apparent.
Several local entrepreneurs contacted me for help with funding and accelerating their businesses. That’s when Awan, 41, recognised the potential of Pakistan’s startup scene. In February of last year, he returned to India and launched Indus Valley Funding, an early-stage startup capital firm.“The law and order situation is excellent, cell phone penetration is high, and everything appears to be in place for this to take place,” he said.
The e-commerce startup Bazaar Technologies Pvt., which secured $30 million in the nation’s highest series A fundraising in August, encapsulates the startup scene’s ethos in Karachi. Only one of the more than a dozen investors met with the company in person.
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