Global investors are pouring money into Pakistan’s budding tech sector. Funding this year has outstripped the last six combined.
The startup scene in the world’s fifth-largest nation is having a breakout year.
More money has flowed into Pakistan’s nascent technology sector during 2021 than in the previous six years combined, with investors from the U.S., Singapore and the United Arab Emirates joining the rush. And one former Microsoft Corp. and LinkedIn Corp. employee has been involved in about half the fundraising deals.
Until 2018, Pakistan-born Aatif Awan was living the dream in Silicon Valley. After more than a decade working for tech heavyweights, he’d become an angel investor for American startups and bought a house in San Francisco. Then he went to visit his parents in Lodhran — a small town known for growing mangoes and cotton — and new opportunities became clear.
Multiple local entrepreneurs got in touch, seeking advice on funding and how to accelerate their startups. That’s when Awan, 41, saw the possibilities in Pakistan’s startup space. He moved back in February last year and started his early-stage venture capital fund, Indus Valley Capital.
“The law and order situation is so good, mobile penetration is there, everything seems right for this to happen,” he said.
While neighboring India has long had a vibrant startup scene, foreign investors have traditionally viewed Pakistan with trepidation: Security concerns, power shortages and poor digital infrastructure...
Read Full Story: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-11-17/pakistan-startups-draw-record-money-helped-by-covid-and-china-s-tech-crackdown
Your content is great. However, if any of the content contained herein violates any rights of yours, including those of copyright, please contact us immediately by e-mail at media[@]kissrpr.com.
