"As a country, we don't often understand the levers that need to be pulled to make investments happen."
Since 2020, Bangladesh has consistently outranked its larger neighbor India on many key economic indicators such as GDP growth rate, per capita income, and female employment rates. Yet, Bangladeshi tech startups have been laggards in terms of fundraising compared to their neighbors. Bangladeshi startups received $150 million in venture investments in 2021 compared to the $38 billion put into Indian startups. The money raised was half that of Pakistan, which has a pretty nascent tech startup sector.
“Perception” has a lot to do with this trend.
Most global investors still perceive Bangladesh as a place for cheap labor and goods, not one for tech-enabled growth. “Our storytelling needs to be better,” Rahat Ahmed, the founder of Anchorless Bangladesh, the first Bangladesh-focused international fund, told me. “As a country, we don’t often understand the levers that need to be pulled to make investments happen — and that’s okay. We’re learning, and we will get there.”
Hussain Elius, the co-founder of Bangladeshi super app Pathao, said the first 30 minutes of all his fundraising meetings with Western investors were invariably spent explaining the basics: Where Bangladesh is located, the size of its economy and population, and why it’s an attractive investment destination. “If I have to explain that for 30 minutes, when do I talk about the company?” Elius, who stepped down as...
Read Full Story: https://restofworld.org/2022/newsletter-south-asia-bangladeshi-startups-have-a-narrative-problem/
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