On December 5, 2019, at PM House in Islamabad, Prime Minister Imran Khan formally announced and inaugurated the Digital Pakistan campaign.
Pakistan, with a population of 217 million and consumer spending of US$257 billion, is emerging in the global radar and attracting tens of millions of dollars in venture capitals of startups a year.
The change is constant and for the better for Pakistan.
In 2020, Pakistan is predicted to become the largest influx of startup for investors with the initiation of Digital Pakistan. Tech startups are predicted to bring a revolution in Pakistan with the startup venture capital investment potential of US$12 million globally.
Scroll down to the following established and early-age seven startups that are changing the way Pakistanis Live.
Music mews
Pakistanis are music lovers is an understatement because Pakistan’s love for music dates back to 700 years ago. With the rise of sacred Sufi to contemporary music played by Pakistani aspiring artists, the music maestros reflect the traditional pieces with Western pop-rock and hip-hop melodies.
However, in spite of Pakistani modern artists’ popularity and vibrancy, there was no platform to search or broadcast music except the availability of songs in poor quality media until much-needed portal: Patari.
Patari is the most social-media-savvy music streaming website in Pakistan, founded in 2015 by Khalid Bajwa, Faisal Sherjan, Iqbal Talaat Bhatti and Humayun Haroon.
Patari today is a vanguard of promoting undiscovered artists and reminiscing to the tunes of Pakistan’s Old Gold songs, with estimate traffic of about 1,326 unique visitors and 1,989 page views on a daily basis.
The press release statement by Patari, “Three months after being launched as a young Pakistani startup, we are proud to announce our first-ever artists’ payout: a total of INR1,250,000 (US$7,700) for the entire roster of artists currently available on the Patari platform.”
Patari regularly featuring tracks by the best musical talent that Pakistan has to offer and offers 40 per cent of its generated revenue to artists as royalties. Listen to songs of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan to the latest hits of Ali Zafar in one go!
Airlift
Pakistan is the sixth most populated country in the world. In the 2017 census, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics estimated the population to be approximately 200 million. Pakistan’s population has increased by 44 per cent from the last census of 1998.
Considering the law and order situation deterioration plus employment ratio decreasing in the rural areas, there is a drastic influx of people moving to urban areas such as Karachi and Lahore to make ends meet for their family. The sharp increase in the population requires abrupt facilitation of infrastructure and transportation.
Here comes Airlift: a Pakistan-based decentralised mass transit startup, founded in 2019 by the co-founder and CEO Usman Gul.
Also Read: Why Bangladesh is the next frontier for tech investment
It is building Pakistan’s largest public transportation network with over 50,000 rides per month and raised seed financing of over INR1.2 Crore (US$77,500) with Fatima Gobi Ventures, through their Techxila Fund I vehicle co-led the round with Indus Valley Capital.
Airlift has capitalised on the enormous latent demand in the market, in less than five months. The round which is the largest Series A ever raised by a Pakistani startup also marks one of the largest financings in South Asia this year and the first time that a US-based VC has led around in Pakistan.
The Honourable Provincial Minister for Transport Syed Awais Qadir Shah has offered his full support to the venture. “With the transport sector in a complete deplorable state and the unfavourable economic condition of the country, companies like Airlift have aroused hope in the population of Pakistan to travel safely whenever and wherever they want to.”
Airlift made passengers’ life easy in a city such as Karachi. It connects passengers with bus owners and permits them to commute. Select your pick up and drop off destination on your own from the travel course without tolerating the hue and cry of city life. In the scorching heat of summer days, the air-conditioned bus service makes the journey more pleasant and tolerable.
Instakin
Overseas Pakistanis face a variety of challenges due to the negligence of authorities concerned. There are thousands of cases where property grabbers, documents fraud agents loot overseas Pakistanis without a proper background check.
Instakin is a global task management platform working as a saviour for local and overseas Pakistani. It is founded by Yasir Shirazi in Boston in 2019.
Also Read: 200M people and zero Unicorns? Here’s to building the next great startup in Pakistan
Parhlo, HDStrategy, Social CXN and now Instakin are some of their successful business ventures. Instakin flaunts the Mass Challenge 2019 Finalists badge with honour and pride.
Instakin provides top four services: education counselling for higher education to US, UK, Canada, and Australia; immigration assistance for people aiming to immigrate to US, UK, Canada and Australia; document attestation services for educational, immigration and employment purposes such as HEC, IBCC, MOFA, and more. And, Property Advisory all over Pakistan.
They have established a resilient portfolio of successful cases of immigration and document attestation services in less than a year.
Living beyond oceans is emotionally and mentally burdening; it gives you nothing except for stress and anxiety. Instakin is your only Kin!
Foodpanda
Who would blame Pakistani Foodies when the Pakistani food itself is rich, packed full of spice, generous with ghee, and unbelievably tasty?
Foodpanda has transformed the way food reaches Pakistani homes today. It was founded in 2011 by Nauman Sikandar Mirza.
Since then, Foodpanda has also digitised the food landscape in Pakistan for ease and convenience of food lovers in the country.
Also Read: Insurtech has a growing role in Pakistan, and it can change lives through better financial smarts
With over 160 curated restaurants available, food lovers can order food from international restaurant chains and also have a taste of local cuisine available in the city. Enjoy your meal!
Bykea
Smartphones and two-wheelers are the two most expensive assets owned by the majority of the people in countries such as Pakistan. Road congestion prohibits free movement.
The ultimate solution for Pakistan roads: Bykea.
Pakistan’s startup ecosystem is bustling with instant transport and courier services of Bykea, a Karachi-based ride-hailing, parcel delivery and logistics startup company founded in 2016 by Muneeb Maayr – also delivers food. Bykea is keen-focused on hyper-charging its growth while setting a benchmark for the local startups.
Bykea has raised US$5.7 million in Series A investment – the first round of financing after seed money with over two million downloads on its app while the one for partners has 200,000 bicycles and motorbike owners across major cities of Pakistan.
Also Read: 200M people and zero Unicorns? Here’s to building the next great startup in Pakistan
Bykea is on its journey of building affordable technology solutions that will create income-generating opportunities for tens of thousands in Pakistan while addressing widespread challenges in transportation, logistics, and payments with pride. They are on a mission to help bring economic prosperity and the most efficient transport and logistics to emerging economies.
Daraz
For Pakistani people, the term most trusted online fashion retailers is a synonym word for Daraz. Founded in 2012 by Muneeb Maayr and Farees Shah, it has bustled the Pakistani web with a paradigm shift empowering tens of thousands of sellers to connect with millions of customers.
CEO Dr Jonathan Doerr, stated, “Over the last few years, we have pioneered e-commerce to accelerate the digital transformation in Pakistan. We are thrilled to see the impressive results achieved to date and will continue to be the driving force that is constantly innovating for merchants and customers in the coming decades. With 11.11, we introduce a new era of shopping, taking brands and consumers to the next level.”
In 2019, Daraz scored Pakistan’s first INR3 billion (US$41.9 million) sale in revenue, securing four times more orders compared to 2018’s sale, powered by three times more traffic on the e-commerce portal.
PakWheels
Buy or sell cars, seek out suggestions or be part of a community of car enthusiasts with a 360 solution: PakWheels. It was founded in 2003 by Hanif Bhatti and Suneel Munj with over 250,000 registered members on its online forum.
The platform has assisted millions of Pakistanis to buy and sell automobiles, read automotive reviews and news, check automotive prices and find solutions to all of their automotive needs.
PakWheels takes over and sell your car at a fee with a money-back guarantee. They check the car, put up an ad with pictures, make a deal and handle the paperwork for the customer. Moreover, under this service, the Ad will remain at the top of search lists to interest more buyers for you.
As of 2019, 50 per cent of Pakistan’s internet population availed the services and it has a gross margin of over 400,000 sold vehicles.
Conclusion
Pakistan’s tech entrepreneur ecosystem is drastically attaining momentum. It’s home to a strong young talent base starting from age 10 with the most promising coming of age technology startup ideas looking for a platform to pitch it away.
Pakistan’s startup growth is predictably going to accelerate tenfolds in 2020 into revenue-generating business models with the help of private and governmental initiatives.
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