Regardless of several reports of startups declining in Pakistan, entrepreneurs managed to raise $328 million in the capital in the nine months of 2022.
Despite heightened investor scepticism stemming from geopolitical tensions and increasing fear of a global recession, the total funds raised by Pakistani startups, in the nine months of 2022, stood at $328 million. This accounts for 87% of the total funding in 2021, according to Alpha Beta Cores Deal Tracker.
The third quarter of 2022 has had more early-stage deals with total seed and pre-seed level rounds accounting for 90% of the total deals. The average deal size in the third quarter of 2022 clocked in at $60 million versus $7.3 million last quarter, stated Khurram Schehzad, CEO of Alpha Beta Core (ABCore).
Startup Investment Specialist, Kapeel Kumar told the media, The more room for failure we leave, the more we also create room for success in its wake.
The one reason Pakistan is witnessing the boom is that the country is, after all, one of the few untapped frontier markets, Kumar noted, adding, Most investments are within B2B or B2C e-commerce, fintech and logistics. This is a trend that can be observed in a lot of emerging markets as the ecosystem starts to grow.
?The top deals closed were DBank at $17.6 million, OneLoad at $11 million, PriceOye at $7.9 million and DealCart at $4.5 million. Other notable deals this quarter were Neem and SnappRetail at $2.5 million each and Mahaana at $2.1 million, said ABCore CEO Schehzad.
Further explaining the influence of startups shutting operations in Pakistan, Kumar stated, The closing of tech startups in the last six months is alarming. In Pakistan, this will weigh heavily on the entire startup ecosystem, which is unfair to the many startups performing and creating employment.
?We look forward to a better closing of 2022 as compared to that in 2021. Pakistani startups still have much better survival rates (both in terms of size and numbers) than the rest of the region or the world, said Kumar.
Talking to the media, Noman Ahmed, CEO of SI Global Solutions said, Owing to our massive population, we have an incredible potential for growth within us.
As leading professionals in the tech world, it is up to us to revolutionise Pakistans technological landscape by nurturing, guiding and shaping this pool of talent. This work must begin at the university level. Final projects and thesis submissions should foc