1 week Ago
3 Shares Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Editor's note: We put together a comprehensive look at the country's companies that have successfully raised capital, complete with a list of 33 of Pakistan's more prominent funded startups here. As founder of Pakistani startup investment fund Zayn Venture Capital, Faisal Aftab has spent plenty of time grilling entrepreneurs. Never before, however, has he done it in front of an audience of millions.
Aftab, who spoke to Crunchbase News via an oft-spotty hotel Wi-Fi connection, was in Karachi to begin filming the first episodes of "Shark Tank Pakistan." There, he will join a panel of judges to vet pitches from a selection of camera-ready founders. The lineup won't be business-as-usual for the U.
S.- and U.K.
-educated Aftab, whose firm has to date focused on fintech, logistics and e-commerce. While these may be compelling sectors for venture returns, consumer products — like food and beauty products — will likely play better for a TV and YouTube audience. Oddly, the Shark Tank filming was coincidental, as we'd originally discussed an interview a couple months ago.
The aim was to get some insights into funding to the region, with an eye to seeing why Pakistan — a country of 235 million people with widespread smartphone adoption and plentiful entrepreneurial and tech talent — has attracted rather meager sums of startup investment to date. True, there are some Pakistani startups that have raised good-sized rounds, such as courier service PostEx, online grocery service Krave Mart, and student loan provider EduFi (founded and led by fellow shark Aleena Nadeem). But total investment is still measured in the hundreds of millions — less than a single mega-round for a gen AI unicorn these days.
Perhaps the tides are shifting. Pakistan was a latecomer in wireless infrastructure, delaying uptake of popular apps, said Aftab. These days Pakistanis are making up for lost.
.. Joanna Glasner.
