Over the last year, the Pakistani IT industry and start-ups have been a hot topic. When Airlift, a Lahore-based software start-up, received 85 million dollars in “Series B” investment last month, Prime Minister Imran Khan tweeted, “Pakistan has great potential and we are open for business.” Bazaar, a Karachi-based internet start-up, was revealed to have received $30 million in ‘Series A’ funding less than a week later. As a result, Asad Umar, a federal minister, tweeted, “Time for the Pakistani tech sector has arrived.”
Indeed, Pakistan’s tech sector appears to have made a significant impact. Over the last year, the good news regarding this boom has only gotten better. In the year 2021 alone, Pakistani start-ups have received at least 240 million dollars in financing. Last year, 66 million dollars were raised throughout the course of the entire year.
Images of young men and women, usually dressed in business casual wear or even t-shirts and jeans, smilingly staring into the camera, are frequently featured alongside news stories of these victories. They must have something to be happy about. They can see and be a part of a future that not everyone can see now.
While the technologically challenged and those with little business knowledge may not grasp what Series A and Series B funding are, or what terminology like ‘FinTech’ represent, it is evident that the young minds driving tech start-ups comprehend foreign and local funds, as well as Pakistan’s needs.
