Pakistani startups raise $85m amid rush of foreign funding in fintech

Pakistani startups raise $85m amid rush of foreign funding in fintech

KARACHI: Venture capitalists injected more than $85 million in Pakistani startups in the first five months of 2021, with fintech companies riding a wave of interest by overseas investors, according to data from Invest2Innovate Ventures (I2I), which supports early-stage enterprises in untapped developing markets. Pakistani Internet platforms engaged in finance and business, or fintech companies, fetched about $22 million, mostly in foreign funding, since January 2021, according to Alpha Beta Core, a tech-driven boutique investment banking and financial advisory services platform. It includes recent deals by TAG Innovation, KTrade and Abhi, which raised $12.1 million in separate rounds. Industry experts said that Pakistan's increasing mobile phone penetration and growing young population are major attractions for foreign funding in startups. Official data shows Pakistan has 85 percent teledensity, with 183 million cellular, 98 million 3G/4G and 101 million broadband subscribers. The decrease in global air travel during the coronavirus pandemic has also provided an unexpected advantage for startups in Pakistan, cutting out the requirement that investors visit the country as part of the due diligence process, and making them more open to discussing deals remotely over Zoom or other video conferencing platforms. Syed Amin Ul Haque, federal minister for IT, told