According to data from MAGNiTT’s ‘State of Startup Funding – 2021 Emerging Venture Markets’ Study, startup investments in Pakistan increased to $77 million, which was a 97 percent rise in the amount invested in Pakistani startups during 2019.
In addition, in contrast to the general downward trend in the MENA region, the number of start-up deals also grew by 45 percent this year.
An rise in interest from local, regional and foreign players in Pakistani startups can be attributed to the record level of investments in Pakistan. In Pakistan, several top VCs have also invested in 2020, including First Round Capital, Prosus, Global Founders Capital, Village Global, Quiet Capital, GFC, YCombinator, Pioneer Fund.
This trend could accelerate in 2021, according to Aatif Awan, Founder & Managing Partner at Indus Valley Capital, as Pakistan crosses the 100M threshold for broadband subscribers.
It is also important to remember that the $22M Series A raised by Airlift Technologies and $13M Series B raised by Bykea accounted for 45 percent of the overall startup funding.
In addition to this, with e-commerce, fintech, healthcare and education startups seeing the most transactions, COVID-19 influenced industries led the way in Pakistan. There were 5 deals each for healthcare and fintech, while 3 rounds were reported in educational technology.
Pakistan is projected to see the highest growth rate of total start-up funding in the MENA region as its strong growth trend continues.
