Indus Valley Capital (IVC) has raised $17.5 million for its first fund, which will invest in Pakistani startups in the early stages. According to Menabytes, the fund’s target size was $15 million, but it was oversubscribed with over 75 individual investors from all over the world.
Indus Valley Capital is a Pakistani venture capital firm that invests in early-stage companies. It was founded in early 2019 by Aatif Awan, a former LinkedIn executive.
Indus Valley Capital’s debut fund included Reddit Co-Founder Alexis Ohanian, as well as founders, executives, and operators from leading technology companies such as Google, Facebook, Stripe, Uber, Coinbase, Careem, LinkedIn, InstaCart, Dropbox, WebFlow, Oracle, Atlassian, and Zillow. Three unicorn founders are among the other investors; however, IVC has not revealed their names.
According to a statement released by IVC, limited partners include early investors in Careem and Souq as well as partners at two multi-billion dollar VC funds.
While raising funds from tech and finance professionals was unusual, it was a success, particularly because IVC received $2.5 million in oversubscribed capital.
IVC’s first investment, Airlift, raised $12 million in a Series A round led by First Round Capital. It’s worth noting that Airlift was First Round Capital’s first Asian investment in a decade. Following that, Airlift raised an additional $10 million in a Series A extension.
In addition, Indus Valley Capital provided the first cheque for Bazaar, one of the largest seed rounds in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
According to Aatif Awan, this first fund will assist founders in building the most transformative companies in Pakistan, transforming Pakistan into one of the top five tech hubs in the world.