*Backed with impressive figures, Pakistan is showing strong signals ofgrowth as an emerging startup hub revealed MAGNITT, the largest onlinecommunity for startups across the MENA region titled 2021 Emerging VentureMarkets Report.*
As per the report, with a 45% increased deal flow and a 97% increase infunding, Pakistan saw a record level of investments in 2020 as compared to2019, as it has seen increased interest from local, regional as well asinternational players in its Pakistani startupps.
As per the report, Venture Capital funding in Pakistan was up 97% to USD77million. Whereas, total number of deals reached a new record at 48transactions in 2020 up 45% from 2019. The year 2020 saw a record highlevel of VC funding for Pakistan when excluding the USD89mn CarFirst roundin 2018 – 45% of funding came from a $22M Series A raised by AirliftTechnologies and $13M Series B raised by Byke.
The report predicted that in 2021, Pakistan is likely to see the largestgrowth rate of total funding as it continues its strong growth trajectory.
“2020 proved that follow-on capital would flow to Pakistan quickly forstartups that execute well. Airlift raised a large round, $12M, within just7 months of us leading their initial rounds. Bykea raised a $13M series Bround, led by Prosus. Many top VCs including First Round Capital, Prosus,Global Founders Capital, Village Global, Quiet Capital, GFC, YCombinator,Pioneer Fund have invested in Pakistan in 2020. We expect this trend toaccelerate in 2021, as Pakistan crosses the 100M broadband subscribersmilestone.”
“We’re focused on bringing the Pakistani diaspora, aka Wapistanis, back tothe country to help the startup ecosystem in its next phase of growth,”said Aatif Awan, Founder & Managing Partner at Indus Valley Capital.
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Among the sectors, the transport industry overtook E-Commerce in Pakistanby total funding, climbing 3 spots in the ranking while accounting for 28%of capital invested. In addition, E-Commerce ranked first by number ofdeals (33%), followed by FinTech (11%).
Talking about the quarterly development, the report stated that in apositive sign for the Pakistani ecosystem, despite COVID-19, VC funding anddeals were up across all quarters, compared to 2019. Q3 ‘20 led the way forfunding with $40M invested – Q3 ‘20’s record-high VC investment, was mostlydue to $22M Airlift Technologies and $13M Bykea deals – In Q4, all 17 dealswere at Early Stage, with the largest round being Healthcare Tech MEDZnMORE($2.6M).
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