12 startups from Pakistan that raised funding in 2015

Photo credit: epSos.de

2015 was a breakout year for startups in Pakistan. One company was accepted into YCombinator, two raised multi-million dollar investment rounds, and a local competitor was acquired by German juggernaut Rocket Internet. Add that to the mushroom growth of startup incubators and accelerators across the country, as well as much more hype and buzz around tech entrepreneurship in general. The future seems bright.

Of course there are still challenges to overcome. Payments is a niggling problem – unwieldy financial regulations mean fintech startups aren’t able to address this need and ecommerce as a whole suffers. High-speed internet connectivity is still not a guaranteed right; it’s been just over a year since Pakistan introduced 3G/4G LTE services, and there’s still a long way to go before most of the country jumps on the bandwagon.

On the upside, several promising companies secured investor cash this year. Here’s our list, in no particular order.

1. Zamzama Property Group

Zamzama Property Group, which is the parent company of real estate sites Zameen and Bayut, raised US$9 million in series B financing, marking the largest investment in a Pakistan-based startup this year.

Zameen’s rival in Pakistan is Rocket Internet-backed Lamudi but word on the street is that there’s a massive gap between the two. The portal has been around since 2006 and counts Patrick Grove’s Catcha Group as one of its investors.

See: They started an online property portal in a small apartment. Now it’s worth millions

2. Naseeb Networks

Naseeb Networks is the holding company of job portals Rozee and Mihnati, concentrating on Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, respectively. The startup raised a US$6.5 million series C round, bringing its total funding to US$8.5 million. Acceleration of growth in target markets of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia was said to be the primary reason behind the sizable investment.

3. Wifigen

Wifigen, a startup that provides wifi solutions for businesses in exchange for social media logins, raised an undisclosed amount of seed investment valuing the company at US$1 million. The angel investor behind this round is John Russell Patrick – a former executive at IBM and an early-stage investor in Uber.

4. Bookme

Bookme, an online platform for booking bus, cinema, and event tickets, secured an undisclosed amount of seed investment from Element Ventures, which valued the company at US$4 million. The startup was previously one of the Startup Arena finalists at Tech in Asia Jakarta 2014.

5. EatOye

EatOye, an online food delivery service, was acquired by Rocket Internet’s Foodpanda as part of a regional acquisition spree to assert its dominance in the sector. The startup was a late entrant to the online delivery space in Pakistan, but had started to seriously threaten Foodpanda’s position at the top of the perch – hence the buyout.

6. Forrun

7. Markhor

8. Interacta

9. Sportskot

10. MySmacED

11. AutoGenie

12. Mezaaj