Wifigen – the Pakistan-based startup which provides innovative wifi solutions to customers and businesses alike – has just announced that it received an undisclosed amount of funding from a Silicon Valley based investor, valuing the company at US$1 million. The investor behind this funding round is John Russell Patrick, former vice president at IBM and an early stage investor in Uber.

Wifigen was initially incubated by Lahore-based Plan9 as part of their fifth cycle and provides free public wifi in exchange for some customer information. How it works is fairly straightforward. Companies who embed Wifigens’ solution into their existing wifi hotspot will then have the option of offering their clients free use of the service as long as they login with one of their social media accounts, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or LinkedIn. Clients who choose to ‘check-in’ or share their location will also be offered discounts, or even free products.

Wifigen team

For businesses, the solution offered by Wifigen is a potential treasure trove of information and analytics. All customer-inputted data is transferred to a “cloud band account”, which can then be used by the business to determine invaluable information such as demographics, history of visits, and overall satisfaction levels. Wifigen also allows restaurants and cafes to display their menu directly on a user’s smartphone once he or she logs in so they can order with just a few clicks.

The company bagged its first contract halfway across the world in New Zealand, which also provided the catalyst for the first round of investment. Wifigen believes that their solution has the potential to be a game-changer, as it facilitates direct communication between businesses and customers, and provides value addition to both.

Wifigen plans on using this investment round to market their service aggressively in Pakistan, where they still have not established a public presence. International expansion is also on the startups’ bucket list – after successful implementation of their solution in New Zealand, their next target country is Australia.

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