New Pakistani VC firm i2i launches $15m fund for early-stage investments

Pakistani venture capital firm i2i Ventures, the investment unit of local startup accelerator Invest2Innovate, has launched a US$15 million fund to back early-stage tech companies in the country.

Islamabad city view through the arches from Pakistan monument. / Photo credit: Shahid Khan / 12RF

For its maiden investment, the VC firm said it is leading a six-figure seed round for Mauqa Online, an Islamabad-based digital platform for on-demand domestic services. The round includes participation from UAE-based Karavan Partners.

Co-founded by Pakistani-American social entrepreneur Kalsoom Lakhani and fintech professional Misbah Naqvi, i2i Ventures claims to be the first female-founded institutional fund to invest exclusively in Pakistani entrepreneurs.

“As the fifth-largest market in the world, with a young population, a rising consumer class, and increasing smartphone penetration, Pakistan presents tremendous investment opportunities,” said Lakhani, who is also the founder and CEO of Invest2Innovate.

“Having operated in the region and industry for more than eight years, it’s clear that the market is ripe for a founder-focused fund like i2i Ventures, where shared goals, trust, and open communication are deeply embedded into the investment strategy.”

i2i Ventures seeks to challenge the traditional power dynamics of a fund, taking an impact and gender-lens approach to investing and allowing for its portfolio founders to have as much power at the negotiating table as the investor, the firm said.

The first phase of the fund is supported by the The Dutch Good Growth Fund, a Dutch government fund-of-funds supporting frontier markets such as South Sudan, Nepal, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. i2i Ventures is also backed by high-net-worth individuals from the US, East Asia, and the Middle East.