The demo was held on September 7 and included 10 startups from countries such as the UAE, India, Pakistan, Nigeria and Singapore, in fintech, GameFi, edtech and blockchain, among others.
Three Pakistani startups also participated in the demo day. Pakistani startups Linkstar, KalPay and NearPeer participated in the demo day.
Linkstar:
Linkstar offers a proven network of qualified freelance marketers and influencers with expertise in some of the best companies, startups and agencies available on demand and within budget.
KalPay
KalPay is Pakistan’s first Shariah Buy Now Pay Later company. They allow their customers to pay in 3 monthly installments without paperwork and other costs! Their mission is to play a vital role in financial inclusion in the country.
Industry: Fintech
Stage: Seed
Near Peer:
Nearpeer aims to make quality education accessible and accessible at all levels across the MENAP region through technology so that students can take control of and love their learning – resulting in lower dropout rates, better learning outcomes and better human capital. for the region.
Industry: Edtech
Stage: Seed
Other startups from different countries were part of the event. Pakistan’s startup ecosystem has been in a rough patch in 2022 as we have seen some startup darlings of the ecosystem shut down.
However, funding hasn’t slowed down in the ecosystem yet, with Pakistani startups raising $331 million in funding since Q3. After the closure of the big names, a trend can be seen with funding slowing down in the ecosystem.
Industry experts predict that the future rounds will not be as glamorous compared to the previous rounds we have seen where the ecosystem was excited by the influx of startup funding news.
Recently, we can see a trend of smaller bikes coming into the ecosystem where accelerators like Sosv’s Orbit startups are quite active in the ecosystem.
The average check size for startups on Orbit is $150,000, we also saw that Y Combinator is quite active in the ecosystem where the average check size is $500,000. With the influx of smaller rounds in the ecosystem, we can see a trend of confidence in the ecosystem from accelerators who believe in the potential of Pakistan.
