LAHORE: On the entrance stairs of Al-Fatah, Y-block Defence, is a small stall selling savoury snacks. Apart from the delicious aroma of french fries and spicy boiled and fried corn, the stall is also a treat for the eyes with spiral potatoes displayed like cotton candy on a stick and small buckets of french fries place on the counter inviting the hungry beyond resistance. A young man frantically moves inside the three-feet space inside the stall while preparing different orders of chicken pops, french fries, and corn-in-a-cup, while at least half a dozen people and a few children try to look over the stall and see if it is their order in the fryer or they will have to wait a bit longer.
While waiting for my order of a spiral hot-and-spicy potato – which I will later find to be delectable – I got to chatting with the owner of the stall who told me that he makes around Rs 250,000 in revenues a month in winters and a little below Rs 200,000 in most months of summers. He has a contract with the management of Al-Fatah for operating outside three of their shops and pays Rs 85,000 rent per month irrespective of his own earnings. While the stalls provide a convenient method of killing hunger for customers, and an inconvenience for parents whose kids refuse to go back to their cars without getting their treats, for the owner of the stall, it is a source of easy revenue. He does not do any marketing, neither offer any discounts. But his menu remains an irresistible attraction to passers-by.
He said that before coming to Al-Fatah he tried his hand with operating in universities like LUMS and UMT, but the response he received was cold at best. He, however, is completely oblivious to the start-up culture being expanding in Pakistan and the possibility of him finding an investor to help him expand. When I asked him, if he has ever thought of launching his own outlet, his response was simple. “I have thought of it lots of times, but despite my sales, I do not have enough savings to pay for the expansion. Maybe someday if I can save that much, I will open my own outlet and also expand the things I sell.” At my suggestion of entering an incubator, he said, “I have no problem in giving shares in this business. I know there is demand for the products I sell and I just need money to rent a bigger place.”
While this young man has so far been unable to make use of this incredible opportunity now available to Pakistan’s rising entrepreneurs, there have been dozens of others who have fully utilised this channel. Incubators and accelerators are being formed and taking on startups from all over the country. The most renowned one of these perhaps was Idea Croron Ka (ICK); A television program, introduced by Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) Director Entrepreneurship Nabeel A. Qadeer.
Dubbed as Pakistan’s Shark Tank, ICK has proven to be a publicly hit show, not just for the entrepreneurs and investors but also for the general public. The first season of the show aired in January 2017 and had an estimated audience of 12 lac people. The startups that made it to the final rounds of funding and found investors for their ventures include Affordable.pk that received Rs 1 Crore ($ 90,300) in funding, Smart Devices received Rs 5 Crore ($ 451,500), Smart Devices also received Rs 5 Crore ($ 451,500), Virgin Teez got Rs 50 Lacs ($ 45,150) in funding, DIY Geeks scored Rs 1.5 Crore ($ 135,450), Printickle received Rs 1.5 Crore ($ 135,450), Nearpeer gained Rs 1.5 Crore ($ 135,450), and Checkin.pk landed Rs 1 Crore ($ 90,300). Season 2 of ICK is being aired now and the business enthusiasts have high hopes to see some new startups birthing out of the show along with some older ones getting the chance of expanding their ventures.
Advisor at the Nestio, Jawwad Farid, also compiled a list of technology venture capital investment market in Pakistan in 2017.While the startups and their investments were pretty clear when they were telecast on national television, the research by Startuplist.pk is based primarily on the personal comments of the entrepreneurs and owners of the businesses. Any discrepancy therefore in the numbers reported by the startups and the actual number of transactions or amounts is therefore regretted. Their estimates say that a total of $ 19.685 million have been invested in funding to new tech startups in more than 80 transactions. Here are the details of these startups.
One startup missing from this list is Sabzi.pk which has been growing north of 100 per cent month over month, growing its customer base primarily in Lahore for now. This online fruits and vegetable delivery startup closed its seed financing valued at $ 7.5 million.
The trends have been an improvement of similar funding results seen in 2016. In 2016, PerkUp raised Rs 15 million in seed funding with the help of DotZero Ventures and Crescent Ventures. RepairDesk received $ 40,000 funding in the same year from Revamp Wholesale that offers online services to users of smartphones. A health-related startup, Well.pk, managed to raise $ 1 million last year from two local individuals, one of them a renowned banker. Likewise, an online rickshaw and bus booking service Travly got $ 200,000 from CresVentures and a well-known management mentor.
