LAHORE: Karachi-based wealth management platform Elphinstone has been accepted into Y Combinator and will be part of the incubator’s Winter 2022 batch.
Karachi-based Rider and Islamabad-based Markaz Technologies were also accepted into YC, making Elphinstone the third Pakistani startup to be accepted into Y Combinator’s winter batch comprising 205 startups.
All these startups will receive $500,000 in funding from Y Combinator.
Elphinstone is a robo-advisory platform which provides automated, algorithm-driven financial planning services. Founded in 2020 by Farooq Tirmizi, Elphinstone aims to help Pakistanis manage their $3 trillion in wealth.
The company recently launched its first product which is a 401k-style corporate retirement plan under which companies can set up retirement plans for their employees. In the US, 401k is a profit-sharing plan that allows employees to contribute a portion of their pre-tax wages into retirement accounts. The money is withdrawn usually in retirement.
Elphinstone announced raising $313,000 in pre-seed funding last year.
Founded in 2019 by Salman Allana, Rider is a logistics startup specialising in eCommerce deliveries, competing in a space dominated by logistics companies such as TCS and Leopards. It has raised $2.3 million in funding so far.
The third Pakistani startup to make it to Y Combinator in the recent batch, Markaz Technologies, is a reselling marketplace for social media entrepreneurs in Pakistan. The startup enables WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram-based micro-entrepreneurs to source wholesale products from across Pakistan to start their business without any investment.
Markaz Technologies facilitates these micro-entrepreneurs by offering their customers delivery operations, payments, and customer services. Markaz has not announced any funding round.
Founded in 2005, Silicon Valley-based Y Combinator is considered the most prestigious startup incubator in the world which has backed companies like Airbnb, DoorDash, Stripe, Dropbox, Reddit, Inc., and Coinbase. Since its inception, the incubator has funded over 3,000 companies.
The combined valuation of YC companies is estimated to be $600 billion.
Since 2020, a total of nine Pakistani startups have been accepted into various batches of Y Combinator. Abhi Finance, Udhaar, and TAG made it to Y Combinator last year, whereas Safepay, Tajir and Byte were part of Y Combinator in 2020.
