Getting funds for your startup isn’t a cup of tea. You really have to prove yourself and your startup in an uncertain world. You have to ensure investors that you will bring 10x more return on their investment. Before 2016 it was very hard for Pakistani startups to get investment but after the complete revolution in Pakistani startup culture, more and more investors and incubation centers are coming every day.

You can now raise a serious round of money in Pakistan if you can prove yourself. Most funded Pakistani startups are Zameen, Pakwheels, and Sukoon.

When Applying for funds, make sure that you have incorporated business and your startup model is perfect (although there isn’t anything perfect). It is very important that you have a beta version of your product at least. More customer you have means more chances for you to get funded. Never raise money from investors on the basis of idea. Ideas are just crap, it’s the only execution that matters the most. However, you can raise money from your friends and family before starting.

If you are raising money then you need to have very serious appeal. Don’t cry if any investor rejected you. You may have to submit your startup to over hundred investors to get funded. it’s never easy to get fund so try to raise money as little and as late as possible. This way you will have more equity when you quit.

Remember startup culture is still new in Pakistan. If you got lucky enough to raise funding for your startup then be ready to handle extra pressure from your investors.

I have collected around twenty-five investors and firms which have a history of investing in Pakistani companies. Hope you find this helpful.

 

1. LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship – The Foundation Fund

Address: LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Floor, Suleman Dawood School of Business, LUMS, DHA, Lahore, Pakistan 54792

Phone: +92 423 5608439

E-Mail: [email protected]

Web: https://lce.lums.edu.pk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumscent

 

2. Shell Tameer

Shell LiveWIRE is a Royal Dutch Shell Social Investment Programme, which enables young people to start their own business and create employment.

Website: https://www.shelltameer.com/

Address: Shell LiveWIRE Trust. Shell House, Karachi, Pakistan

Phone: (021) 111 888 222

Email: [email protected]

 

3. PLAN9 TECHNOLOGY INCUBATOR

PLAN9 Fellowship Program.

Address: Level 09, Arfa Software Technology Park, 346 – B, Ferozepur Road, Lahore.

Phone: +92.42.3588.0062 – ext. 1910, 1915

Email: [email protected]

Web: http://plan9.pitb.gov.pk

 

4. Frontier Digital Ventures

Funding to accelerate the growth of amazing online classifieds businesses

Web: http://frontierdv.com

 

5. Golden Gate Ventures

Web: http://goldengate.vc

Address: 73B Duxton Road Singapore 089532

Phone:  +65 6602 8050

 

6. Northstar Group

Web: https://www.nsgroup.com/

The Northstar Group is a Singapore headquartered private equity firm managing more than US$2.0 billion in committed equity capital dedicated to investing in growth companies in Indonesia and to a lesser extent, other countries in Southeast Asia.

 

7. Northstar Advisors Pte. Ltd.

Address: 6 Battery Road Unit #35-05 Singapore 049909

Tel: +65 6533-3210

Fax: +65 6533-3211

 

8. Abraaj

We are a global institution investing in growth markets across Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Turkey.

Web: http://www.abraaj.com/

 

9. Techstars Ventures

Techstars Ventures is the venture capital arm of Techstars

Web: http://www.techstars.com/

 

10. Invest2Innovate

Invest2Innovate supports startup communities in growth markets, and has been operating in Pakistan since 2011. They have incubation center and they also invest in selected companies. You can find more information on their site.

Web: http://invest2innovate.com

 

11. 10xc

10xC provides seed funding, advice and shared services to entrepreneurs working on ideas or concepts towards validation of product/market fit. Whether you’re a new startup trying to get off the ground or an existing company in need of growth capital, 10xC has the means to support you. They offer up to 1M Rupess intial investment for the sake of 20% equity and incubation to the accepted startups.

Web: http://10xc.pk/

 

12. National Incubation Center

NIC is support by Government and Jazz with the help of Teamup. They Support in raising capital from Angel investors locally and globally.

Web: http://nicpakistan.pk/

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +92-51-844-3333 / +92-51-844-2222

 

13. Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Islamabad Chapter

TiE runs numerous angel investment groups and funding forums throughout its network. They also host Pakistan StartUp Cup.

Invested in: Sukoon.

Web: http://islamabad.tie.org/

 

14. WECREATE Pakistan

Women’s Entrepreneurial Center of Resources, Education, Access, and Training for Economic Empowerment (WECREATE) Projects.

Web: http://pakistan.wecreatecenter.com/

Address: Office #1, Select Plaza, F-11 Markaz, Islamabad

Mail: [email protected]

Phone: +92 51 2228969

 

15. PLANX

With a strong network of local and global investors associated with PlanX we connect our startups with the best potential investors to help aid their growth.

Web: http://planx.pitb.gov.pk/

Address: 2nd floor, Arfa Software Technology Park, 346-B, Ferozepur Road, Lahore

Phone: +92-42-35880062 Ext. 1206

Email: [email protected]

 

16. Planet N

Planet N provides a platform for prime growth to start-ups through collaboration and shared services.

Web: http://planetngroup.com/

Address: 1st Floor, Plot No. E-23,  2nd Zamzama Comm. Lane, Phase V, D.H.A.,  Karachi, Pakistan.

Tel: +92 21 3537 9106 – 8 / Fax: +92 21 3581 0445

 

17. National ICT R&D Fund

This is the best place to get funding for your startups. National ICTRD provides big funds on zero equity to promote entrepreneurship. They have already Invested in More than 50 startups.

Web: http://www.ictrdf.org.pk/

Address: 6th Floor, HBL Tower Jinnah Avenue, Blue Area, Islamabad, Pakistan

Mail: [email protected]

Phone: (+92 51) 921 5360  – (+92 51) 921 5361 – (+92 / 51) 921 5362 – (+92 / 51) 921 5363 – (+92 / 51) 921 5364

 

18. Dot Zero Ventures

Dot Zero ventures primarily invest in early-stage companies that have successfully demonstrated through pilots that their service, product or idea has mass appeal.

Invested in: PerkUp, Sukoon and two others.

Web: http://dotzeroventures.com/

Address:  14th Floor, Dilkusha Forum, Karachi

Phone: +92 (021) 3455-6352

Mail: [email protected]

 

Some Others Helpful Investment

1. Small business loan: Prime Minister’s ‘Youth Business Loan

Web: https://www.smeda.org/

Address: 4th Floor, Building no.3, Aiwan-e-Iqbal Complex, Egerton Road, Lahore, Pakistan

Ph: (042)-99204701-12, 111-111-456

Fax: (042)-36304926-7

 

2. IBM Global Entrepreneur

Qualified startups can receive up to $120K in IBM Cloud Credits

Link: https://developer.ibm.com/startups/

 

3. Pakistan Angel Investors

You can find more Angle investors here.

Web: https://angel.co/pakistan/investors

 

4. Pakistan Investment Network

They help startups get investment from qualified investors.

Web: https://www.angelinvestmentnetwork.com.pk/

 

5. Amazon AWS Credit

You can use Amazon AWS startup program to get free hosting credit for the first year of up to 15K $.

Link: https://aws.amazon.com/startups/

 

Hope you find this helpful. If you know more companies, share with me in a comment. So I can add them to this list. Thanks.

I will love to hear your suggestion and feedback.+