PAKISTAN’S STARTUP ECOSYSTEM READY FOR LIFT OFF NOW: CEO IGNITE
Islamabad: May 18, 2022
A Saudi delegation headed by Mr. Abdul Rahman Mohammad A. Alghimlas, Chairman Marina Morabaha Financing Company, along with Mr. Jalal, CFO, Mr. Taha Abdullah A. Alebrahim, CTO and Mr. Ahmed Al Matawa, Head of Operations visited Ignite National Technology Fund along with Mr. Zain Farooq, CEO MyTM and Jawad Mahmood, Director MYTM a fintech startup incubated at National Incubation Center Islamabad. CEO Ignite, Asim Shahryar Husain, welcomed the delegation and briefed them about different initiatives of Ignite for boosting the startup and freelancing ecosystems of Pakistan. He informed that 5 National Incubation Centers have incubated almost thousand startups over the last 4 years creating 114,000 jobs and raising investments of $67 million so far. He stated that Ignite had sponsored participation of 12 NIC startups at LEAP in Riyadh along with Digital Cooperation Organization in February 2022 and many of the startups have either partnered with organizations in Middle East to expand their footprint or raised funding since the event. He mentioned “2021 was a remarkable year for Pakistani startups where investments grew by almost 5 times over 2020 and that 2022 is looking even better. Ignite’s forecast for investment in Pakistani startups is more than $600 million by end of this year.” He informed the delegation that Ignite will establish 12 incubation centers in 8 cities and 4 verticals including agritech, aerospace, and gaming & animation, and healthtech by next year. Mr. Abdul Rahman Mohammad A. Alghimlas, Chairman Marina Morabaha Financing Company took a keen interest in the success stories of various startups of Pakistan. He also appreciated the support extended by Ignite to innovative ideas of young companies across Pakistan. The delegation also visited NIC Islamabad where the delegates interacted with different startups. Fowrry, an agribusiness startup at NIC, got engaged with the Saudi delegation to explore the possibilities of collaboration. Marina Morabaha Financing Company is keen to adopt the technology of MYTM Pvt Limited. MyTM is enabling digital payments providing ecommerce, financial, and banking services across Pakistan. Apart from MYTM, the Saudi company is also exploring the possibility of collaboration and investment with Pakistani startups working in the verticals of AgriTech and EdTech. Earlier this year, MyTM had participated in the global technology conference LEAP hosted by Saudi Arabia in Riyadh where it attracted investor interest and secured $6.9 million in its seed round. In 2021, MyTM had won the Supernova pitching competition at GITEX Future Stars held in Dubai in October 2021, in the ‘Creative Economy’ category.