Karandaaz Pakistan and the three winners of Fintech Disrupt Challenge Pakistan signed grant agreements. The grant agreement of $100,000 with each Ricult Pakistan, Paysys Labs and PublishEX Solution was signed. That makes a total of US $300, 000. Karandaaz Pakistan is a great financial support for the growing companies.
The three companies were bit selected randomly but after a long process. In November last year during the Fintech challenge 61 applications were received only 28 were selected for challenge. The event was held at LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship. Than the 10 finalists were shortlist, finally these three managed to achieve top three positions.
Ali Sarfraz the CEO of Karandaaz Pakistan said,
“This competition showcased an incredible display of talent from startups across the nation. We have now completed the first step in the process with these awards. The next and more vital piece of this challenge will be getting the deals completed, and setting up a soft landing for winning startups who aspire to disrupt FinTech industry. We look forward to expediting that process and helping these startups gain traction in the Pakistan market,”
Rehan Akhtar the Director Digital Financial Services of Karandaaz Pakistan added,
“The initial mobilization amount will give the winners a kick-start to their projects. With this grant, we intend to provide them with capital inflow for the next one year so the startups remain focused on ope-rationalization of their products/services rather than worrying about lack of finance. We expect these Fin Techs to be sustainable in the long run and create an impact in the digital financial services industry.”
Ricult Pakistan:
Farmers are one of the major assets of Pakistan. Ricult wants to make it easier for farmers by a digitized method. This would help to reduce inefficiency in the farming system. It enables the farmers to register for free by phone. In Ricult the can order supplies and can get easy loans.
The Ricult gets a small amount of each money transaction. Ricult plans to integrate a mobile-wallet in their platform which will seamlessly disburse amounts to the farmer’s account.
Paysys Labs:
This is a technology startup. Karim Jindani believes, “Secure & friction-less identity verification is one of the major challenges in DFS space.”
It aims to introduce a biometric ID verification solution that will use a Smartphone camera. This will allow easy authentication anywhere.
PublishEX Solutions:
The startup wants to use the amount in building a platform named Direct Carrier Billing. It aims to provide secure yet fast way of money transfer.
Salim Karim and Yassir Pasha want to build a platform fir convenience of merchant. According to them this will be, “A payment channel which enables merchants to seamlessly monetize digital goods and services for their users on a global scale.”
About Karandaaz Pakistan
KARANDAAZ PAKISTAN, a not-for-profit company registered under SECP in August 2014, promotes access to finance for small businesses through a commercially directed investment platform, and financial inclusion for individuals by employing technology enabled digital solutions.
The Company has financial and institutional support from leading international development finance institutions; principally the United Kingdom Department for International Development (UKAid) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.