The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday removed the main obstacle to the development of start-ups, allowing them to take advantage of external loans such as convertible bonds. Financing from abroad allows them to take advantage of loans such as ”convertible debt”.

In order to obtain loans from foreign investors, the current form of law once again prohibits people from obtaining such loans, and only allows Pakistani companies to do so in very limited circumstances.

It limits the entire purpose of generating convertible debt for startups, because its goal is to quickly make money from existing investors. Start-up companies have always asked for foreign loans that can be converted into shares.

Changes were made to the currency manual.

If the startup is successful, they will raise the first round of funding and start selling products or services to target customers. However, in the case of higher growth requiring more financing, startups hope to obtain loans from abroad, but the regulations of the National Bank are hindered.

Convertible debt is a form of financing that can be converted into stocks. SBP said that the shares of the borrowing company are subject to certain terms and conditions.

Before the last instruction, the entity is allowed to define in the Trading Manual (FEM) Obtain foreign currency loans from abroad within the parameters, but it is not a specific category that provides the option of converting loans into company equity. Start-ups are facing financing problems due to the inability to obtain collateral or collateral.

Foreign countries including equity funds and angel investors Investors have shown interest in start-ups, but they will try to hedge risks through alternative methods such as high loan yields.

“It is expected that this initiative will help in attracting more foreign investment as it will provide another option to the international investors to invest in startup companies operating in Pakistan,” said the SBP.

Those who are hesitant to participate in the equity of startups in the early stage can provide financing under this category and in the later stage. Decided to participate in equity in order to implement these changes, the relevant provisions of FEM Chapter 19, SBP said.

In early February this year, the Bank State released a working paper on Start-ups to release convertible bonds from abroad, which stated that it is designing a new type of Loan program to meet the specific needs of companies and emerging companies.

According to this working document, startups and venture capital companies believe that foreign investors intend to invest in their companies in the form of convertible debt (that is, loans that can be converted into equity) , Rather than directly as equity investment, and current foreign exchange regulations still cannot provide this convenience.

The post SBP Allows Startups Raise Funding From Abroad appeared first on Techlist.

SlideApp raised recently series A round funding $3.6 million dollars. The announcement was made earlier today. According to the latest news Songhyun Investment led this funding. This is not the first time the app has previously raised $1.2 Million in seed funding as well.

SlideApp is one of the most popular and leading app. This is young but not week. In a time period of a year it has been able to attract a huge number of followers. A total of 42 companies launched this App, which has its presence in India, Pakistan, and the Middle East. SlideApp rewards users for reading news directly from their lock screen.

After the launch there were 1 million downloads on the app, till date the number has increased to 5 million downloads.

Slide shocked everyone when it garnered 1 million downloads in just 8 months from their launch. It just nit surprised the launchers but also the news spread in the market in no time and everyone had their eyes on the new app that had many distinct features.

Speaking on closing this funding round, Junaid Malik who is the founder and CEO of Slide, said:

“Slide is the first of its kind product in the country and our organic growth reflects the likability of the product. Advertisers in Pakistan are taking a lot of mileage through Slide as their ad is the first thing a user sees when Smartphone is opened. Closing this round is a matter of pride for the Pakistan technology circle as it puts us on top of the Mobile App pyramid and we look forward to becoming Pakistan’s biggest publishing platform.”

Junaid also mentioned that they are trying to make the app user friendly and strengthen it with new features. He added that the application is very strongly positioned to cater to the B2B model. With the huge following they are a go-to option for advertisers to reach new people at a low marketing cost.

So I guess this is a great app. You should try it too. Grab your phones and test it.

The post Pakistani Lock Screen App Slide Raised $3.6M In Series A Funding Round appeared first on Techlist.