Arazi Ventures launches NEST, a technology-enabled platform to help connect qualified individual investors with pre-vetted real estate investment opportunities in Pakistan.

The real estate market in Pakistan has seen tremendous growth in the last two decades and has outperformed its European and American counterparts. The combined global market size of crowd-funding and real estate is estimated to be around $11 Trillion while real estate assets in Pakistan alone are estimated to be worth $700 billion.

Everyone in Pakistan wants to invest in real estate but the minimum investment required for areas that offer better returns is way too high for most individuals. NEST will be offering an entry-level ticket, as low as Rs. 50,000 ($477), to own a small stake in a managed commercial/residential property. NEST, one of the finalist at the Fintech Disrupt Challenge 2016, organized by Karandaaz Pakistan, will be facilitating people with shared social graphs and interest in real estate investing to pool money and purchase properties.

Umair Sheikh, CEO of Arazi Ventures said,

“Our team has been working on this project for quite some time but getting past the current regulatory framework has been a major challenge. We plan to turn NEST into a robust crowd-funding platform for real estate as soon as we have a green signal from the SECP. For now, we are only accepting offers from accredited and seasoned investors who understand the risks involved in private investments.”

Speaking at the launch ceremony, Khurram Zafar, the Executive Director of LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship added,

“Arazi is a star graduate of the LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship and Umair is one of the hardest working and most passionate entrepreneurs that I have met. NEST promises to be a compelling business model and pending regulatory approvals, it can open up real estate investing to a large market that is priced out of it right now.”

Arazi Ventures, the company behind NEST and arazi.pk, an online real estate database and brokerage service has seen immense success since its launch back in 2015. An alumnus of the LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship, Arazi.pk offers verified real estate listings backed by a team of professional, in-house agents.

Arazi.pk was the only startup from Pakistan to exhibit at the first RISE Conference in Hong Kong and was also a nominee for the prestigious Red Herring Asia Top 100 Award.

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Pakistani startup wins Global Cleantech Innovation Award

It is another proud moment for Pakistan. Pakistani startup are nowadays in the tech news for its competitive nature. These startups are moving up to international platforms to gain popularity, reorganization and pride for the nation.

A Pakistan based CleanTech startup has recently won a Global Award in the category, “Waste to Energy”.

9th February, 2017 marks the winning of this startup at a global level. The awards were held at Silicon Valley in San Francisco. During the CleanTech week the startups participated from India, Malaysia, Morocco, Pakistan, South Africa and Turkey.

Global CleanTech Innovation Program holds this competition annually to recognize the efforts of entrepreneurs and startups. It aims to create a platform that accelerates the progress of clean technology innovations.

Among the five teams that were selected from Pakistan by UNIDO was “Green Team“. The Green Team utilized perilous waste material from industries to make coal like substances called “clay stoves”. They made this aiming to reduce air pollution as these will not emit any harmful carbons.

Global Environment Facility supports GCIP financially. The initiative was taken and maintained by United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

The program has been established in six countries and is a great success. The tech accelerator, The CleanTech Open is also associated with the program so that it runs successfully.

The website of the program reads, “In Pakistan it focuses on promoting developing and commercially operable clean technology startups to propel green industrial surge in the country.”

In a video uploaded by Philippe R. Scholtès who is UNIDO Managing Director he praises the participants. He said,

“The continued extension of the Global CleanTech Innovation Program family affirms and strengthens our vision of building an innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem for clean technologies around the globe.”

These kinds of wins are really important for the people of Pakistan at this critical moment. These encourage people to achieve more and it delivers a very positive image of Pakistan. We hope good for Pakistani Startup.

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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.

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Couch Potato is another great Pakistani Delivery Startup, aiming to act as a Pioneer to tap the untapped potential in Pakistan’s market. It would achieve this by providing people easier means to deal with delivery chaos by connecting them to a Rider. Couch Potato is an App-Based Delivery Service that delivers within 15min.

The Motorbike Crew, also named Heroes, are freelancers spread out across the city that would report within 15 minutes in most areas of Karachi and Islamabad.

The Service is aimed at helping household members in saving time by delivery through freelancers. One won’t have to go out for hours to get Grocery but instead could avail them at home against a meager sum of money! The Service is seen by many to have a bright future hastened by success.

Salman Wasay, CEO was quoted saying,

“We want to empower the people of Pakistan to use their time more efficiently. With our app we hope people can spend more time doing meaningful things, like being with family, and less time on the mundane day to day tasks that they aren’t required for. In addition, our service will benefit thousands of young aspiring entrepreneurs around the country to work as riders.”

The Riders go through extensive and regular training to ensure a secure and seamless experience from start to finish. The company itself points out that the experience to be unlike any other. One reason for this is that the company itself does not recruit men but depends upon freelancers, paid by the receivers of service.

First of its kind in the country, the app is built upon Peer to Peer technology by a very passionate team. Transactions over Smartphones still seems magic to the Pakistanis and thus the App is believed to be a milestone for a better future for Pakistan.

The Social Sharing Economy promises immense value for communities, much specifically those in the 3rd World. Derived from not-for-profit initiatives, the on demand economy has evolved into a collection of firms that connect millions of consumers with other private citizens who can provide goods and services quickly and efficiently.

Still here? Be quick! Visit website and download the Couch Potato app for iOS or Android and take part in change.

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According to a press release, “The Startup Struggle” was held by Velocity. Velocity is a Telenor Pakistan’s accelerator program. The Startup Struggle was a powerful event that was attended by entrepreneurs and the young startups.

The event highlighted the problems like:

》Why startups fail?

》What must be done to help startups succeed in the Pakistani market?

The event was graced by four prestigious mentors.

1) Usama Shahid – ex CEO and Founder of Meri Taleem,

2) Junaid Malik – Founder of NutriNysa and Raise d’Bar,

3) Shehryar Hydri – Director of Marketing and Operations at Convo,

4) Jeremy Higgs – Co Founder of Eco-Energy.

Besides them from all across Pakistan 80 Pakistani startups related to different types of setups, joined the dynamic event.

The event activity featured the stories of entrepreneurs and startups that had experience either failure or success. They also spoke about the struggles they did to achieve their goal. Moreover they discussed recoupment. The 5 hours of the group activity did not only feature the stories but it was a great platform for people associated with entrepreneurial system of Pakistan to discuss the problems and best possible solutions for their problem in presence of mentors.

In the event the main thing that was highlighted was that the basic reasons the startups in Pakistan do not achieve popularity the success they aim for include  inadequate funding, bad launch timing, compromised quality of product, a weak business model or absence of it, and above all, lack of passion.

It is a fact that to hit it big it is important to work hard, be determined and have all necessary sources. The idea is not just enough to run a successful company.

Since years now many accelerators have sprung up in Pakistan and they a running successfully. The main reason for this is that there are many new startups and people are attracted towards the entrepreneurial field.

Telenor Velocity has made many efforts to solve issues and has helped many startups but unfortunately only dew names can be seen on the success graph. This indicates that there is a need for programs to hold more events like this to help entrepreneurs.

“Telenor Velocity” is Telenor Pakistan Startup Accelerator. The main aim of the program is to help the startups to reach market within six months. Telenor Velocity makes it possible by accessing Telenor Pakistan’s scale and assets including data analytics, retail and digital distribution network, API platform and online payments solution.

This is not the only one step taken by Telenor to promote the digital technology in Pakistan. The company has tried to take many initiatives to promote the digital technology in Pakistan and so far has remained successful over r the period of almost 12 years.

Telenor Pakistan is one of the top telecommunication services that run successfully in Pakistan. The service started in 2005 and since then it has managed to bag over 39 million subscribers. More than 2,500 employees work in the company.

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Karandaaz Pakistan, Planet N Group of Companies and Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) joined hands to host a workshop under title of “Challenges in the Startup Eco-system in Pakistan”.

The aim of the workshop was to being together entrepreneurs so that they can share ideas. Workshop wanted to connect entrepreneurs on the path to commercialization with industry experts. The workshop proved to be successful. As the participants came to know about common challenges faced by startups and with discussion easy solutions were suggested. The areas that were discussed are:

1) Curriculum & Awareness,

2) Company Law,

3) Role of incubators/­Accelerators and Exits & IPOs.

For the discussion of the topics groups were formed. The founder and Coach Planet of N Group, Mr. Nadeem Hussain highlighted some potential areas of improvement they can be solved by promoting entrepreneurial culture. This way it will be easy to maintain economy problems.

Mr. Ali Sarfraz the CEO of Karandaaz Pakistan said,

“Active collaboration and engagement between startups and eco-system enablers, such as incubators, accelerators and policymakers, is critical in order to develop a comprehensive understanding of the challenges faced by aspiring and existing entrepreneurs and developing creative solutions. We believe that this workshop organized by Karandaaz Pakistan in collaboration with Planet N and LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship will inspire scalable programs to empower youth in the region.”

At the end of the program a presentation titled “Seeding Innovation Landscape: A Framework for Rooting FinTechs in Pakistan” summarized all the findings of the report submitted by Karandaaz. Qasif Shahid presented it and discussed the possibilities and opportunities FinTech eco-system in Pakistan and the future of digital financial services in the country have.

The event was graced by presence of worthy guests that included people from public and private organizations also representatives from government sector were also present.

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Sabzi.pk is a startup founded by Farooq Haider, Aown Abbas and Muhammad Awais. It directly procures fruit and vegetables from farmers and helps provide fresh and high quality goods to consumers, both on a residential as well as commercial scale. It has been developing its client base in Lahore at present and plans to expand to other cities in the near future.

Apart from same day conveyance of new foods grown from the ground to buyer entryway steps, the organization has begun conveyances to lodgings and eateries in Lahore as well. With a steady push to expand obtainment direct from agriculturists, Sabzi.pk can convey the products to its clients at profoundly focused costs while guaranteeing the best quality and grade of the leafy foods.

On the other hand, Door Drop’s goal is to deliver a streamlined delivery solution to different segments where they are visioning to empower small scale businesses, specially women who are running different businesses and require a reliable instant logistic solution for their products. Door Drop is rigorously working to bring different vendors on board which are reflected with the signing ceremony of MOU with Sabzi.pk.

The MoU was signed between Farooq Haider, CEO of Sabzi.pk and Umair Shahid Founder/CEO of Door Drop along with Ghazanfar Iqbal.

The MoU will be part of a long-term program for both organizations and will help both achieve mutual benefits.

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Despite the lack of the necessary financing from banks and venture capital outfits, tech startups today are flourishing, and are on the fast-track for growth around the globe.

Nearly two dozen new and old Pakistani tech startups were able to gather funding from local venture capitals, or from overseas in 2015.

However, many industry sources claim that tech startups face difficulties in obtaining bank credit, so much so, that many don’t bother reaching out to banks. Consequently, and since venture capitals companies are low in numbers, tech startups end up reaching out to foreign entities for funding, or approach local venture capital sources.

Banks choose governments debt papers, which can lower their advance deposit ration beneath 47pc. They are unfortunately unwilling to boost even their normal private sector lending, let alone consider financing tech startups, something that is all about innovation.

However, bankers will deny that they intentionally ignore financing tech startups. One senior executive even suggested that banks are indeed involved in venture financing by developing special purpose vehicles, which is vastly different from normal, private sector lending their typically participate. His argument was that tech startups are too hasty and fail to stand up to their procedures, and that some startups require a lot more than simply money, such as more research, or development ideas.

There are a few bankers that do acknowledge the need to look at what banks do to take advantage of the potential held in the flourishing tech startup market. One senior executive of a bank asserted that it would be unwise for banks to ignore tech startups for much longer.

The tech startups able to success duly fund their projects, both new and old, include those like shopping website Daraz.pk, Careem, an app based traveling service, Rozee.com, a job portal, and the entrepreneurship program Interact, along with nineteen other startups. These funds were raised in 2015.

A brief look at where they got their finances reveals it emanated from abroad. Careem received $60 million from the UAW based Abraaj group. A few received $33 million in partial funding from regional venture capitals, like Darak.pk who received money from the Asia Pacific Internet Group

However, there have been some cases where the details of the investors are largely unknown, such as the instance of Zameen.com, which raised $9 million in foreign funds from mysterious origins.

AutoGenie with the aid of PakWheels, a local online car website, gathered $3.5 million from a Malaysian venture capital firm. Furthermore, Interacta a startup from the Lahore University of Management Science got $200,000 in seed funding via the Lahore-based Fatima ventures.

In 2013, a large group of tech startup’s fundraising came to people’s attention when four entities mobilized funds less than $10 million. Then, in 2014, ten tech startups raised nearly the same amount on their own. Finally, in 2014 twenty-four startups gathered roughly $100 million from a variety of sources, and not just in seed capital, but for outreach and capacity construction as well.

That said, borrower often refuse to divulge information concerning the amount and sources of their debt. Individual sources and websites, on the contrary, eventually receive the necessary information and keep records for the sake of their visitors.

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) regulates venture capital firms and watches the activities of tech startups albeit not directly. Insider sources in the SECP claim the corporate “watchdog” will soon encourage input from each stakeholder to secure transparency and growth in that sector.

No one possesses, or can possess, a good idea as to how many small and large tech startups are currently raising the funds they need, but several industry sources see the rate of find mobilization being at last year’s level.

A shopping platform called Markhor that puts up hand-crafted leather shows for sale has won recognition with Y Combinatory, an incubation program in Silicon Valley. It has received $120,000 in seed capital.

Plan9, a regional venture capital of the Punjab Technology Board purports to have provided incubation training to more than one-hundred startups. However, only some of those startups have gathered funds from foreign sources, according to industry outsiders.

In some instances, tech startups are near identical to impact financing; consequently, banks and some local, venture capitals stay away from them.

But tech startups have proven their profitability, showing yearly growth rates of 100 to 400 pc, according to industry sources. The main factor in this growth is the time-efficient services these startups provide, the prevalence of smartphone use, and the internet.

Tech startups have a high chance of impacting large businesses currently being run. Look at EveryCatalog.com for instance. At two years old, this startup showcases a wide range of products like apparel, jewelry, textiles, accessories, handcrafted products, furnishing, and interior designs. EveryCatalog’s mobile apps are supposedly even capable of using an e-commerce portal where sellers can put their products on display for sale.

Recently two more Pakistani startups got funding, Sabzi.pk is currently accelerated by LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship (LCE) received USD 7.5 Million seed funding from local investors. Another startup Travly incubated in Plan9 they have now raised a seed investment of $ 200,000 by CresVentures.

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