Pakistan Investor Summit in the last year has become a hallmark event at NIC Karachi for startups and this edition was no exception. The week-long event consisted of a training session on ‘Startup Valuation’, an investor roundtable discussion titled ‘Surfing the Tide: What Accepting VC Funding Means’, a panel on the ‘Investment Climate in Pakistan’, and the finale of the event, ‘Startup Officer Hours’.
Pakistan Investor Summit is centered on bridging the gap between investors and local startups. Given that the local startup ecosystem is still growing, most startup founders never get the chance to interact with prospective investors whether it is in discussion or to pitch.
The investor roundtable discussion included six of Pakistan’s most prominent individuals in startup investment; Omar Parvez Khan (Venture Partner – High Output Ventures), Misbah Naqvi (Co-founder & General Partner – i2i Ventures), Arshad Ashraf (Private Investor), Rabeel Warraich (Founder & CEO – Sarmayacar), Ali Mukhtar (Founder & General Partner – Fatima Gobi Ventures) and Aatif Awan (Founder & Managing Partner – Indus Valley Capital). The discussion offered many insightful tidbits about how investors perceive the local startup system. The majority of the panel agreed that there is no shortage of funds available for startups but there needs to be diversity in the forms of investment opportunities available. There was also an emphasis placed on the importance of startup founders’ experience and commitment to their business before seeking investment.
Pakistan Investor Summit 2021 closed with the ‘Startup Office Hours’ where 26 startups had the opportunity to pitch to 16 prospective investors that included names such as Sarmayacar, Fatima Gobi Ventures, Lakson Investments Venture Capital, and Lumia Capital. What made this an atypical pitching event was instead of startups pitching to all investors, each investor was assigned 2 to 3 startups. This allowed each startup to have more time to pitch and engage with the investors.