Pakistan currently possesses the most fertile land for planting a start-up. Inhabiting a population of more than 180 million (6th largest in the world), possessing efficient communication channels with 4G/3G networks and with the younger generation bursting with creative ideas, Pakistan holds tremendous potential for thriving on the economic scale.
Young entrepreneurs are eagerly launching their start-ups in different fields offering various facilities and services, both innovative in approach and pertaining to international standards. They are driven to change the economic landscape of Pakistan and to turn the wheel for the still very premature start-up ecosystem.
The principles and ideas that young entrepreneurs are working upon are:
- Establishing efficient channels to make facilities easily accessible
- Revolutionizing the client-retailer relationship
- Catering to the demands of the vast number of locals
- Bridging the gap of technology and customer demands
Our list of the 5 most promising start-ups, launched in Pakistan include:
- CONVO
It was a moment of great pride when POTUS tweeted about a Pakistani start-up created by a small team of 5 in Islamabad. CONVO as a whole is a multiplatform social network enterprise app designed to make it increasingly convenient for office members to communicate and collectively design projects.
Since its launch, the app has made it big and has attracted a $5 million investment from the Silicon Valley.
- Patari
Patari is Pakistan’s biggest online music streaming service that has put in a real effort to revive the declining music industry of Pakistan. Patari introduces the works of our singing legends: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Nazia Hassan, Abida Parveen and Mehdi Hassan in a modern format, in attempt to re-launch it to the youth.
Initially set off to be an online portal for Pakistani dramas, Patari took a detour and became the hub of Pakistani music, covering legendary singers, emerging artists, coke studio singles and covers.
Patari was an instant success, and has been growing ever since:
“We honestly just kept our heads down and kept working on it. Just another day in the life of a start-up we thought, and the next thing we knew, it was everywhere. People were sharing screenshots, making memes, trading tips on how to get invites and reaching out to us to tell us how much they love Pakistani music and Patari.”
Khalid Bajwa – Cofounder of the project.
- Sastaticket.pk
Sastaticket.pk is an online travel portal that aims to make flight and hotel bookings much simpler. This start-up allows users to sort through airlines and hotels from all across the world and find the cheapest airline tickets and hotels at only a click!
Sharing a close association with leading airlines and hotels, sastaticket.pk provides users discounted prices that ensure that the travelling expenses of passengers are deducted as far as possible. The highlighting feature of this start-up is that they give travellers an opportunity to plan their trips comfortably at home!
- sukoon.com
This start-up is a direct product of a clever entrepreneur trying to accommodate a typical worrisome Pakistani.
The everyday struggles in Pakistan include running after carpenters, plumbers, painters and electricians for the most basic of tasks. Sukoon.com.pk has addressed this concern by timely providing user’s trustworthy help for their home maintenance. Whilst providing local workers an opportunity to gain permanent employment.
- Travly
With the surging population of Pakistan and increased number of automobiles hitting the highway, it is crucial for increasingly efficient modes of transportations to be established.
Travly attempts to do just that and is all set to become the Uber of Pakistan. After launching rickshaws in Lahore, Travly will soon be launching cabs, cargo services and other modes of transportations across the country. Thereby ma
king it safer and more convenient for locals to get across town!
All in all the start-up market of Pakistan is ripe with ideas and has enough potential to become the Silicon Valley of Asia. With guidance and support from various tech incubators such as plan9 and the Nest i/o, who knows, we might even be in the making of the next Facebook or Twitter.
