LUMS & Karandaaz Conclude Startup Weekend in Lahore

‘LUMS Startup Weekend’, a collaboration of Karandaaz Pakistan and Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), concluded today with the NFC payment solution ‘Paycard’ winning the competition.

The event was in line with Karandaaz Pakistan’s mission to foster financial and digital inclusion in the country as it brought together scores of aspiring entrepreneurs and mentors working together to revitalize Pakistan’s startup landscape.

The 8th edition of the Startup Weekend hosted at LUMS invited startup pitches from young and promising entrepreneurs from across Pakistan. Out of over 60 pitches presented on the first day, 11 ideas were shortlisted for the final showdown on the last day of the 3-day event.

The shortlisted teams were given 70 hours to materialize their ideas and make their final products market-ready with the help of assigned mentors. As opposed to one minute on the first pitch, the teams were given five minutes each to demo their final startup ideas and were trained in tackling market and finance related questions from the expert jury.

Groupie won 2nd place given their idea of stitching individual selfies of distant friends into one group.

‘Home Grown’ – a women-led startup to encourage horticulture enthusiasts into growing healthy plants and vegetables and help them set a roof or a vertical garden to compensate for the lack of backyard space in congested cities – earned the third place at the competition.

The NFC prepaid payment solution ‘Paycard’ was declared the winning idea of the Startup Weekend.

Proximity marketing solution ‘Proximate’ – that provide users with relevant ads when they pass near a proximate beacon installed on any retail outlet – earned an honorable mention as the results of the final competition were announced.

The seven other of the eleven shortlisted startup ideas included:

  • Freshalla – a fruit delivery website and app,
  • Pakfit – a platform that connects professionals with individuals looking to get in shape,
  • Pak Builds – a digital marketplace for material services providers and contractors,
  • Health Monitoring System – a wearable health monitoring and notification device,
  • Kabara Online – a digital marketplace to sell goods a person doesn’t need anymore,
  • Animatica Math – a personalized animation app to encourage kids’ interest in mathematics,
  • Dream X – an Urdu digital assistant which can interpret and run commands given to it in Urdu language.

“We feel privileged to be part of LUMS Startup Weekend to inspire youth into pursuing entrepreneurship in their professional careers,”  – said Ali Sarfaraz Hussain, CEO Karandaaz Pakistan.

Besides the competition, the event brought aboard a host of successful entrepreneurs, digital technology evangelists and technology educationists to educate, inspire, and motivate the young entrepreneurs.

The panel of speakers included CEO Karandaaz Pakistan, Ali Sarfaraz Hussain and noted serial entrepreneur and philanthropist Usama Tauqeer.

“The cross-cutting themes at Karandaaz are innovation, youth, and women entrepreneurship.” – Samar Hasan, Head of Communications at Karandaaz Pakistan.

Karandaaz Pakistan also thanked the United Kingdom Department for International Development for is support in making the event a success.


  • how is this paycard idea different from what is already on offer with Easypay? i thought startups are suppose to bring in fresh, innovative and unique ideas not to copy from existing ones.


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