Silicon Valley-based Indian investor, Asha Jadeja, has announced plans to launch Pakistan division of her investment firm, Dot Edu Ventures (DEV).
Jadeja, a prominent name in the entrepreneurship community of Silicon Valley and India, is originally from Ahmedabad. She was one of the first few women venture capitalists, angel investors, and philanthropists based in Silicon Valley. Asha provides resources and funding to for-profit tech, internet and high social impact start-ups in the Bay Area, Boston, New York, Africa and India.
DEV, being the biggest investment firm in Silicon Valley, aims to officially initiate DEV global in Pakistan. Currently, 5 new IT businesses in Pakistan, have been seeded by Asha.
Few start-ups which have been backed by Asha include, DIY Geeks – a business which backs the maker movement in Pakistan – which received a $100,000 value-free grant, Daftwarkhwan which aims at creating a working space between startups and freelancers etc. She also made a cameo appearance on Idea Croron Ka as well.
In addition to all this, Jadeja’s Rajeev Circle Fellowship Programs is also backing young Pakistani and Indian entrepreneurs by taking them on a two-week trip to Silicon Valley to meet venture capitalists, seek wisdom of experienced entrepreneurs and to put that to good use back in their home country and aid new businesses in growth and development.
Late Professor Rajeev Motwani, founding architect of Google, along with his spouse Asha Jadeja was the brains behind DEV. The aim was to seed fund startups initiated by students and teachers at Stanford University.
While talking to a local tech website Asha Jadeja said:
DEV is excited at the prospect of contributing to the Pakistani startup scene.
Until now, 25 startups – mostly based in the US, have been backed by DEV. Asha and her husband also own a stake in various tech firms like Google, Pinterest, Uber, and Twitter to name a few.
DEV has also invested in new businesses from some emerging economies like Kenya.
Since Pakistan is another emerging economy in Asia with young and eager minds at its back, an increasing number of incubators and accelerators have been able to provide good quality of support services for emerging businesses. Similarly, the Pakistan chapter of DEV Global aims to seed startups which are associated with local educational institutions and connect them to the global startup environment.
Great!