Pakistani startups raised $322 million through 48 high-profile rounds during the calendar year (CY) 2022 to date.
Kalsoom Lakhani, General Partner i2i Ventures, termed it ‘a big achievement for Pakistan’ since last year when the startup space raised $350 million via 83 deals.
Quoting the latest numbers on the space, she said the results are not bad considering the global slowdown and Pakistan’s macroeconomic situation, and there are still almost four months remaining in 2022.
1/ As of today, Pakistani startups have raised $322M in 2022 (YTD) via 48 deals. Just to give perspective, in 2021, we ended the year w/ startups raising $350M via 83 deals. Not bad considering (a) we still have Q+1 mo left in 2022 & (b) the global slowdown & PK's macro./
— Kalsoom Lakhani (@kalsoom82) September 6, 2022
Lakhani tweeted that the international investor appetite for Pakistan has greatly receded, especially this quarter (one month remaining). She detailed that in a market where exits are rare, 2022 has had some notable ones: DigitalOcean was acquired by Cloudways for $350 million, TezFinancial was acquired by Zoodpay in a bid to enter the Pakistani market, local players VentureDive acquired NexDegree, and logistics player PostEx acquired older gen play CallCourier.
Regardless of how big some of these exits were, “they were still all strong signals,” she opined.
Lakhani also explained that Pakistani companies can be attractive acquisition targets for global players, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) can be a good strategy for outside players looking to enter Pakistan, and local players can be stronger when they work together.
In the wake of international funding drying up, companies will have to do more with much less, she remarked.
Cheap liquidity pushed global venture investments to set new records in 2021. However, soaring inflation and rate hikes spoiled the mood this year, delivering a huge blow to the space and funding rounds that had been very common of late. Overall venture capital financing slowed both on monthly and yearly bases.
The VC market crunch has led companies to reassess their business strategies and slash expenditures. So far, 881 startups have laid off over 141,000 individuals, and Pakistan is no exception.
