Venture Capital Firms in Pakistan for Startup
How can young people gather about their business?
When the two Pakistani sisters set the standards in the cities, it had no practical university but to no avail.
Now, like many other Pakistani youth, he had only one question in his mind: where to get money or capital to set up his business?
Often young people from semi-middle class families give up on the idea of raising capital because they do not see any resources at home or in the family that will depend on their abilities to provide them with the required capital. Take These are the thoughts and circumstances that cause many young people to give up their plans to start their own business and spend their entire lives in government or private sector employment.
The BBC has compiled this report to help such young people find out how they can raise funds to put their business ideas into practice.
There are many ways to raise funds for your business.
First comes your family, relatives and friends, from whom you can borrow money for a long time to invest in your business. But if your family and friends don't have the resources to help you or they are reluctant to invest in your business, then you have a way to get a loan from a bank.
The term venture capitalism (VC) may be unfamiliar to many young Pakistanis, but it is a very popular and common way of doing business in developed countries around the world.
Venture capital
Venture capitalists are wealthy individuals or large companies looking for investment opportunities in a new business.
A startup (new business) called AIMFit has recently raised 1 million through Venture Capitalism (VC). Much of this investment in AIMFit business has been made by the Pakistan-based Indus Valley Capital VC Fund, founded by Atif Awan.
The founder of this new business 'M-Fit' is two sisters named Mahlaka and Noor Shaukat.
Mahlaka told that she started her company in 2014 and its main objective was to raise awareness about exercise and its effects on health at the national level in Pakistan and especially on women's health. There was work to be done.
The general impression is that it can be complicated to get the investment needed to grow or expand your business, but Mahlaka says: What makes MF unique is that it is founded by two women and 90% of the staff is made up of women.
"Our main goal is women's health and that's what many investors liked and they expressed interest in investing in our company."
He added that a few companies in the Middle East and even a few VC funds in Silicon Valley have shown interest in our company. Things are changing faster in Pakistan now than in the past.
"If we were raising the same investment three or four years ago, we might not have found partners then, but now there are a lot of investors in the Pakistani market, especially VCs," she says. In capitalism, which is especially interested in investing in technology.
But the question is, what can young people do before starting their own business in Pakistan, to promote their business or to persuade investors to invest in their business?
In response to this question, Mahlaka said that before starting any business, any young person should keep in mind that his business will solve any problem of the society.
"Your business should solve a problem that people are facing because a lot of people are waiting for a solution to this problem and if someone comes forward with a solution to their problem, people will welcome it." Let's do it. '
"The second is to connect with people, whether they are investors or consumers," he said. Get your point across, get your message across. Contact VC Funds on social media and they will respond.
Startup incubator
Young people around the world also take the path of startups to set up their new businesses and get instructions from a 'startup incubator'.
These are new business support centers where young people are given financial and business advice and are sometimes given office space until they are able to stand on their own two feet.
Startup incubators are usually non-profit organizations run by public and private entities.
There are also some platforms in Pakistan that are designed to help and guide the youth. At the federal level, under the auspices of the Ministry of IT, NIC is an incubator program that selects new startups (new businesses) in Lahore, Islamabad, Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar and provides them with the necessary support. Is.
Irfan Ahmed, the founder of an online store called Baby Plant, started his company in 2014 while studying. He got first aid from the Punjab government's incubator called Plan Nine.
Irfan Ahmed's online store sells children's clothing, shoes and other items in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi. Irfan said that initially his business was very small and he made a few mistakes in spreading it and raising capital.
"When we needed money to pay salaries and we had a small loss in business, we went to collect money (investment) but our timing was not right.
"As a young entrepreneur, we make a lot of mistakes. The first mistake is that we start accumulating investments at the idea stage (that is, when we have only the idea of business in mind). Pakistan's market is very different from other countries. We have to work on our idea and test it before we go to investors and raise money because investors pay for business development, not for testing ideas. ”
"I would like to advise the young entrepreneur that before going to the investor, you should know how much money you need, where and how you will use this money, how it will benefit your company. And as long as you don't save money, keep your expenses to a minimum, then you can take your business to some level and persuade the investor to invest in your business.
"Raising capital for a business is a difficult and full-time job, it's not possible for you to look at the business and raise capital," he said. The mistake that can easily get your claim denied is to fail. Get services that make it easier for me to raise money.
Meena Tariq, who has been a partner in the venture capitalist fund Caravan for the past year and a half, has been working with new business startups in Pakistan for many years.
She says raising money for her business in Pakistan is not an easy task as the start-up system in Pakistan is quite new and there are currently only eight to nine VC funds in Pakistan.
"On the one hand, there are more startups, on the other hand, there are very few people who give money or VC funds," she says.
'It takes a long time to raise money, most startups forget that it takes three to six months to raise money for a business and the company owners are not ready for how to run their company in the meantime. ۔ '
Muhammad Hadi, chief executive of Taxi Service Romer, told us that the biggest mistake young people make in investing in a company in Pakistan is to give most of the control of their company to the investor.
"Venture capitalists try to get as many shares as possible to their partners, so young people need to negotiate terms that are in their favor."
He said that young people in Pakistan are technically talented but they are not aware of the financial problems of their business and in this regard they should first make financial plans.
"Don't just look for investors who will invest in your business, but look for investors who will help you grow your company."
"In case of foreign investment, we have to get approval from the home ministry, which takes five to six months," he said. The government needs to speed up the system.
On what basis do investors make money?
When we asked Mina Tariq on what basis an investor invests in startups, he explained:
"It's interesting to see a horse in any race, but money is always spent on the rider. Investing is exactly what the investor is interested in seeing the idea, but he spends the money looking at the entrepreneur, his talents and his passion.
"Investors see what the start-up's education is like, what his experience is, and how much experience he has, which is used to decide if he is the best person to run the business."
"Then the investor sees how big the market is for the business, how many people are there who will like the idea and will buy the product or facility," he added.
In response to the question whether money or capital alone makes a business successful, Mina concluded her remarks in a very interesting way by telling young people the tricks of a successful business.
"Our young people think that the hardest thing about starting a business is raising money for it," he said. Funds are just fuel, just like you put petrol in your car and in business that petrol is money. But if you don't know where to take this car and which way to take it or if you don't know how to drive, then even if you fill the tank of the car, it will be at your house. I will stand. '
Here is complete list of Venture Capital Funds Investment Companies.
