Deosai Ventures

🇵🇰 Pakistan Startup Fund (PSF) Dr. Umar Saif recently shared details about the upcoming PSF. This is a pragmatic initiative and can become a powerful enabler for our startup ecosystem. 2 Billion rupees in funding have been allocated by the GoP but it's expected to be formalised over the next few weeks and will start deploying capital in Q1, 2024. What is the PSF? It's not a typical VC fund. It's a government support program in the form of non-equity grants for early-stage startups. *Emphasis on the non-quity grant part.* They will cover 10-30% of a pre-seed / seed funding round that startups are raising from established investors like VC's and angel syndicates. PSF will invest between $100,000 to $300,000 per startup, covering 10-30% of the round being raised e.g. if a startup is raising a $1 million round, PSF will cover UP TO $300k of that after the investors have committed their $700k (70%). Benefit for startups: They just need to raise 70% of their round and PSF will cover the rest. Benefit for investors: They will invest 70% of the round and get 100% of the equity of that round (similar to a discounted deal). This was the structure shared so far but it may change once they formalise the modalities. I think the startups should retain the 30% equity in lieu of the grant instead of the VC's getting it but it may be necessary to attract investors and sweeten the deal. The rationale behind the program's design: The GoP does not want to create a fund of funds nor start a VC fund themselves. This is the quickest way to deploy capital in the market with the least amount of red tape and without any risk of typical legal issues and bad actors cropping up down the road. The GoP minimizes it's risk on these grants as the startups are pre-vetted by commercial investors. If they find these startups good enough to put in their institutional money, the GoP avoids the hassle and risk of due diligence etc. and simply supports a commercial funding round. I think this is a great practical approach. The PSF is planning to invest in ~30 startups in Year 1 and then continue this through the Ignite - National Technology Fund Grey Areas / Negatives: Most funded startups have a foreign holdco + local opco structure. For now, PSF is planning to have investors bring the funding into the Pakistani opco and I feel this is going to be non-starter. This will limit deals to only a handful of local investors as no foreign investor will bring dollars into Pakistan right now (that's why the holdco+opco structure has worked out so well). The ideal way would be to let foreign investors invest in the holdco, while PSF invests into the startups local opco. This is already an industry standard as a single startup takes foreign funding into it's holdcos and local funding into it's opco and everyone is comfortable with this structure. Hopefully, they'll figure this out soon. Overall, a great initiative. Reach out for details: psf@pakistan.gov.pk

We’re crowdsourcing important questions for this superb panel. What would you like to ask them about building a SaaS startup in #EmergingPakistan? Please comment below and we'll shortlist the great ones. Meenah Tariq Uzair Gadit Rebecka Zavaleta Taha Iqbal Teli Raza Matin #92disrupt Katalyst Labs

Pakistani companies have shown immense potential in building software solutions for modern problems. Join us in exploring the strategies & insights from those who have successfully navigated the challenges of this model, & localized it to the region through diverse industry applications & innovative problem solving. Unlock the secrets to thriving in the SaaS industry & learn from those who have cracked the code to success. 𝐏𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐥: Beyond the cloud: How to crack the SaaS Code 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬: Meenah Tariq (Co-Founder & CEO, Metric), Uzair Gadit (Co-Founder, Gaditek), Rebecka Zavaleta (Co-Founder, Paismo HR), Taha Iqbal Teli (Co-Founder, Zaraye), Raza Matin (Co-Founder & CEO, Chikoo) 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫: Shehryar Hydri (Managing Parner, Deosai Ventures) Get your tickets now at bit.ly/45YdodS or 92disrupt.com! ⚡️⚡️⚡ #KatalystLabs #Plus92Disrupt #92Disrupt #investors #founders #entrepreneurs #professionals #students #karachi #investment #funding #careers #opportunity #saas #startup #startups

If you’re a small business founder in Dubai or the MENAP region, reach out to Metric to make your life easier. https://lnkd.in/d3KwvbUA

If you're interested in #EmergingPakistan, this context might help. 1. The peak from which we've fallen was an anomaly and not the norm. 2. Global VC slowdown 3. Other markets will bounce back faster than us 4. VCs and startups are here to stay and not going anywhere. #startups #founders #fundraising #venturecapital #investing #ai #saas

WANTED: SaaS Startups in #EmergingPakistan If you're a SaaS company in Pakistan, please sign up below & add your profile to this public directory. This list aims to help Pakistani SaaS startups get discovered by investors, clients, partners and prospective employees and will be published by Deosai Ventures. Please spread the word by tagging SaaS founders in your network and help everyone discover these great companies. 🙏 https://lnkd.in/dBBcC89K

Feeling hungry? 🌯 Pattern is the first social food app in Pakistan with a focus on the dine-in & pick-up experience. Pattern App lets diners discover, order, pay, review, and unlock multiple offers at their favorite restaurants including loyalty discounts, redeemable reward points, cashback and more. Since joining the accelerator, Pattern's revenue grew 20% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) and achieved CM2 level profitability. Curious to know the secret sauce behind Pattern's success? Check out our exclusive interview with Yahya Humayun, the CEO and Co-founder of Pattern. Get the inside scoop on their startup journey and their fundraising journey. Read here: https://lnkd.in/gStq5bEX Syed Wajeeh Haider Craig Bristol Dixon Amra Naidoo Osman Ahmed #pattern #foodapp #startupnews #fundraising #pakistan

Do you miss out on useful industry meet-ups and learn about them later from founders posting their pictures? Don't stay in the dark anymore! Pakistani startup communities host regular online and in-person events but a lot of founders don't hear about these opportunities. If you're a founder, investor or just interested in the startup ecosystem and would like to be informed of future events by Deosai Ventures and other ecosystem players, please share your details below. Your information will only be used for invites and updates sent out by Deosai Ventures and will not be shared with any third parties. Please help us spread the word by tagging people who can benefit from this community. Thanks. SIGN UP HERE: https://lnkd.in/d_nHb8Ms #startups #fundraising #VentureCapital #investing #EmergingPakistan

Great to see Voice of America covering startups and our tech ecosystem, which is the most critical sector for #EmergingPakistan. Important questions by Muhammad Atif https://lnkd.in/djRCHa77