The Pakistani tech industry has been experiencing a revitalization phase after the economy has embraced digitization. An increasing number of tech start-ups have sprung up with the aim of adding momentum to the country’s tech ecosystem and stimulating local economies. A tech-savvy population coupled with strong competition in the tech industry has resulted in Pakistani start-ups securing more than $278 million in investment in 2021, which is a significant jump from last year’s $77 million. In addition, these sharp, brilliant minds are innovatively and dynamically shaping Pakistan’s tech industry.
Despite economic uncertainty continuing, start-ups in Pakistan have strived to make their ambitions a rewarding reality. Among the innovators of 2021 who have emerged in our top 3 list are Sidekick, Airlift, and Maqsad.
Maqsad
Maqsad is a new ed-tech service start-up in Pakistan. Founders Taha Ahmed and Roshan Aziz have developed a mobile-based online education platform with a vision to make education more accessible to millions of Pakistani students. The app provides high-quality academic resources and educational content for students; both in English and Urdu languages. The platform’s resources include video lectures, quizzes, personalization features, and study notes.
Maqsad will make use of proceeds for developing content such as production studios, academics, and animators. The primary focus would be K-12 education which would include 11th and 12th-grade mathematics. As per the founder, the start-up aims to extend their offered material for courses for other learning areas and disciplines as well, such as STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics), in the upcoming years. The app would allow students to test their understanding of critical concepts by testing features built into the app. Students would further have the choice to vary the difficulty levels of these online tests.
“We believe everyone has a purpose. Maqsad’s mission is to enable Pakistani students to realize this purpose; whether you are a student from an urban center, such as Lahore, or from a remote village in Sindh: Maqsad believes in equal opportunity for all. We are building a mobile-first platform, given that 95% of broadband users in Pakistan are via mobile. Most other platforms are not mobile optimized,” co-founder Roshan Aziz stated.
“It is about more than just getting students to pass their exams. We want to start a revolution in the way Pakistani students learn, moving beyond rote memorization to a place of real comprehension,” said co-founder Taha Ahmed, a former strategy and management consultant at L.E.K. Maqsad is currently looking for enthusiastic, mission-driven go-getters to join their team. The project is backed by some of the most progressive and dynamic investors globally, including Indus Valley Capital, Fatima Gobi Ventures, and Alter. The platform is hoped to power quality education amongst our youth in order to create long-term, positive social changes.
Sidekick
Sidekick is one of the most exciting Pakistani tech start-ups right now, especially if you’re an entrepreneur! Most of us find matters related to finances, taxation, contracts, intellectual property, licensing, and regulatory compliance quite complicated. This is where Sidekick steps in for our ease and guidance. Sidekick is an online platform founded by Asif Saifullah Khan that helps businesses find and engage with vetted business professionals for assistance in regards to the matters discussed above, in a cost-effective and efficient way. The startup aims to disseminate knowledge by providing its users with guidance and other resources to help them run their business smoothly.
Sidekick is available online and through an Android and iOS App. The functionality of the application is quite simple. As a first step, users have to sign up to Sidekick’s secure portal by creating a username and setting a password. Next, the intuitive dropdown menu lets them submit queries on any matter relating to legal, accounting/ finance, and tax. Professionals bid on the query allowing users to compare multiple quotes in one centralized place. Professionals provide a free 15-minute consultation call with the client before the engagement is finalized. Finally, the user gets to collaborate online and communicate with Sidekick’s top-notch Professionals. The user’s information stays safe and secure on an AWS server, thus, ensuring confidentiality and integrity.
For customers’ ease, Sidekick offers various payment options including payment with debit and credit cards, mobile wallets, and bank transfers. Users pay Sidekick so they can be sure that their funds are held with a trusted party pending the completion of the work. Sidekick has a disputes and refunds policy in place to ensure that clients receive quality work.
Sidekick caters to all types of business, including start-ups, SMEs, and large enterprises. Independent practitioners and small to medium-sized firms also have the option to join Sidekick as professional service providers. The platforms enable Professionals to connect with local and international clients, expand their practice, and find new revenue streams.
Currently, the Sidekick app is available to download from the App Store and Google Play Store. To get the app on your android device, visit https://sidekick.pk/androidapps/. And to get it on iOS, visit: https://sidekick.pk/iosapps/.
Airlift
Founded in 2019 by Usman Gul, Airlift’s mission is to build a world of self-empowerment using technology-backed logistics solutions that enable safe, reliable, and affordable access to necessities. Airlift scaled Pakistan’s largest decentralized transportation network to change the way people move, shifting away from private vehicles towards shared mobility and affordable mass transport.
Airlift focuses on the safety, reliability, and affordability of its customers’ daily commutes. The company’s initial plan was to provide air-conditioned buses for public transport, making it a direct competitor of Uber and Careem. However, with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, all services including public transportation came to a standstill. In spite of such harsh circumstances, the CEO of Airlift, Gul, was quick enough to take the call and switched his plans to e-commerce and home delivery. Thus, in the previous year, Airlift diversified into last-mile delivery services through Airlift Express, delivering essentials across households within thirty minutes across eight major cities of Pakistan, including Islamabad, Lahore, and Karachi. “This entire space of quick commerce is on the brink of a global transformation. Airlift is at the forefront for leading that transformation in Asia and Africa,” Gul stated.
Airlift employs over 100 people today, while Airlift Express continues to provide doorstep delivery of food supplies, household supplies, pharmaceuticals, stationery, fruits and vegetables, electronics, and more. It plans to expand to more international markets and tap into on-demand services. “The idea is to expand to new categories and build the railroads to move consumer goods from manufacturers to consumers,” Gul said in a statement. As for now, the express delivery service processes thousands of orders every month!
It is hoped that similar innovative ideas will continue to join the tech start-up space and put Pakistan on the IT world map. With supportive government policies, sufficient capital, smarter market strategies, and scalable business models, the country can unlock its full potential of boosting its economy and catering to the needs of its domestic markets. Doubling this industry would provide young entrepreneurial minds to transform the ICT sector and provide value-added services to the general population.
