Even though our local startup ecosystem may have reached a point of early maturity, the introduction or availability of VC (venture capital) funding remains limited. Much discussion of the industry contribution, technology companies’ support, and the availability of angel investment and venture capital has been ongoing but we were yet to see any formal setup or step being taken on part of the local corporates or technology companies.
What is possibly the biggest milestone for the Pakistani local startup ecosystem, Lakson Investments (LI), announced yesterday that it has been awarded the first VC license in Pakistan. The company is one of the largest private sector asset managers in Pakistan with over 300mn USD under management with a rating of AM2+.
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The announcement came in from CEO Lakson Investments, Babar Lakhani who explains:
LI is actively seeking to build another high-calibre investment team for Lakson Investments VC (”LI VC”) combining local knowledge with international experience. The Fund will invest alongside entrepreneurs and local businesses to build new enterprises and through investing seed capital, take ideas to the next stage.
Currently, the Lakson force comprises of more than 14,000 individuals with businesses spanning across technology, media, FMCG, Insurance, QSR and more. The VC will be working with LI’s team of 50+ experienced professionals while at the same time leverage the market and operational excellence of the group.
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He further added:
“Pakistan today has incredible opportunities in the IT space and LI VC is excited to announce that Sybrid will be their key technology partner to review both the IT capabilities of the firms that the Funds invest in and as well, evaluate how IT will create scalable opportunities.”
In Q4 2016, LI launched Lakson Investment Private Equity (“LI PE”) , which is led by a senior team of partners who were previously Directors at Goldman Sachs and Abraaj. This PE Fund is currently in pre-launch and expects to be investing by the fall of 2017.
Source: LinkedIn/Babar Lakhani
