Telenor Velocity, Telenor Pakistan’s digital accelerator programme, has revealed the startups for its 7th cohort, this time in collaboration with Telenor Microfinance Bank/Easypaisa. Following a rigorous selection process, the entrepreneurs were welcomed onboard in a virtual orientation with keynote talks from the company’s leadership.
Fin-tech, Ed-tech, Agri-tech, Health-tech, and Inclusion were among the important areas where solutions are needed in the Pakistani context when forming the cohort. Up-trade, Good-Earth, Digi Khata, Foree, Ola Doc, Sehat Kahani, and DeafTawk are the seven startups chosen for this year’s cohort.
The 7th Cohort of Telenor Velocity received 70+ submissions from mature startup organisations, with 24 being short-listed for the interview rounds. Seven businesses were chosen for this cohort after four days of intense startup interviews judged by a panel of internal Telenor Pakistan & Telenor Microfinance Bank specialists.
Since its inception in 2016, the accelerator has completed six cohorts, resulting in 32 graduated startups, four or more pilot runs, and a $40,000 pilot funding. Furthermore, the program’s businesses have raised a total of $3 million so far.
Telenor Velocity is a four-month equity-free support programme for businesses. The companies will be helped in SMS marketing efforts, receive coaching from domain experts, and have access to state-of-the-art data analytics/customer insights, in addition to having access to Telenor Pakistan’s 48 million customers and My Telenor App’s 8 million users.