Tech Week in Pakistan (Issue 14: 18th May)
This weekly newsletter focuses on the most important new developments within Pakistan’s Technology Sector. To receive this newsletter on a weekly basis subscribe to our mailing list (no spam ever) or follow me on Twitter @adamdawood. Previous instalments of the newsletter can be found here.
FoodPanda.pk Mobile Orders Growing
FoodPanda has just released some numbers regarding its performance in Pakistan. An article by BrandSynario says that FoodPanda.pk received 15,000 orders from mobile devices, and with 65% of orders coming from mobile devices that means the service receives somewhere around 7,700 orders* a month right now. If we take average order size as PKR 2,000** this means FoodPanda.pk is currently seeing a GMV of PKR 15.4m per month or PKR 184.8m per year.
*15,000 orders in Q1 is 5,000 orders per month. With 65% of all orders being from mobile, (5000/65)*100 ≈ 7,700
** based on my own personal order history with FoodPanda that on average cost PKR 2060.
Launch of “The Foundation”
LUMS launched its startup incubator and has offered 4 startups space within its centre. The incubator is the first step the Centre for Entrepreneurship has undertaken and will soon be launching a seed stage startup fund and a network of “Plug ‘n Play” centres. The first four startups to be incubated at the incubator are:
Savaree — ride sharing social network
Appography — visual IVR company
Bugdev Studios — game developers
Cognitica — AR based games for children
ILM Apps Challenge
The Pakistan Innovation Foundation (PIF) has launched a program aimed at creating creative ways by which to improve the quality and reach of primary and secondary education in Pakistan. The initiative is hoping to recruit the best young minds in Pakistan to come together in an education inspired Hackathon, with the best ideas being funded and planned for implementation.
The PIF has partnered with the Department for International Development (DFID) a UK based organisation aimed at ending extreme poverty. With PKR 1 billion already invested to support underprivileged students in LUMS, the DFID’s aim in Pakistan is to support four million children in school, recruit and train tens of thousands of new teachers, construct or rebuild more than 20,000 classrooms and improve test results in core subjects.
XGear Launches Crowd Funding Campaign
XGear a local startup focused on gathering data from your car and providing data such as fuel management, behaviour moniitoring and live tracking has just started crowd funding its first set of products. They are looking to raise $10,000 to continue developing useful apps for the platform.
Other News
Innovate & Lead: Pakistani Startups with Brilliant Ideas | Dawn
Poll: Do You Want YouTube Ban to be Lifted? | ProPakistani
UET Launches incubator dubbed TICK | TechJuice
This “SmartBike” was partially developed in Pakistan | Mashable
A Conversation With KickStoro Founder Azm Dar | TechJuice
The secrets of Pakistan’s economic upsurge | Financial Times
Meetup with Finland’s Serial Entrepreneur, Investor & Technologist — Wili Miettinen | BrightSprye
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