Tech Week in Pakistan (Issue 25: 17th August)

Aug 18, 2014

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.

Line & Asani Start TV Ads

Line has begun television commercials within Pakistan and according to a press release by the company, its app has managed to get to the 2nd spot in the top free applications of the App Store within 3 days. This may be the first messaging app to start advertising in Pakistan, and the response seems to be very strong. It currenlt also stands at 5th in the Communications category on the Play Store. The Country Lead for Line said that “we will be partnering with local Pakistani artists and personalities to provide locally-tailored stickers and features for our users in Pakistan”.

Asani.com.pk a classified venture funded by Schbisted has begun its television and radio commercials in the last week. They are competing against OLX who regularly advertise on all major television stations. The classified market is an interesting one to start advertising so quickly as neither of these companies will be able to effectively monetize their product offering easily. Both OLX and Asani want to establish themselves as the respective leaders in the market and aim for revenues later on.

Line Launches to Top | Asani TVC

NEW-G & Injaz Launch Seed Funding Platform

New-G a collective formed to help promote entrepreneurship within Pakistan and Injaz an off-shoot of the Aman Foundation focused on building business leaders has come together to launch a program called Business Startup Launch (BSL). The program, though crudely named, wants to help bring about a program of funding entrepreneurs and providing mentorship. The program is said to have received 10 applications for the first batch, the number of batches they expect to run every year is not mentioned.

New-G | Tribune |

PK Startups

Two friends have taken it upon themselves to start doing interviews with local startup founders. These interviews by in large are very comprehensive and provide great insights into the challenges of setting up a business in Pakistan.

Other News:

Umar Saif Awarded Sitara-e-Imtiaz | TechJuice
P@SHA Accepting Nominations for Annual ICT Awards | P@SHA
Hafeez Centre: The Home of Tech Gadgets in Lahore | ProPakistani
Markhor Expands into Accessories| ProPakistani
PTCL to Retire VFone Services | ProPakistani
Daraz.pk gets 48% of its orders from outside the 3 major cities | Tribune

Disclosure Statement: I am currently employed as Country Manager of Kaymu.pk, a venture funded by Rocket Internet. All news pertaining to Kaymu, Rocket Internet or any of their investors and holdings are released as and when they are reported in the media.

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