Pakistan’s Startup Funding Nosedives By 77% in 2023

Startup funding in Pakistan continues to have a bad run, with investments falling to $75.6 million during 2023, according to data released by Data Darbar. This reflects a 77.2 percent year-on-year (YoY) decline from the same period last year. Over half of the funds were raised in Q4 2023, with 15 investments totaling $38.6 million. Ten of these announcements were made at Katalyst Labs’ +92 Disrupt. Meanwhile, the deal count for the full calendar year was 37, down 47.9 percent YoY. The average ticket amount fell to $2.4 million, a 60 percent decrease from the same period last year. 21 of the 37 deals were seed funding rounds which helped raise $46 million over the year. Accelerator rounds numbered just 6, with a total of $1.8 million. Series A rounds attracted $19.2 million, with $16.5 million coming from Retailo’s bridge. Notably, considerable issues were observed at the growth stage, where deals fell apart or investors defaulted on their pledges, said the report. E-commerce received the most funds, totaling $23.95 million. Retailo’s round boosted the figures yet again but it doesn’t necessarily reflect the country’s fundraising environment. Fintech saw the largest number of deals (seven) valued at $19.6 million, while transport and logistics received $13.6 million across half a dozen funding rounds. 2023 was the best year for female-founded startups which attracted $10.5 million in funding. This increased their percentage of total investment to 13.9 percent, significantly higher than the average of 1.34 percent seen in 2019-2022. Conversely, female co-founded startups saw their values decline in absolute dollar value to $11 million, which still accounted for 14.5 percent of the full-year total.