Pakistan-origin Unicorns

[Caprxl]

Also sadapay is about to be launched.

Hey can you shed some light on them? I saw their advertisement, seemed good but are they legit ? Like u got any info on them?

 

[Pakistansdefender]

Hey can you shed some light on them? I saw their advertisement, seemed good but are they legit ? Like u got any info on them?

You can read online. I would tell you what I read few days back. Sada pay is an online payment system as PayPal and other services don't come to Pakistan.
Now Sada pay is sanctioned by state bank of Pakistan, it is developed by an American and locals, they are aiming to reach it to 3 carore people by the end of 3 years. This card doesn't need any bank account. You simply have to fill some easy details and get a card. You can pay your bills, transfer money, and carry cash and pay through your mobile. So it's you mobile wallet.
One thing that is different is that you can receive money you earn as a freelance worker or people giving other services who do not have a source to get their money directly. They can receive their money from 40 countries including us, gulf and eurpeon ones.
So all those working online would easily get their incomes directly transferred into their mobile wallets.
You can pay your daily task easily with card or with your mobile.
Sadapay has connection with western union and other money share companies such as PayPal that allows them easy money transfer. This is a huge step for paksitan. As people are dying to get PayPal and they are not coming. This would be the next best thing.

 

[Blacklight]

You’re focusing on the wrong things. Did you read the article that I posted in the first page? Almost all the companies listed have strong presence in Pakistan, and some like Careem and Zameen were initially developed in Pakistan before they become big. Pakistani startups are on the verge of a major growth in the next couple years. There are number of Pakistani startups in the hundreds of millions of dollars valuation, it’s just a matter of time before they hit big. Daraz was bought by Alibabab for $450-500 million, If Daraz wasn’t sold so early, it could have been a unicorn by now. A strong startup culture is developing in Pakistan and the future trend looks exceptionally promising. What’s more important most of these companies will be HQed in Pakistan.

For all practical purposes both Careem and Zameen are now based in Dubai. We need to fix this.

had no idea zameendotcom was 1 Billion, are you sure?

I seriously doubt it.

 

[Falcon26]

For all practical purposes both Careem and Zameen are now based in Dubai. We need to fix this.


I seriously doubt it.

Zameen’s parent company which is led by Zameen founders has $1 billion valuation https://www.menabytes.com/empg-olx-150-million/

 

[Caprxl]

You can read online. I would tell you what I read few days back. Sada pay is an online payment system as PayPal and other services don't come to Pakistan.
Now Sada pay is sanctioned by state bank of Pakistan, it is developed by an American and locals, they are aiming to reach it to 3 carore people by the end of 3 years. This card doesn't need any bank account. You simply have to fill some easy details and get a card. You can pay your bills, transfer money, and carry cash and pay through your mobile. So it's you mobile wallet.
One thing that is different is that you can receive money you earn as a freelance worker or people giving other services who do not have a source to get their money directly. They can receive their money from 40 countries including us, gulf and eurpeon ones.
So all those working online would easily get their incomes directly transferred into their mobile wallets.
You can pay your daily task easily with card or with your mobile.
Sadapay has connection with western union and other money share companies such as PayPal that allows them easy money transfer. This is a huge step for paksitan. As people are dying to get PayPal and they are not coming. This would be the next best thing.

Nice info.

It is a great initiative, provided they get security clearances. Best thing i liked about it is providing a bridge for PayPal. It will help Pakistan Free Lance Community immensely though there are other ways being used at the moment to receive payment from Upwork, Fiverr etc.

 

[Syed1.]

For all practical purposes both Careem and Zameen are now based in Dubai. We need to fix this.


I seriously doubt it.

Not sure about Zameen but Careem has their design center in Pakistan, they might have moved their non-developmental tasks to Dubai etc

 

[Bouncer]

Why are people afraid to invest in Pakistan?

Others have given you very valid answers but they missed one very critical point. Our weak and corrupt judiciary.

Litigation is always a HUGE concern whenever two companies sign a contract. If things go south you want to be able to sue your provider or client for damages etc in a country that has a strong legal code and judicial system. Nobody in their right mind would want to fight their case in Pakistani courts. Not even Pakistanis want to go to courts in Pakistan, as is evident from this list shared by OP. There are a lot of other decent sized companies that have huge backend/support/development operations in KHI/LHR/ISB but they are headquartered in the Middle East, EU or the US. The registered address in your contract assures your service provider or client that they can rely on that country's judiciary.

 

[Nilgiri]

Others have given you very valid answers but they missed one very critical point. Our weak and corrupt judiciary.

Litigation is always a HUGE concern whenever two companies sign a contract. If things go south you want to be able to sue your provider or client for damages etc in a country that has a strong legal code and judicial system. Nobody in their right mind would want to fight their case in Pakistani courts. Not even Pakistanis want to go to courts in Pakistan, as is evident from this list shared by OP. There are a lot of other decent sized companies that have huge backend/support/development operations in KHI/LHR/ISB but they are headquartered in the Middle East, EU or the US. The registered address in your contract assures your service provider or client that they can rely on that country's judiciary.

Excellent answer that is indeed often overlooked.

I generally include it (when talking about root malaise in Pakistan) in overall institutional apathy/underdevelopment/decay in Pakistan which is broader condition....but you are indeed correct to flesh it out specifically.