According to research Pakistan is now officially one of the fastest growing startup cultures in the world which will be in the next few years will play a role of a kick starter for the economy.

Bykea

Bykea Technologies is a software startup platform where people connect with a network of motorbikes for transportation, deliveries and payment services. It’s marketplace of services help move people, parcels and payments efficiently, saving time and money. The business launched in Karachi, Pakistan in December 2016 and now operates in four cities in Pakistan serving millions of users. It is one of the largest employment creators in the country offering part-time job opportunities to anyone with a smart phone and motorbike with over two hundred thousand driver partners having accessed its platform services network clocking millions of kilometers each month.

Bykea, a technology platform for on-demand transport and related services, announced this year that it has completed a $5.7 million Series A round of financing from Pakistan’s first VC fund Sarmaycar and institutional investors from South East Asia and for Middle East.

The financing will be used to fund Bykea’s expansion in the ride sharing and express delivery, including cash to digital services for consumers and businesses in urban areas of Pakistan.

Bykea enables a crowd sourced network of motorbike owners to transport people and parcels allowing them to supplement their incomes while delivering cost effective logistics solutions. Its cash on delivery technology enables real time transactions in a nascent payments market thereby pioneering the development of e-commerce in Pakistan.

Over two hundred thousand motorbike owners have installed the partner app to connect with over two million users in Karachi, Rawalpindi/Islamabad and Lahore. Although available in English, the platform is mostly deployed in Urdu with voice notes to facilitate the use of technology by the broadest audience in their local language.

The CEO of Bykea, Muneeb Maayr said, “We’re aiming to solve technology adoption and economic activity for the 200 million people in Pakistan by allowing users to connect with one another via simple steps in Urdu or voice chat. We are also working with leading telecommunication providers to enable feature phones, or not-so-smart phones, to connect to our driver partner network of part timers.” He further said, “The additional investment will pave the way for deeper penetration into the masses enabling Pakistanis at large to use technology to better facilitate personal and business activity in the cities.”

Bykea was seed funded by a group of angel investors in a round led by Ithaca Capital who have made several pioneering venture capital investments in Pakistan. It was founded by veterans from eCommerce and logistics, Muneeb Maayr (Co-Founder at Daraz.pk and Director Operations at SNL Pakistan), Abdul Mannan (formerly Rocket Internet), Ishaq Kothawala (Head Actuary at Pak-Qatar) and Rafiq Malik (formerly COO at TNT Logistics Pakistan).

The Managing Partner of Sarmayacar, Rabeel Warraich said, “We are pleased to join Bykea on its journey of building affordable technology solutions that will create income generating opportunities for tens of thousands in Pakistan, while addressing rampant challenges in the transportation, logistics and payments sectors of the country.”

“This transaction also ushers a new era of venture capital investment into Pakistan by bringing together varied and complementary value propositions of institutional VCs from different parts of the world to back one of Pakistan’s most promising startups,” added Warraich.

The Managing Director of Ithaca Capital, Haider Ali Hilaly, said, “We are excited for the next round of Bykea’s development and welcome the institutional investment that brings relevant expertise from other developing markets to the Company. We have worked with Muneeb and his team to develop Bykea by seeding this project despite the obstacles involved in raising substantial further capital for venture stage companies in Pakistan. We are also pleased to have been the main sponsor of one of the largest Series A investments in Pakistan’s history.”

Bykea’s funding announcement includes a collaboration with the country’s leading telecom network Jazz on connecting customers with drivers using a simple dial in mobile number 0307-1234567.

In addition, the company has received grants from USAID’s Small & Medium Enterprises Development Authority to help create jobs in the hospitality sector and the Mahvash & Jahangir Siddiqui Foundation for providing short term lending to enable motorbike owner operators with income opportunities.

Going forward, Bykea intends to use funds from the new raise to continue to focus on increasing its driver network and provide new members income generating opportunities in the transport, delivery and ecommerce space. The Company is also actively looking to fill roles within the organization as it expands its execution capabilities.

Polly and Other Stories

A startup from Lahore, Polly & Other Stories has made it as a regional finalist for the MIT Inclusive Innovation Challenge this year.

Every year, MIT awards $1.6 million to organizations across the world revolutionizing the future of work. A prize is given to entrepreneurs using technology to create economic opportunity for workers.

So what does ‘inclusive innovation’ mean?

MIT describes it as the use of technology to generate increased economic opportunity for moderate and low income earners.

As part of the challenge, collaboration is done with organizations in five regions – Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and US and Canada – to select and celebrate sixty Regional Finalists from across the globe. Of them, twenty regional winners proceed to MIT where four Global Grand Prize Winners each win $250,000 and world-wide recognition.

This year’s award categories are Skills Development and Opportunity Matching, Income Growth and Job Creation, Technology Access and Financial Inclusion.

Polly & Other Stories is Pakistan’s first online marketplace for unique, handmade products sourced directly from homebound, rural women artisans in far flung areas across the country.

It supports the development of products that can be sold to a wider market, increasing economic prosperity for artisans.

In 2016, Pakistan’s doctHERs, a digital health platform that connects female doctors to underserved patients in real-time while leveraging online technology, was a regional winner from Asia for the MIT Inclusive Innovation Challenge (judges choice).

Speaking to SAMAA Digital, Polly & Other Stories Co-founder Amneh Shaikh Farooqui expressed her excitement on being shortlisted for the MIT Inclusive Innovation Challenge.

She stressed on the importance of image building and how it was necessary for Pakistani organizations to get global representation for their work. “A lot of Asian organizations [getting recognition] tend to be from East Asia. When it comes to South Asia, countries like India and Iran are more recognized,” she said. She said the situation has improved for Pakistan over the last five years with several new startups.

Propergaanda

After assessing the media industry in Pakistan, the propergaanda team got tired of the way content was being curated and consumed. The founding team including a marketer, a dentist and a creative junkie got together and challenged themselves to change it. Their content strategy is simple: they don’t run away from issues other people are afraid to talk about! They want their audience to be aware and informed. They produce written and visual content based on politics, entertainment and satire on a daily basis with an aim to highlight a more progressive and positive side of Pakistan, while still being critical when the need arises.

They launched their website www.propergaanda.com in August 2017 and since then they have been mentioned in The New York Times and interviewed by Pakistan Today. They are currently incubated at Pakistan Board of Information Technology’s tech incubator, Plan9. They are currently competing in the digital media space where competition is tough. Websites such as Mangobaaz, TechJuice or ProPakistani are just a few of the household names we have in Pakistan. But that’s not all they want to be.

The ProperGaanda team wants to build a community that promotes young talent (and not only online). They have been hosting Open Mics, Stand-Up Comedy Nights, Musical Evenings and Talks by motivational speakers since the past year – creating an on ground presence and fostering a safe space for individuals to hone and showcase their talents.

The Pakistan Startup Cup gave the ProperGaanda team a chance to present themselves and their idea in front of mentors and experts from the startup ecosystem. It was a great opportunity for them to refine their business plan and use the constructive criticism they received to better their startup. Their vision is one that sees them become Pakistan’s first digital media platform with a global presence and the Pakistan Startup Cup has elevated them into a position where the chances of their vision becoming a reality are much greater than before.

Mauqa Online

The gig economy phenomenon is slowly but steadily spreading across the globe. Mauqa Online realized the potential in the Pakistani market for part-time workers. So they created Pakistan’s first ever platform for domestic workers to earn more income. Mauqa Online is meant to provide blue collar jobs to the underprivileged class by connecting them with the right customers. The initial was to use the information on the internet and enhance the intellectual capacity of those who require it the most. Through an outreach program they realized that money was a greater need. Since then they have served over 800 customers after pivoting their business model to focus on providing jobs.

They launched their website www.mauqa.online in 2017. Currently available in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, the service offers you to book a helper at your convenience at an affordable pricing rate by the hour. Necessary steps are taken in screening the employees and training them to practice professionalism in all their tasks, to ensure a safe and satisfactory customer experience. They provide on-demand house cleaning, babysitting, cooking and elderly care services from trained and verified helpers all at the tap of a button.

The Pakistan Startup Cup was a great opportunity for the Mauqa Online team to meet and converse with mentors from various fields. As a startup, mentor ship is essential for better understanding of growth opportunities. They received some great ideas and advice from mentors, and other startups that were present at the event. They believe that receiving different types of feedback and advice is really helpful for a startup that is looking to scale up. Since the road to success is long and full of changes, the discussions they had at the event were of great help to the team as they realized a few things that they previously had missed out on. The type of detailed feedback they received at the event was something they did not get anywhere else.

Knowing your audience can take you from being just another face in the crowd to being the most interesting person in the room. And that’s the metaphor that digital marketing uses for determining a target audience for your website or online business. It gives you the advantage to attract attention from the people who like companies like yours and you can cut through all the noise and get on their radar by appealing to their unique triggers. Your choice of the market is the most impactful decision you will make. It will define the degree of your success.

Identifying the right target market is the most important thing that you can do for your business. It is only once you know who exactly your target customers are, that you can provide a valuable solution to their problems.

Determine

To define the target market, the best place to start is by asking the who, when, how, and why of your target market even if you think the answers are obvious or if you don’t know what they are at all, it’s worth taking a second to jot down detailed notes. You can validate your answers later.

First, think about basic demographics like gender, age, location, family income, and education levels. Also include information that’s relevant to your product offerings, such as hobbies, interests, and life goals.

Second, think about when clients are likely to be looking for you, which is typically always going to be a result of some kind of external factor or seasonality.

Next, ask yourself how they will find your business. Are they going to search for you on the internet? Ask a friend? Will it be while they’re at home or on the go?

Finally, determine why they need you and why you’re the best solution for their needs.

You have to pitch your marketing according to the research. Your target market needs to have something in common. They should share the same frustration in addition to basic demographics like gender, age, location, personality, situation, interests, emotions, or values. There are a million and one ways to market your business online, but if you don’t know where your ideal clients hang out, then you’ll be marketing to the air. Instead of trying out every strategy, you should focus on the accurate one.

Profiles

The more data you’re able to collect assuming it’s the right data, the better the chance for creating a customer persona that reflects the behaviors of the segment that you’re targeting. Take cues from the trends you saw in your research and ask enough ‘why’ questions to get to the deeper reasons people want to engage with your brand. That deeper understanding will be your secret sauce as your company grows.

Compete

Take a deep dive into researching your competitors to know what you’re up against. Looking at their websites to see how they position their products or services and their messaging. Check out their social media feeds to discover the type of people that follow them. See who links to your competitors to see what industries are interested in your products or services. Note what you like about them and also what you hate. Use them as objective examples for your own business. If you find someone who has an amazing niche, break it down and identify what makes it so great.

Remember that what makes your competitors valuable is that they’ve already done a lot of the work for you. When you’re on their website, focus on these four questions:

What’s the primary benefit they offer?

What are the top two or three reasons they offer to support that benefit?

What’s the feel of their site; is it professional, young, or mature?

What do they ask their audience to do?

Getting this information lets you make some inferences about who your audience is and what they want. Do your competitors focus on price? Do they draw attention to your location? And what words do they use to describe themselves? When you see what decisions they’ve made, you can validate your assumptions and identify opportunities.

Evaluate

Once you’ve decided on a plan of action, make sure it’s actually working. Every business is relative, so it can be hard to objectively evaluate and test your decisions. If you do have any baseline metrics, you should expect to see them jump in the right direction as you make a more nuanced effort to target your market. If you don’t have a baseline, you should seek some external validation because it’s hard to get critical distance when you get deep into your business.

After you implement your market research, run it by a few members of your target market to get more objective feedback.  Authenticity is the future of marketing. Though there might be shortcuts to win people over right away, remember that you’re in business for the long haul, so act accordingly.

Once you’ve decided on a target market, be sure to consider these questions:

Are there enough people who fit my criteria?

Will my target really benefit from my product/service? Will they see a need for it?

Do I understand what drives my target to make decisions?

Can they afford my product/service?

Can I reach them with my message? Are they easily accessible?

One thing that is easy to miss in all the discussions about startups and online advice is the personal factors you should consider. One of my favorite topics to share with entrepreneurs is that you shouldn’t forget that your startup is not just about the great company you seek to build and the positive change you want to bring to the world. It is also about you and your family.

You are going to take much more career risk than your neighbors. You are going to always be working. Your stress level will be high, and you will have emotional peaks and valleys. So it is critical that you pick a target market in which you will enjoy being completely immersed for years. If you love your business, you will have a higher probability of success.