The International Finance Corporation is working on a fund for entrepreneurs in Pakistan, as Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb discusses private investment and financing.

LUMS Centre for Entrepreneurship and OGDCL have opened applications for CleanTech Hackathon 2026, offering a PKR 1 million prize pool and an incubation pathway across seven clean energy and sustainability verticals.

The Business Incubation Center at the University of Peshawar has opened a podcast facility for conversations on entrepreneurial journeys, innovation and the challenges of building a business.

Participants of Elevate Entrepreneurship Cohort 2 visited Bahria Business Incubation Center, where S&P Global mentors shared insights with aspiring entrepreneurs under the TiE Islamabad programme.

WISE Lab has opened a free four week bootcamp for women business owners in Quetta, with top trainees able to access PKR 500,000 in loans and grants.

Accelerate Punjab has opened applications for Multan Cohort 1 for women, offering free incubation, mentorship, legal support and networking to turn ideas into startups.

Shahjehan Syed Karim Incubation Center at the Institute of Business Management has opened Cohort 6 applications for students, professionals, educators and entrepreneurs, with a deadline of 15 November.

National Incubation Center Lahore has opened applications for Cohort 5, offering startups mentorship, funding opportunities, valuable connections and resources to scale.

Ignite National Technology Fund and the Higher Education Commission briefed vice chancellors and faculty on the Prime Minister's Spark and Elevate programs, with applications closing on 26 October 2026.

Little Angels Daycare and ECD Centre in Gahkuch, Gilgit-Baltistan, has grown from six children in 2014 to up to 100 and was shortlisted by Accelerate Prosperity Pakistan for its Women in Business programme.

Cybersecurity startup WarSOC has moved into NASTP Silicon Valley in Karachi with support from Dawood University of Engineering and Technology and its Research Products Development Unit.

NIC Hyderabad startup Foran Delivery is now live in Karachi and Hyderabad, posting PKR 307K profit in Q3 2026 after a PKR 261K loss in Q1, as it builds a hyperlocal delivery network.

Karachi-based real estate software startup Fortify has incorporated in Saudi Arabia and is preparing local hires, joining a growing wave of Pakistani startups entering the Kingdom's PropTech market.

Fleur founder Alham Nadeem, an NIC Peshawar startup, was featured on Discover Pakistan for turning traditional crochet craft into a business generating PKR 2.48 million in eight months.

The International Finance Corporation is working on a fund for entrepreneurs in Pakistan, as Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb discusses private investment and financing.

Lucky Investments has launched Lucky Islamic Capital Protected Fund Plan I, a two year Shariah-compliant plan with a minimum investment of Rs 5,000 and subscriptions open until 30 October.

Standard Chartered Foundation, INNOVentures Global and Village Capital concluded the eighth Women in Tech Accelerator cohort in Karachi, awarding EV Square, Blusha App and Zvolta a combined PKR 10.5 million in equity-free grants.

Accelerate Prosperity has invested in Lahore-based Tarsil, a field service management platform serving 400+ businesses across Pakistan, to fund R&D and support its expansion into the GCC and Africa.

NIC Islamabad hosted a World Bank Group and IFC delegation to discuss financing gaps, investor readiness, and bottlenecks in Pakistan's venture capital ecosystem.

The Business Incubation Center at the University of Peshawar has opened a podcast facility for conversations on entrepreneurial journeys, innovation and the challenges of building a business.

Participants of Elevate Entrepreneurship Cohort 2 visited Bahria Business Incubation Center, where S&P Global mentors shared insights with aspiring entrepreneurs under the TiE Islamabad programme.

CITADEL Pakistan has issued a final call for scale-up startups to apply for Davos 2027 in Switzerland, with applications closing on 15 October 2026.

Fifty freshman students from NUST’s School of Art, Design and Architecture visited the National Science and Technology Park, where startup mimAR, founded by school graduates, showed how ideas become ventures.

SparkTank has signed an MoU with Khantastic Ventures, a venture capital company focused on startup investment, commercialisation and fundraising, to help its founders connect with investors and scale.

Fatima Jinnah Women University has agreed to integrate LearnEasy digital courses and the InnoCollab startup platform into its mandatory, cross-disciplinary Entrepreneurship course.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has inaugurated the renamed Daanish IT Park in Islamabad, a national technology park that brings incubators, startups, SMEs and industry under one roof.

The Faisalabad Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry has approved a Board of Management to build institutional oversight and accelerate its business development and export promotion initiatives.

OICCI has called on Pakistan to use recent macroeconomic stabilization to accelerate private investment, exports, energy security and structural reforms following a meeting with a visiting IMF delegation.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met delegations of Pakistani-origin entrepreneurs in New York, urging investment and citing FBR reforms and agricultural innovation plans.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed SMEDA to formulate a comprehensive strategy for financial assistance to SMEs, focusing on capacity building and global market access.

Federal Minister for Board of Investment Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh outlined steps to simplify business regulations, attract investment, and promote value-added exports through a new Business Facilitation Centre.

Shark Tank Producer Usman on the two-year Sony negotiation, the casting calculus, the off-camera valuation coaching, and the production mechanics that turned a skeptical market into the site of the biggest deal in the franchise's global history.

NICAT, in partnership with DEMO Pakistan (SPIN-IDG), hosted a session on data-driven decision-making, exploring how digitization, analytics, and innovation are shaping Pakistan’s economic and enterprise future.

Industry leaders discuss how fintech, agritech, and edtech are enabling women’s economic empowerment in Pakistan, while startups leverage technology, partnerships, and community engagement to scale solutions.

Pakistan’s venture capital ecosystem needs stronger domestic institutional capital, better funding pipelines, and improved exit pathways to support startups scaling from early stages to global markets.

Regional instability, macroeconomic shifts and changing investor strategies are reshaping venture finance across MENAP as startups adapt to a more selective capital environment.

Discover how Sialkot's world-renowned sports manufacturing industry can evolve into sports-tech innovation, using smart equipment, AI, sensors, and connected technology to shape the future of global sports.

Pakistan Super League offers startups more than sponsorship. Discover how PSL can drive brand awareness, customer acquisition, and long-term growth.

NIC Karachi hosted a session on Saudi Arabia’s PDPL, led by data protection expert Bilal Ghafoor, guiding startups on compliance, risks, and strategies for expanding into the Kingdom.

At the AI and Digital Bridge Forum in Astana, accelerators including Alchemist, StartX, and Draper University discussed how Central Asian AI startups are reaching US customers and investors.

Ghost has emerged from stealth with an $11 million seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz, launching Core, a $3,499 personal computer built specifically to run AI agents.

Farmevo Technologies, a Pakistani agricultural drone startup, is expanding into North and Latin America and plans to establish its headquarters in New York, with revenue up tenfold since 2024.

NSTP deep tech startup Zambeel Machine Craft, led by Hamza Munir, presented at Cambridge Tech Week at St John's Innovation Centre, sharing its journey building hardware engineering capability for international clients.

Pathfinder CITADEL has extended the application deadline for the Davos Startup Challenge 2027 to October 10, 2026, giving founders additional time to complete their submissions.

Applications are open for Pakistani startups seeking to expand into Europe through BridgeStart Pakistan's Global Gateway, offering market access, ecosystem connections and international growth opportunities, with a November 1 deadline.

Dealroom data highlights Pakistan’s $4.2 billion technology sector valuation, startup funding landscape, venture capital challenges, and the role of diaspora-led global companies.

KPMG Venture Pulse Q2 2026 reveals shifting global VC dynamics as AI-led investments dominate funding, while Pakistan startups adapt to tighter capital conditions and focus on efficiency.

Pakistan’s startup ecosystem in 2025 entered a new phase shaped by selective funding, hybrid financing, debt-backed growth, AI innovation and institutional maturity, as startups adapted to tighter capital markets and evolving investor priorities.