Hisham Sarwar, Chief Executive Officer of InnoVista, has highlighted the value of InnoCollab in connecting Pakistani startups with the right investors, pointing to the platform’s role in building ecosystem connections, offering mentorship and opening access to potential investment opportunities. He has encouraged investors to explore the ventures featured on InnoCollab, identify high-potential startups and play an active part in accelerating the growth of Pakistan’s startup ecosystem. The message is a direct call to those with capital to look at early stage companies through a single platform instead of relying only on personal introductions or occasional demo days, and it is summed up in the platform’s line that it is a gateway to the startup ecosystem.
InnoCollab is a startup collaboration platform based in Pakistan, built to bring founders, co-founders, mentors and angel investors into one place. Founders can post and browse startup ideas, look for co-founders and team members, connect with angel investors and seek guidance from industry experts. The platform also offers tools to help early teams get started, including an AI-powered pitch deck generator, a market research assistant, a business name generator and team collaboration features. The pitch to investors is straightforward: discover promising startups, connect with founders and invest in innovation, with the platform acting as the meeting point for all three steps.
Hisham Sarwar brings a background in freelancing, digital entrepreneurship and ecosystem development to the call. He has been freelancing since 2007 and is known in Pakistan as a digital marketing mentor, and he leads InnoVista, an Islamabad-headquartered technology company that runs coworking spaces and training programmes across ten chapters in cities including Islamabad, Quetta, Peshawar, Gujranwala, Bahawalpur, Multan, Lahore and Karachi. InnoCollab sits within a wider set of InnoVista platforms that include LearnEasy for skills training, InnoTalent for hiring, Asani, Freelance Hero Pakistan and Tech in Pakistan. Together, these platforms follow a path from learning a skill to finding work and eventually launching a venture, which gives InnoCollab a steady supply of young founders who have already passed through other parts of the same network.
The timing matters because early stage founders in Pakistan often find it difficult to reach investors outside Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, while investors say that finding credible deals at the idea and seed stage takes time. A platform that gathers startups from different cities, along with the mentorship and tools to help them present their ideas clearly, can narrow that gap. Investors who wish to review startups, speak with founders and consider backing them can do so through InnoCollab, and the platform’s backers hope that growing attention from investors will help more homegrown ventures move from an idea on a screen to a funded and operating company.
Follow the SPIN IDG WhatsApp Channel for updates across the Smart Pakistan Insights Network covering all of Pakistan’s technology ecosystem.
