Karachi startup Paani+, founded by Haseeb Ansari, is building a business around a contradiction in Pakistan’s relationship with water, which is scarce for farmers and households for much of the year and then arrives in destructive volumes during the monsoon. The company makes absorbent materials for three very different settings, flood protection, agriculture, and healthcare, and its central commercial challenge is persuading customers to pay for preparedness before a disaster rather than after it. Ansari describes the problem as two extremes, too much water in one place and none in another, and says that framing guided the whole product range.
The idea began when Ansari’s own home in Karachi was flooded, an experience that left him frustrated at how little he could do while water moved through the house. That became FloodGuard, a lightweight sack filled with absorbent material that activates on contact with fresh water. According to Ansari, a bag weighing roughly 300 grams can swell to around 15 to 20 kilograms within three to five minutes, creating a temporary barrier that can be placed around doorways and entrances. The company sells it as an alternative to sandbags, supplies a water diversion sheet to reduce seepage, and says its absorbency has been tested by PCSIR. Ansari is clear that FloodGuard is temporary protection and not a replacement for drainage systems or engineered flood defences. He says orders have come from Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, and Murree, including one for 200 bags from Park View City in Lahore after earlier flooding.
On the farming side, GrowMate+ is a moisture retaining material mixed into the soil around the root zone, designed to absorb water during irrigation and release it slowly as the soil dries. The company also lists HydroSoil, a long lasting plant hydration pack. The need is substantial, since agriculture accounted for 94 percent of Pakistan’s freshwater withdrawals in 2022 according to World Bank data, and the World Bank estimates that 60 to 75 percent of water withdrawn in Sindh can be lost to evaporation or seepage. Ansari acknowledges that absorbent materials are not new, and argues the value lies in formulating and packaging them around a specific problem, such as crops that receive water intermittently.
In healthcare, MediSorb is a powder sprinkled over blood, urine, or other infectious liquid spills so that they solidify and can be scooped up for disposal. After infection control staff pointed out that a separate disinfection step was still needed, the company developed MediSorb Plus with chlorine built in. Ansari says the products have been evaluated with private hospitals and that the company is working through procurement processes. The larger obstacle, he says, is that Paani+ is creating a category rather than entering an existing one, and buyers often doubt that such products would suit local conditions. He says about 90 percent of orders come organically, with demonstration videos working better than conventional advertising, and that government disaster management and local government bodies responded well to demonstrations without yet moving to procurement. His goal for the company is simple, and he summed it up by saying people should not have to fight water every day.
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