RLabs, a Pakistani startup incubated at the National Incubation Center for Aerospace Technologies, known as NICAT, has won the Best Startup Award at Plug and Play in Silicon Valley, United States. NICAT announced the win and congratulated Harris Ahmed and the entire RLabs team on what it called an outstanding accomplishment. The center described the award as a reflection of the talent, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit of Pakistani startups making their mark internationally, and said it takes pride in supporting homegrown ventures as they turn bold ideas into practical solutions and take Pakistani innovation beyond the country’s borders. For a company that began in a local incubation program, winning a top award at one of the best known startup platforms in the Valley is a notable result.
The win drew a response from the government. Shaza Khawaja, Federal Minister for IT and Telecom, said the achievement was a moment of immense pride for the Ministry of IT and Telecommunication and for Ignite, the National Technology Fund, which supports the country’s incubation centers. She said that seeing homegrown startups earn international recognition reinforces the government’s commitment to nurturing innovation, creating global opportunities and empowering the next generation of entrepreneurs. The minister described the aim in direct terms, saying Pakistani startups should not only compete globally but help shape the future of technology. Her message also congratulated Harris Ahmed and the RLabs team and expressed hope that the award would be one of many success stories for the country.
Plug and Play gives the award particular weight. Plug and Play Tech Center is a Silicon Valley accelerator that takes no equity from participants, and its alumni have raised more than $9 billion in total. Its November Summit in Silicon Valley, held from 3 to 5 November, is the closing event of a three month program for the current batch, though the announcement does not say whether RLabs received its award there. The accelerator’s relationship with Pakistan has also grown in 2026. In July, Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal signed a Letter of Intent with Plug and Play founder Saeed Amidi covering plans to bring the accelerator to Pakistan, with proposed offices in Islamabad and Karachi and support for up to 300 startups from the country’s leading universities. Against that background, a NICAT incubated company taking the top startup award in Silicon Valley adds to a record of Pakistani startups reaching the platform.
NICAT said the result shows what Pakistani entrepreneurs can achieve with the right ecosystem, mentorship and opportunities, and it framed the win as proof that the future of innovation is being built in Pakistan. The announcement left several questions open. It did not say what RLabs builds, how many startups competed for the award, whether a prize came with it or what the company plans to do next. Those details will determine how much commercial value the recognition carries, since investors and customers usually look at what a company does before they look at its trophies. What is clear from the announcement is that a startup supported by an aerospace focused incubation center has won recognition at a leading international accelerator, and that both the incubator and the government are treating the win as evidence that homegrown ventures can compete abroad.
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