CEGA Opens Applications for Cohort 3 Equity Free Incubation Programme

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CEGA has opened applications for its third incubation cohort, offering gaming, animation, and creative technology studios a structured six month programme without taking any equity or ownership of intellectual property from participating founders. The programme is built around the principle that founders retain full ownership of what they build, including their code, assets, and creative work, while receiving structured support aimed at helping them scale into investor ready studios.

The six month journey is designed around several stages, beginning with product and market diagnostics before moving into mentorship, production sprints, and eventual investor readiness. Founders selected for Cohort 3 will receive access to industry led mentorship alongside weekly growth clinics, giving them regular touchpoints with experienced professionals throughout the programme rather than a single upfront training session.

Participants will also gain access to world class rendering studios and creative infrastructure, addressing one of the more significant barriers facing gaming and animation studios in Pakistan, where access to high end technical equipment has historically been limited outside of larger, well funded operations. Beyond infrastructure access, the programme covers product, business, branding, and go to market support, along with advisory services specifically focused on production and publishing deals, an area that requires specialised knowledge given the complexity of contracts within the gaming and animation industries.

CEGA has also built investor, publisher, and partner access directly into the programme, alongside pathways toward seed capital and other funding opportunities, positioning Cohort 3 as a bridge between early stage creative studios and the capital needed to scale their operations commercially. The Centre of Excellence in Gaming and Animation operates through a public private partnership between Ministry Of IT and Telecommunication, Ignite National Technology Fund, and HUM Network, with additional support from LUMS Centre for Entrepreneurship, Techsol Space, Sablo Studio, SectionSoft, and AGON.

Applications for Cohort 3 are open through CEGA’s official website at cega.com.pk/incubation, with the programme continuing a model CEGA has run through two previous cohorts, supporting startups across gaming, three dimensional animation, and immersive media as part of a broader effort to build a sustainable pipeline for creative technology entrepreneurship in Pakistan.

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