Metal, a fundraising intelligence platform founded by Usman Gul, has announced a strategic partnership with Indus Valley Capital, giving all IVC portfolio companies a twenty percent discount on Metal’s platform. The partnership reflects a personal connection for Gul, who described Indus Valley Capital as having played a crucial role in his journey as a founder over the past five years, having invested in his first startup and later becoming one of the earliest supporters of Metal.
Indus Valley Capital, founded and led by former LinkedIn executive Aatif Awan, has backed more than twenty companies founded by builders with roots in Pakistan, with those companies collectively going on to raise more than three hundred million dollars in equity funding. The firm raised seventeen point five million dollars for its debut fund in 2021, becoming one of the more established venture capital firms specifically focused on Pakistani founders, with its earliest investments including Airlift, the ride hailing and quick commerce startup Gul co-founded before launching Metal.
Metal operates as an AI powered platform designed to bring intelligence and efficiency to the fundraising process, helping founders identify the right investors to approach and understand pathways to warm introductions. Gul built the company after his own experience raising one hundred and twenty million dollars for Airlift across six venture rounds, an experience that led him to conclude the fundraising process itself was inefficient and lacked the kind of structured intelligence tools available for other business functions.
The platform has continued to gain traction within the broader venture ecosystem, having previously secured a strategic investment from Rebel Fund, a venture capital firm known for backing top performing startups emerging from the Y Combinator ecosystem. Metal is backed by a16z and Y Combinator, positioning the company within a well connected network of Silicon Valley investors even as it maintains strong ties to the Pakistani founder community through relationships such as its partnership with Indus Valley Capital.
Aatif Awan expressed enthusiasm about the partnership, noting that it would enable Indus Valley Capital’s portfolio startups to benefit from Metal’s intelligence for their fundraising efforts at a special discount. The announcement drew significant engagement from within the Pakistani founder community, with several individuals connected to both companies and the broader ecosystem expressing support for the collaboration, reflecting the close knit nature of the network connecting Pakistani founders across Airlift, Indus Valley Capital, and Metal.
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