Pakistani startups raised 59 million dollars in the first half of 2026, a figure roughly comparable to the 58.5 million dollars raised over the same period in 2025, according to a new funding round-up published by i2i Ventures. The report marks a continuation of data tracking work previously carried out by Invest2Innovate, i2i Ventures’ sister organisation, which closed operations in May 2026 after fifteen years of publishing regular benchmarks on Pakistan’s startup ecosystem. i2i Ventures said it would continue this work through its own platform, The Throughline, aiming to release funding and market insight round-ups on at least a biannual basis, applying criteria that count a startup as part of the Pakistani dataset if Pakistan is its core market, one of its key markets of focus, or if it has Pakistani founders with a key team based in the country.
While the overall H1 2026 figure was raised across just five companies, the majority of the total came from a single deal, with Fasset, a stablecoin-powered neobank focused on emerging markets including Pakistan, announcing a 51 million dollar Series B round in May 2026 that included participation from SBI Group, Arz Portföy, and Investcorp, building on earlier backing from Fatima Gobi Ventures. The concentration of funding in one large round highlights how a small number of sizeable deals can significantly shape overall funding totals in a market where deal volume remains relatively limited.
Beyond Fasset, several other Pakistani startups announced funding rounds across notable emerging sectors during the period. Uplift AI, which builds AI voice agents for regional languages, announced a 3.5 million dollar seed round led by Indus Valley Capital and YCombinator in January 2026. Revora, formerly known as MyAlice, raised a 2 million dollar seed round led by i2i Ventures and Oraseya Capital in June 2026, having rebranded to focus on AI-powered e-commerce through AI revenue agents. BuyPass.ai, which is bringing live commerce to the Pakistani market, raised undisclosed pre-seed funding from Myco Holdings and Daman Investments, while Neem, a banking-as-a-service startup, secured a pre-series A round led by Epic Angels with participation from DNI Group, Hi2 Global, and various angel investors, with the amount similarly undisclosed.
In the first quarter of 2026, global ride-hailing company InDrive announced its acquisition of quick commerce platform Krave Mart in an all-stock deal reported to be worth 45 million dollars, following an earlier 10 million dollar investment from InDrive’s venture arm into Krave in 2024. The acquisition forms part of InDrive’s broader expansion into grocery delivery as it moves beyond ride-hailing into wider e-commerce, and carries added significance for Pakistan’s startup ecosystem by validating a concrete exit pathway for venture-backed companies in the country, a milestone that has historically been scarce within the local market.
Against this backdrop of relative capital scarcity, government-led efforts have played a notable role in supporting early-stage startups. The Pakistan Startup Fund and BridgeStart Pakistan, both strategic initiatives under the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication and executed by Ignite, have continued providing startups with access to global accelerator programmes alongside equity-free grants covering up to 30 percent of a funding round. In fiscal year 2025-26, the Pakistan Startup Fund awarded grants to three startups, committing 2 million dollars in total, while BridgeStart fully funded international acceleration for 13 startups over the same period, with an additional 23 currently active in programmes. The initiative has placed Pakistani founders into internationally recognised ecosystems and accelerators including Plug and Play, Accelerating Asia, the Qatar FinTech Hub, Maan Social Incubator, Clean Tech, and The Garage, reflecting a continued government push to connect local founders with global networks even as private capital availability within Pakistan remains comparatively constrained.
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