Ignite National Technology Fund, a Company with Ministry of IT and Telecom, showcased Pakistani startups at 4YFN (4 Years From Now), the startup event of Mobile World Congress which enables startups, investors and large corporations to connect and launch new business ventures together. 4YFN supports startups, incubators, and accelerators who want to project the creativity of their ecosystems to the tech industry, with exhibition space to showcase their best startups and opportunities for those startups to pitch to investors. Among the participating startups were Fowrry and YPay Financial Services. Fowrry is a mobile app for delivering fresh fruits and vegetables, restaurant food, groceries, baked items, medicines, gifts, cosmetics, ?owers directly to the customer’s doorstep with free replacement or return, creating more than 3000 jobs. YPay Financial Services Pvt. Ltd is a fintech startups with a vision to have onboard 1 million ?rst time capital markets investors by end of 2023.
Both startups, which were incubated at Ignite’s National Incubation Centers, have attracted interest from the Pakistani diaspora and international investors at 4YFN. Visitors praised the steps taken by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan in improving ease of business for new startups and businesses in Pakistan. Some strategic partnerships and alignments have been made by these startups with global companies with the same focus areas. Earlier, H.E. Ambassador of Pakistan to Spain, Mr. Shujaat Ali Rathore, interacted with Pakistani companies and startups at the 4YFN conference and appreciated the innovative ideas and affirmed to extend full support to young Pakistani entrepreneurs.
Ignite has established a network of five National Incubation Centers (NICs) across Pakistan in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, and Quetta so far and is planning more incubators in future. NICs are providing mentorship and support to the promising vibrant entrepreneurs for planning and execution of their business ideas. International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations agency for ICTs, has recognized Ignite’s National Incubation Centers as one of the Champion Projects in the Enabling Environment Category at World Summit on the Information Society Prizes 2021 in May 2021.