KARACHI: Karandaaz Pakistan, one of the leading sources of financing and ongoing support for Pakistan’s innovative growing companies, has signed grant agreements worth $100,000 each with Ricult Pakistan, Paysys Labs and PublishEX Solutions. Both the challenge and resultant grants have been funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Out of 61 applications from all parts of the country, 28 were invited to present at the Fintech Disrupt Challenge 2016 held in collaboration with LUMS Centre for Entrepreneurship in November last year. Ten finalists were shortlisted by judges, which included subject matter and investor experts from ArbiSoft, Acumen, Bank Al-Falah and board members of Karandaaz. However, the three companies emerged as the winners. “This competition showcased an incredible display of talent from start-ups across the nation. We have now completed the first step in the process with these awards. The next and more vital piece of this challenge will be getting the deals completed, and setting up a soft landing for winning startups, who aspire to disrupt fintech industry. We look forward to expediting that process and helping these start-ups gain traction in the Pakistan market,” said Ali Sarfraz, CEO of Karandaaz Pakistan. “ Rehan Akhtar, director digital financial services, Karandaaz Pakistan added, “The initial mobilisation amount will give the winners a kickstart to their projects. With this grant, we intend to provide them with capital inflow for the next one year so the start-ups remain focused on operationalisation of their products / services rather than worrying about lack of finance. We expect these fintechs to be sustainable in the long run and create an impact in the digital financial services industry.” Ricult is focused towards changing the way farming has been done by bringing a more ‘data-based’ approach and reducing inefficiencies in the system. A farmer can register for free with Ricult by phone, where he can order supplies and be referred to a credit partner if he needs a loan on convenient and affordable credit terms. Paysys Labs is a technology start-up in the domain of digital financial services with a key focus on research and development. Salim Karim and Yassir Pasha of PublishEX Solutions plan to use the grant amount to build their platform, a payment channel which enables merchants to seamlessly monetise digital goods and services for their users on a global scale. Their service aims to provide users with a simple, secure and fast way of making payments via available balance in their mobile SIM without any requirement of a credit card or a bank account.