ISLAMABAD: The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Islamabad joined forces with the United States Embassy in Islamabad to host the Grand Finale of the 2022 Pakistan Startup Cup at the Islamabad Marriott Hotel. The Pakistan Startup Cup is a local business model competition designed to increase the quality and quantity of entrepreneurs throughout the community.
The event was attended by the Ministry of Information Technology, Ministry of Finance, and U.S. Embassy Islamabad. The chief guests distributed cheques and prize money to the winning teams from across Pakistan. Speaking on the occasion, the President of TiE Islamabad, Murtaza Zaidi, said “Over the last decade, the Pakistan Startup Cup has mentored more than 2,000 startups. The competition engages leading industry experts to mentor startups and help them refine their business models. We have proudly partnered with the U.S. Embassy to provide our entrepreneurs with an enabling environment.”
The U.S. Embassy’s Acting Public Affairs Officer, Aaron Tarver, added that “The U.S. Embassy sponsorship of the Pakistan Startup Cup has and will continue to increase entrepreneurial and startup activity across the country through sustained coaching and mentorship. This can only help generate a robust entrepreneurship culture in local communities in every region.”
More than 900 startups benefited from coaching and business preparation activities and mentoring through the competition this year. They were narrowed down to the top 21 business ideas, with teams presenting the ideas at the finale with an eye towards the first-place cash prize of one million rupees to invest in their business. The second and third place winners also received cash to develop their startup ideas.
The Pakistan Startup Cup aims to connect, scale, and inspire entrepreneurs and innovators from across the country. This year, the eighth cycle of Pakistan Startup Cup was launched in Quetta, Gilgit, Mirpur, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, and Karachi. The top 21 startups from across Pakistan participated in over 170 hours of workshops and over 50 hours of mentoring from industry experts.
The business applications received in the competition included new ideas in ed-tech, health-tech, fin-tech, agri-tech, e-commerce and food businesses, among others.