
Indus Valley raises $17.5m for Pakistan VC fund

Pakistan-focused VC firm Indus Valley Capital has raised $17.5 million for its debut fund focused on early-stage start-ups. The initial target was $15 million.
LPs include partners at two large VC funds and Middle Eastern angel investors, Indus Valley confirmed via social media. Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit also invested, alongside various executives and operators from Linkedin, Facebook, Google, Stripe, Coinbase, Uber, Dropbox, Atlassian, and Oracle.
"It's awesome to see so many in Silicon Valley believe and invest in the Pakistani start-up ecosystem," Indus Valley said.
Indus Valley was founded in 2019 by Aatif Awan, a former Linkedin executive who led the company's product integration with Microsoft following its $26 billion acquisition in 2016. The firm operates across bases in San Francisco and Karachi. Its focus on tech professionals in the LP base is expected to facilitate portfolio networking.
The fund, which reached a first close of undisclosed size in February last year, will invest on a sector-agnostic basis as early at the seed stage. Although Pakistan is the primary geographic focus, there is capacity to address the Middle East and North Africa on an opportunistic basis. Portfolio companies include shoe brand Atoms, women's fitness platform AimFit, B2B e-commerce marketplace Bazaar, and bus-hailing app Airlift.
It is being touted as the largest closed fund focused on Pakistan. Sarmayacar Ventures, a Pakistan-focused investor set up by ex-GIC executive Rabeel Warraich, is expected to close a $30 million vehicle this year. Meanwhile, Fantima Gobi Ventures, a joint venture between local conglomerate Fatima Group and China's Gobi Partners launched a $20 million fund targeting the country. Fantima Gobi is also an investor in Airlift.
In 2017, Lakson Investments claimed to have been awarded the country's first venture capital license with the launch of a seed fund of unconfirmed size, while Ijara Capital Partners, the first local investor to receive approval for a private equity fund, raised $100 million for its Pakistan Emerging Markets Fund.
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.