Karachi, February 21, 2019: P@SHA’s Tech Incubator The Nest I/O celebrated its 4-year anniversary with the startup community last month.
The day kicked off with an Open House where startups showcased their products/services and networked with people from within and outside the startup ecosystem.
This was followed by the much awaited session “Bloom Where You Are Planted” with Usman Riaz, an artist, composer, and the founder of Mano Animation Studios, Pakistan’s first hand-drawn animation studio.
The Nest I/O was launched in January 2015, in collaboration with Google for Entrepreneurs and Samsung, with a supporting grant from the US State Department.
In just a span of 4 years, The Nest I/O has successfully incubated 8 cohorts of startups, launched over 150 startups in the ecosystem, created over 400 new jobs, hosted hundreds of trainings and workshops, and introduced events like 021Disrupt that connect the local startup ecosystem with global community of entrepreneurs, investors, and thought leaders.
The Nest I/O announced yet another exciting event during the birthday celebrations which will bring together the local community of entrepreneurs through tech.
The SUPFest, in collaboration with Morango Films, has been launched this month and is Pakistan’s first Startup Pitch Festival that seeks to promote entrepreneurs from around the country and bring them to the limelight. This initiative will especially be a great opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs from remote areas of Pakistan where the startup ecosystem is beginning to develop.
The Nest I/O community is constantly growing not only in Pakistan but also globally with companies like Google, Facebook, SendGrid, 500 Ventures, Lumia Capital, Fatima Ventures, Wamda Capital, and many others joining the network.
One of the recent projects undertaken by The Nest I/O includes connecting big corporate with local talent to come up with innovative and creative solutions to everyday problems. This will not only bridge the gap between corporates and entrepreneurs but will also promote out of the box thinking amongst corporate employees.
Another major announcement made on the big day was that The Nest I/O will also be opening its doors for entrepreneurs not incubated at The Nest I/O. Entrepreneurs now have the opportunity to experience and work in the rich culture of The Nest I/O by utilizing it as a Co-Working space – to be launched in Feb 2019
Apart from the open house and session by Usman Riaz, a panel discussion was also organized with The Nest I/O alumni to give the audience some insight into the startup journey.
The panel included Sennen Desouza of Investor’s Lounge, Jahanzeb Chaudhry of Mandiexpress, Areej Al-Madinah of ConnectHear, Shahbaz Jamote of Tello Talk, Sana Farooq of ELN, and Saba Khalid of Aurat Raaj. The Q&A was open to the public including students, aspiring entrepreneurs, professionals, and investors.
All the founders shared the ups and downs of their startup journey and highlighted the role of The Nest I/O in helping them overcome hurdles that they may not have been able to overcome otherwise.
