LAHORE: CodeNinja, a technology solutions provider, has secured an investment of $1.6 million led by sAi Venture Capital and strategic partners in Dallas, Plutus21 Capital and affiliates.
In a statement on Tuesday, sAi Venture Capital said that the investment is aimed at ensuring growth for the services and export-oriented sectors in Pakistan.
“With this investment, we’ve merged our natural advantages in the technology sector with venture principals,” Ahsan Jamil, the Managing Partner of sAi Venture Capital, was quoted as saying in the statement.
“CodeNinja’s ability to partner with global enterprise clients and doing value addition work makes us very excited about their growth potential.”
The statement added that CodeNinja is one of the fastest growing technology companies in Pakistan, currently managing its operations via three regional offices and meeting a 100% YoY growth rate the last couple of years.
The development is sAi Venture Capital’s first major investment since it was granted the VC licence in Pakistan in October 2023.
The funding will be directed towards expanding CodeNinja’s enterprise cloud services and Data & AI capabilities, Jamil told Business Recorder.
“Our technology export potential is massive and freelancing alone cannot be the end goal if we want to be recognised as a global player in technology,” added Jamil.
“We need win-win policies that attract investors and enterprise clients for our companies.
“In the services sector, amongst many things, we look for companies that have the value addition mindset that resonates with global enterprise clients, and an ambition to do complex work, which is what forges long-term partnerships,” Jamil said.
Pakistan’s startup ecosystem
The progress of Pakistan’s startup landscape, which rejoiced at a record-breaking 2021, has slowly been pushed away from headlines as fundraising dropped and replaced with news of shutdowns and cut-back in operations.
During the April-June 2023 quarter, Pakistan startups attracted a meagre $5.2 million, a year-on-year decline of 95%. The amount is also 77.5% lower on a quarterly basis, indicating the massive volatility in Pakistan’s ability to attract investors.
However, in a recent interview, Pakistan’s caretaker IT minister Dr Umar Saif vowed to help the country attract funding with the launch of the ‘Pakistan Startup Fund’.
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