Startup investments in Pakistan surged to $77 million, which was a 97 percent increase in the amount invested in Pakistani startups during 2019, according to data from MAGNiTT's 'State of Startup Funding - 2021 Emerging Venture Markets' Report.

In addition to this, the number of startup deals also went up by 45% this year as opposed to the general downward trend in the MENA region.

The record level of investments in Pakistan can be attributed to an increase in interest from local, regional as well as international players in Pakistani startups. Many top VCs including First Round Capital, Prosus, Global Founders Capital, Village Global, Quiet Capital, GFC, YCombinator, Pioneer Fund have also invested in Pakistan in 2020.

According to Aatif Awan, Founder & Managing Partner at Indus Valley Capital, this trend might accelerate in 2021, as Pakistan crosses the 100M broadband subscribers milestone.

It is also important to note that 45% of the total startup funding came from a $22M Series A raised by Airlift Technologies and $13M Series B raised by Bykea.

In addition to this, COVID-19 impacted industries led the way in Pakistan with ecommerce, fintech, healthcare and education startups seeing the most transactions. Healthcare and fintech accounted for 5 deals each, while 3 rounds were registered in education tech.

It is expected that Pakistan will witness the largest growth rate of total startup funding in the MENA region as it continues its strong growth trajectory.