Insights by Data Darbar - Decoding Pakistan's Tech Sector
Decoding Pakistan's Tech Sector| Insights by Data Darbar
Decoding Pakistan's Tech Sector| Insights by Data Darbar
The numbers behind Pakistan's premier B-school LUMS' crypto bet| Insights by Data Darbar
In January 2025, we released a teaser of our report, with support from Indus Valley Capital, exploring the startup funding scene in the country. This comprehensive 88-page analysis offers a holistic view of Pakistan’s technological and investment ecosystem, exploring everything from startup funding to public markets, exports to talent development. Here are the most important takeaways. Pakistani startups raised just $22.5M in equity funding across 15 deals in 2024, marking a stark 70% decli...| Insights by Data Darbar
The numbers behind how education became one of the most credit-worthy sector for banks in a single month.| Insights by Data Darbar
Numbers are funny. Under all the garb of objectivity, how people use them is often pretty subjective, or even manipulative. What you do and don’t report can matter equally, particularly in business and economics. Financial metrics and macro indicators embody this phenomenon the best. Just read a press release of some corporate’s earnings announcement: the narrative would always try to embellish facts. But nothing manipulates stories like percentage changes. They have this magical ability ...| Insights by Data Darbar
Writing on venture has been a pretty boring affair over the last few years. For the most part, the story was pretty much the same: that both funding amount and volume continue to fall, touching new lows. The headline numbers remained pretty gloomy, until AI finally breathed some life into deal activity. Both Pitchbook and CB Insights released their datasets, showing investment edged up slightly. According to Pitchbook-NVCA venture monitor, global funding finally bounced back in 2024, inchin...| Insights by Data Darbar
December might be the month of festivities in many countries but for corporates, it’s anything but. The period is marked by employees rushing to meet targets — often by hook or crook. Not too unlike students making last-minute efforts to ensure a good grade the night before the exam. This practice of window dressing has a rich history in Pakistani banking, something we have written about a number of times. Read: How banks dodge ADR tax with this cool trick However, the window dressing o...| Insights by Data Darbar
Last week, Mashreq became the first digital retail bank to receive the SBP’s node to commence pilot operations. Over the next few months, we will probably see others joining the list, which will hopefully bring a breeze of freshness to the financial services industry. Commercial licenses will take their sweet time though, so don’t get your hopes up just yet. Till then, let’s stick to assessing how our beloved legacy banks are doing on the digital front. From a customer perspective, feed...| Insights by Data Darbar
Pakistani startups witnessed another lacklustre year as equity funding plunged further to just $22.5M in disclosed value.| Insights by Data Darbar
Fashion marketplace LAAM raises $5.5M in funding round led by Disrupt.com and Zayn VC to make South Asian fashion accessible to the world.| Insights by Data Darbar
The rise of digital banking has driven financial inclusion, with branchless accounts significantly growing, though challenges remain.| Insights by Data Darbar
In recent years, Pakistan’s banking sector has profited from sovereign debt but faced criticism, while excelling in digital payments.| Insights by Data Darbar
Zameen's latest financial results showed signs of recovery from the lows of 1H2023 though 1H2024 has failed to deliver a rebound.| Insights by Data Darbar
Banks in Pakistan have had a good run of late, but as the country embarks on monetary easing, the growth is tapering off.| Insights by Data Darbar
PakWheels has come a long way from its beginnings as a blog where auto aficionados came together to quibble about the local scene.| Insights by Data Darbar
In this 60-page report, we break down the state of B2C e-commerce market in Pakistan, highlight the key trends and challenges.| Insights by Data Darbar
. In this policy brief series, we look at how far Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) budgets have fallen behind.| Insights by Data Darbar
Egypt's most-funded startup, MNT-Halan has ventured into Pakistan after acquiring Avans Miccrofinance Bank. Can it replicate its success?| Insights by Data Darbar
