Four of the most promising Telenor Velocity Startups namely Shopsy.pk, MicroPower Labs, EcoEnergy, and Fori Mazdoori have successfully landed a sizeable funding of up to $600,000 that will help them make it big in the market. Making the best use of ICT and a constant rise in mobile broadband usage in the country, all three startups aim to resolve longstanding everyday problems faced by the Pakistani people. “I congratulate the Velocity startups on this great achievement and thank the investors for recognizing and placing their trust in our young innovators,” said Irfan Wahab Khan, CEO, Telenor Pakistan. “The development is a testament to Velocity’s serious potential as a launch pad for innovations from Pakistan’s highly gifted young minds. Being the country’s favorite telecom and digital lifestyle partner, Telenor places a special focus on scaling up entrepreneurial ventures so as to materialize our vision of social and youth empowerment. We have a long term commitment in Pakistan and work to promote a digital ecosystem in the country that changes lives through technology. I hope that our startups continue to make their mark on the global innovation map and inspire youth everywhere,” he added.

Details of the funding raised for all four startups are as below:

 

SHOPSY.PK

Shopsy is an online price comparison search engine founded by Usama Arjumand who is also currently enrolled in cohort 2 of Telenor Velocity. Simply put, Shopsy presents a customer with various versions of a product they’re looking for available on multiple online stores in Pakistan. A customer can search a product, adjust the price range, compare products and then be directed to the actual online store which sells the product they opted for. Shopsy has successfully raised investment at an evaluation of $300,000 from Dot Zero Ventures.

MICROPOWER LABS

MicroPower Labs, founded by Abdullah Soomro, is also currently enrolled in Cohort 2 of Telenor Velocity. Their startup focuses on creating next generation devices and gadgets for day-to-day use. MicroPower Labs received a funding of $75,000 USD from independent investors based out of Singapore. The money will be used for the next product development and kickstarter campaign.

ECO ENERGY

Founded by Shazia Khan and Jeremy Higgs, Eco Energy is a startup that provides a channel for financial clean energy solutions to rural, electrified areas. Eco Energy has successfully reached its goal of raising $500k USD in its seed round. The round has been oversubscribed, and the EcoEnergy team is expecting to close an additional $500k USD in investment by June.

FORI MAZDOORI

A Cohort 1 alumnus founded by Dr. Musstanser Tinauli, Fori Mazdoori is a social labor initiative that helps in connecting blue-collared workers with employers across Pakistan. The Fori initiative has created a well-thought out combination of apps (one for retailers in Urdu & another for employer in English), a website and physical locations that act as their registration points for workers. Fori Mazdoori landed a funding of $50,000 USD from an international investor as well as InfoTech.

Telenor Velocity is Telenor Pakistan’s digital accelerator, focused on helping startups go to market. In the last one year, Telenor Velocity has graduated 5 startups in Cohort 1, is graduating 6 startups by the end of May 20Telenor Velocity is Telenor Pakistan’s digital accelerator, focused on helping startups go to market. In the last one year, Telenor Velocity has graduated 5 startups in Cohort 1, is graduating 6 startups by the end of May 2017. The applications for Cohort 3 will be opening in June 2017. Telenor Velocity offers to its starups:

Access to world-class mentors & investors, Co-Working Space, Access to customers, Online payment solutions and Chance to pitch for 10,000 USD.

To date, the program has helped its startups reach out to millions of potential customers from the 40 million customer base of Telenor Pakistani, connect with more than 30 mentors, and collectively enable them to raise funding that amounts to more than $600k USD.

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