Karachi – September 6, 2023: Continuing with its tradition of supporting Pakistan’s startup ecosystem, Ignite National Technology Fund, a public sector company with Ministry of IT & Telecom, participated in this year’s ITCN Asia with 16 promising startups from its network of National Incubation Centers. ITCN Asia is renowned for bringing together tech enthusiasts, industry leaders, and innovators to celebrate the advancements in information technology and telecommunication. 23rd ITCN Asia was held at Expo Center Karachi from 31st August, to 2nd September 2023. Dr. Umar Saif, Caretaker Federal Minister for IT & Telecom graced the inaugural session as Chief Guest. The three-day event showcases solutions with a focus on networking, knowledge-sharing, lead generation, and a series of conferences that create a learning environment for like-minded people to share knowledge and experiences.
Ignite, as a driving force behind fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in Pakistan, exhibited an impressive lineup of 16 innovative start-ups that have demonstrated immense potential across various sectors. These start-ups have benefitted from Ignite’s incubation and acceleration programs, receiving vital mentorship, access to resources, and networking support to fuel their growth.
Ignite’s pavilion featuring 16 diverse startups and their products attracted the attention of many visitors at ITCN. The startups included DelSys/EzFuels (Transport/mobility, NIC Islamabad), EZShifa (HealthTech, NIC Karachi), Adrover by CARLteck (Robotics, NIC Quetta), Blink (Transportation/mobility, NIC Karachi), Kalam4Solutions (Agritech/aersospace, NICAT), NSIT (Aerospace, NICAT), Encoder Bytes (Artificial Intelligence, NIC Peshawar), Innovative Composite Engineering (Web, NIC Peshawar), Oval (Metaverse & Web3, NIC Karachi), Four Engineers (Aerospace, NICAT), SLOSH AI Solutions (Healthcare, NIC Islamabad), DecentrAI (AI/ML, NIC Hyderabad), PAMICO Technologies (Farm mechanization, NIC Faisalabad), The Enviro Solutions (Farm mechanization, NIC Islamabad), Indaraj (AR/VR, NIC Hyderabad), and Digital Cartel (AR/VR, NIC Hyderabad).
“Innovation and Entrepreneurship are a key focus of the Ministry of IT & Telecom to transform the youth of Pakistan from job seekers to job creators. Unveiling of business ideas by National Incubation Center (NIC) Program startups at Startup Asia Expo – Destination Pakistan fills me with immense excitement. The recent incorporation of multiple innovation hubs, incubation centers, and venture capital funds is playing a pivotal role in amplifying the growth of Pakistan’s startup ecosystem. The ministry is planning a new fund of funds which will motivate foreign VCs to invest in Pakistan by de-risking their investments through a matching grant.”, stated Dr. Umar Saif, Caretaker Federal Minister for IT & Telecom.
“ITCN Asia is a significant event, which unites the entire IT & startup ecosystem under one roof. The Ministry of IT and Telecom, in collaboration with the Pakistan Software Export Board, Ignite and NITB is proudly sponsoring participation of 50 companies and numerous startups—both local as well as global. The energy and determination of young minds driving these startups are awe-inspiring” said Hassan Nasir Jamy, Federal Secretary for IT & Telecom
Asim Shahryar Husain, CEO Ignite, mentioned that “Ignite is running the largest incubation network in Pakistan with incubation centers in eight different cities of Pakistan which have incubated close to 1400 startups over the last 5 to 6 years. Ignite is participating with sixteen startups at ITCN this year in different verticals including healthtech, robotics, transportation, agritech, aerospace, artificial intelligence, blockchain, web3, fintech, and AR/VR. The goal is to showcase the entrepreneurial talent of Pakistan to both local and international visitors at the event to generate new leads and business opportunities for the startups”
