4 min read
Plan9, Pakistan’s largest tech incubator, last week held the 8th addition of their launchpad event in Lahore. This time, Plan9 had shortlisted 20 startups who were evaluated by a panel of 15 jurists on the Grand Finale. Just like every previous cycle, the Grand Finale comprised of pitches, mentoring and feedback sessions.
The Grand Finale was graced by the presence of Australian High Commissioner to Pakistan Margaret Adamson, Ex- Finance Minister Pakistan Dr. Salman Shah, and Chairman Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) Dr. Umar Saif.
At the end of Launchpad event in Lahore, the following 8 startups got shortlisted to be incubated at Plan9 for the next 6 months:
1. PakLaw recorder
Focusing on reforming the entire legal process of Pakistan, PakLaw recorder aims to digitize the available primary and secondary legal resources, including case transcripts, legislation, journalistic documents, and other international available materials. These archives will then be available electronically to the masses.
2. Cart99
This ecommerce startup will focus on providing items of daily households such as fruits, vegetables and dairy product to the community.
3. Taza Daily
People behind Taza Daily will be providing free delivery of grocery items, fresh fruits and vegetables on subscription basis. They will also be catering dairy products. For example, with a monthly subscription of milk, this startup will provide fresh milk daily.
4. Campusfeed
The idea of Campusfeed is pretty innovative. It is going to be a location-based anonymous social media network mainly for students. It will help students know their campus well by collecting and providing casual stuff on their feeds.
5. Euphoria
This startup will be helping people with psychological illnesses to overcome their disorders through a virtual reality application. The application will give exposures to certain situations which the users would be able to access in real-time.
6. Galla
Galla is going to be an application to automate investment generation. The application will be bringing convenience and process to the process. People will be able to generate investments by creating running committees through this application.
7. DIY Geeks
DIY Geeks is a startup which will be helping hobbyists, geeks, and tech-enthusiasts to develop personal real life solutions and products. An online circuit components shop will be accompanied by concerning DIY tutorials on usage of components which will enable the users to use technology for their personal customization.
8. Clique
Clique is going to be a Smart Switch Board system for the automation of houses. It will be autonomous in controlling lights and temperature controlling appliances. The device will be capable of making smart decisions in real-time.
9. InstaSafe
InstaSafe is basically a mobile application. As evident from the name, this startup will let the user lock any application on their mobile phones in real time. The users will have the option to set fingerprint validation, and fake crash screen error to ensure maximum customization at the user’s end.
While addressing the ceremony, Australian High Commissioner said,“I have met many young entrepreneurs in Pakistan with bright ideas and I am excited that we are bringing these ideas to life with Plan9.”
Dr Saif, also addressed the gathering saying, “With more people supporting and believing in the technology ecosystem, it is rapidly progressing and growing as a lucrative industry”.
Plan9 holds its prime event “Launchpad” in 3 major cities of Pakistan. The event is a major attraction for all technology lovers, and investors. It gathers all of them at one place. The event includes screening, workshops, final presentations from startups, and talks from high achievers. The event attracts over 1000 attendees and over 100 startups compete to be incubated at Plan9.
Plan9 will be offering strategic incentives to these startups, it will be providing them necessary mentorship, networking, international exposure, stipend and office space.
