3 min read
A new platform called StartupList.pk plans to document and track all Pakistani startups and other details like the founders, funding rounds, and more.
Started by two friends, Asad Memon and Munir Usman, StartupList.pk is a much-needed initiative to keep a track of Pakistan’s ever-growing startup industry.
“We felt a need to a place, where folks can discover innovative companies, the people behind them and the funding scene of our beloved industry,” said Asad while talking to TechJuice.
Originally, it was called CrunchBase.pk, a name taken from CrunchBase.com— an international platform by TechCrunch to discover innovative companies and the people behind them. We asked Asad about the name-clash and he said that “we intentionally named it after crunchbase.com so it’s easily understandable. We would definitely need to change that at some point.” Just a day onwards, they’ve updated it now to StartupList.pk.
The whole project is community-backed and it is open for anyone to add or edit entries. Currently, they accept any suggestions and some chosen moderators look at them and accept them. What’s even better is that all data will be made available for anyone to use via an API for free.
Using StartupList.pk
Currently, the website is pretty limited in terms of features. When you visit it, you’ll have three options; browse a list of funded startups, browse all entries or search for a particular startup using its name, founder or location. You can click on any startup to see an overview of its details, including information about the founder(s), its headquarters, a description, category, and contact.
Scroll down and you’ll able to have a look at all the funding rounds the particular startup has had. At the bottom, there is a separate box for all the news coverage they have received. The platform is elegantly-designed and is minimalistic as well as incredibly clean. All the information is available at a quick glance.
The need for a startup tracking platform
There is a lack of a proper platform for documenting startups in Pakistan, creating a huge hassle for investors, tech enthusiasts and even journalists (including us here at TechJuice). We also started our own project to keep a track of startups by the name of Startup Juice, but had to abandon it a while later.
StartupList.pk, if properly moderated, can be a huge lifesaver for everyone in the Pakistani technology industry.
Update: An earlier version of this article stated that the platform was called CrunchBase.pk. On the 3rd of July, they updated it to StartupList.pk and the whole article has been updated to reflect the change. Crunchbase.pk still redirects to the StartupList.pk website.
