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CoVenture is a startup rooted in Pakistan which invests in early stage startups and builds software in exchange for equity. Recently, Ali Hamed – Co founder announced that the firm has secured funding of $3M from 57 investors which includes big names like Bob Adelson of Osage Partners, Great Oaks Venture Capital and Gerson Lehrman Group for building software for startups.
CoVenture’s plans are a little different from the mainstream funding companies. Ali explained that CoVenture will use the money raised to fund their own operations and some part of it will go to startups as Bridge Investment. It has strategically employed 55 developers and designers in Lahore, Pakistan, to provide services to sprouting startups. These services will include a skilled and experienced team who will efficiently fuel growth.
“In New York City, the biggest lack of anything is engineers – it’s the number one limiting resource.” Hamed said.
Conventionally, founders are expected to build their product and service themselves solely or with a co-founder if they lack technical knowledge. Hamed contradicts with this idea and believes that it is better to focus on building a high end competitive product or service first hence be able to raise sufficient capital to hire a skilled and technical team.
Hamed states that co-founders are not as important as startups think, “CEO is required to head the product and it is CoVenture’s job to train them how to be the head of the product.”
CoVenture also recently expanded their team collaborating with two new partners, Thatcher Bell and Mike Beller of Cornell Tech who look after the investments for business. Besides the two, Jamil Goheer is leading the product. The team’s mission is to build a bridge to grow simultaneously raising more funds.
CoVenture has successfully invested in 15+ startups which include Enriched Schools(temporary staffing for schools), Bib + Tuck (secondhand fashion), and FireStop(dispatching software for fire stations). It further plans to invest in 22 companies in the near future.
