Co-founded by Pakistani-American social entrepreneur, Kalsoom Lakhani and Fintech and impact investing professional, Misbah Naqvi, i2i Ventures is the first female-founded institutional fund to invest exclusively in Pakistani entrepreneurs. i2i Ventures sets out to challenge the traditional power dynamics of a fund, taking an impact and gender-lens approach to investing and allowing for its portfolio founders to have as much power at the negotiating table as the investor.
"As the 5th largest market in the world, with a young population, a rising consumer class and increasing smartphone penetration, Pakistan presents tremendous investment opportunities," said Kalsoom Lakhani, the Founder/CEO of Invest2Innovate. Having operated in the region and industry for more than 8 years, it's clear that the market is ripe for a founder-focused fund like i2i Ventures, where shared goals, trust and open communication are deeply embedded into the investment strategy", he added.
Misbah Naqvi, managing partner of i2i Ventures said i2i Ventures takes a smart investing approach, engaging with early-stage founders and their teams to help build ventures positioned for scale. "We have seen many startups in this market struggle with scale as they haven't had the right partners and investors at the outset. We are committed to investing in Pakistani tech entrepreneurs at the seed level and supporting them as they grow their business and raise funding for post-seed and Series A rounds", she added.
As its first investment, i2i Ventures is leading a six-figure (USD) seed round in Mauqa Online, an Islamabad-based startup providing an on-demand digital platform for domestic services. Other investors in the round include UAE-based Karavan Partners. Mauqa Online is co-founded by husband-wife duo, Muhammad Mustafa and Suniya Saadullah who are passionate about leveraging technology to create long-lasting social impact in Pakistan.
Suniya Sadullah Khan, co-founder of Mauqa Online said Mauqa is focused on building a high-growth business that's also providing our community of domestic-helpers with the opportunity to improve their quality of life. "We are fortunate to have had Kalsoom as a mentor and we're excited to have the financial support of a value driven fund like i2i Ventures, which will help us scale our business across Pakistan and engage additional partners", she added.