Tech start-ups bring a revolution in Pakistan

Tech start-ups have brought a revolution in Pakistan in the year 2019.

Making some major innovations, they have introduced an early cancer-detecting device, are helping the agriculture sector double its production with half of the required water consumption, helping the deaf to communicate with people in real time and improving the quality of education.

Many of the start-ups have got seed money to go commercial while some have bagged international awards. These all have the potential to accelerate the fourth industrial revolution in Pakistan, which is gradually switching to a cashless payment system.

In this regard, the recent launch of the National Payment System Strategy by the State Bank of Pakistan is expected to give a big push to the national economy. Under the system, the country will see the installation of about one million digital access points over the next three years compared to a few hundred thousand at present.

Overall, Pakistan's ecosystem has grown a great deal. In 2012, just two major business incubators and accelerators were working in the country, with almost no investors and funding sources. By the end of 2019, there are over 24 incubators and accelerators, 80 coworking spaces and approximately 20 formal investors, according to the Pakistan Startup Ecosystem Report 2019 by Invest to Innovate (i2i). Here are some of the startups that have succeeded in growing their business this year.

Xylexa

It is an artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled tool, which helps radiologists in early diagnosis of breast cancer 30+% more accurately than existing systems and that too in 10 times less time.

The start-up has so far created 10 jobs and has won seven awards including Pakistan Software Houses Association's (P@SHA) 2018 award in big data category. It is also a winner of Takeoff Istanbul in the startup category and has been selected for the Entrepreneurship Investment Hub in Bahrain. Aqua Agro

Aqua Agro is an agri-tech start-up and a ray of hope for the fast declining agriculture sector of Pakistan, which has thus far relied on obsolete farm practices.

The start-up aims to provide solutions for maximising farm yields and profit margins of farmers while consuming 50% less water. It deploys Internet of Things or AI-enabled sensor devices on agricultural fields to provide crop-specific information and monitor access for the farmers through a centralised cloud and mobile app service.