Conducted by Plan9 of Punjab Information Technology Board, the largest technological startup event in Pakistan, ‘The Launchpad’ is back for the 6th time through a splendid ceremony held at Arfa IT Towr Lahore on Friday. The Director of Plan9, Nabil A. Qadeer welcoming the participants, said that the first ever startup incubator of Pakistan was an innovation of Chairman Dr. Umar Saif whose strong support played a key role in making it the largest one in the country. He told that it had incubated more than 66 world renowned tech companies bringing foreign investment in Pakistan.
He said “The event serves to facilitate several teams by turning their dream business ventures into reality- out of which 15 startups will be officially selected for incubation. The Launchpad is one of the biggest platforms for business enthusiasts to bring forth their venture ideas. This pitching event is held biannually under Plan9 and works to invest in startups via incubation. The Launchpad takes place simultaneously in the biggest cities of Pakistan- Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. The revolutionary three day event involves 50-100 shortlisted teams out of more than 1000 aspirants, being invited at the event to share their ideas in the hopes of emerging triumphant.”
“The pitches are adjudicated by an esteemed panel of judges and the highest scoring teams are then chosen for incubation at Plan9. To ensure transparency and credibility, the judging panel does not consist of anyone from Plan9 or PITB. This year the panel of judges consists of renowned personalities such as Salem Rehman, Sajjad Kirmani, Qaiser Ansari, Abbas Yousafzai, Jazib Zahir and Naeem Zamindar. We also have international judges amongst us this time around such as Siim Teller working at Marketing department of Wire- a communication application for electronic devices- and Faisal Galaria- Partner and Managing Director Alvarez and Marsal and Non-Executive Director at Quidco. Plan9 is proud to announce its partners for the Launchpad which consist of Pasha, Techjuice, Savaree, ITU, Microsoft and CityFM89 to name a few,” Nabil Qadeer added.
Addressing the ceremony, Mr. Siim Teller said “at Plan9 we believe that every idea is worth a shot and that is precisely what the Launchpad is geared towards. With a great deal of learning and experience to be gained, The Launchpad promises to leave one enlightened.”
The event extending over three days, will also include workshops by distinguished personalities. Day 1 would basically be geared towards training and mentoring the candidates as well as a workshop by Siim Teller. Once prepared for the requirements of the competition, Day 2 will comprise of a preliminary round of pitches by the teams, a talk by Robert Scoble, and then the results announcement. Day 3 will further involve pitching with slide desk and the final announcement of results preceded by refreshments for the attendees. The 3 day event assisting budding entrepreneurs all across Pakistan and especially in the three major cities is bound to be a great success.