i2i Ventures launches Pakistan Startup Ecosystem Report (PSER) 2024

Morning! It seems that Nike and the NFL (National Football League) were on a break after their 10-year exclusive-apparel-provider-relationship, with the NFL flirting with other companies… only to realize that it was always Nike all along.

Now, the two are back together for the next 13 years with Nike continuing as the exclusive apparel provider for all 32 NFL teams through 2038.

Guess they always come back, don’t they?

In this week’s edition:

⚖️ Big pharma in 2024 🤝 drama

🚜 Land port in Pakistan

🥣 Google wants us to whisk images

💰 Pakistani startups funding 2024 wrapped is here

- The Itla Squad 💼

Business

Global 🌎️

Big pharma in 2024 🤝 drama

Writing big words like ‘turbocharge growth’ on Google Slides is all fun and games until your company gets slapped with the $650 million settlement because what you wanted to ‘turbocharge’ was actually a health epidemic.

McKinsey & Co, a well-known global consulting firm, has agreed to pay $650 million to settle a U.S. Department of Justice investigation. This case focuses on McKinsey’s role in advising Purdue Pharma, the company behind OxyContin, during the opioid epidemic.

The details:

• Prosecutors found McKinsey advised Purdue on ways to increase OxyContin sales, including strategies to “turbocharge” its growth, despite the drug fueling a deadly health crisis.

• A former senior McKinsey partner admitted to deleting documents related to the company’s work with Purdue. He plans to plead guilty to obstruction of justice.

• McKinsey had already paid nearly $1 billion in other legal cases tied to its opioid consulting and stopped working with opioid-related businesses in 2019.

• Purdue Pharma had previously pleaded guilty in 2020 to crimes involving its handling of OxyContin. The company is working on a large settlement to support efforts to fight the opioid epidemic.

Way forward: The firm has said that it regrets its work with Purdue and admitted it failed to recognize the harm caused by opioids. Now, McKinsey will pay $650 million over five years, improve how it prevents illegal practices, and be monitored by the government to ensure better compliance.

TLDR: McKinsey & Co. will pay $650 million to settle a U.S. investigation into its role in advising Purdue Pharma on boosting OxyContin sales during the opioid epidemic, a deadly public health crisis. Prosecutors revealed that McKinsey strategized ways to increase sales and a former partner admitted to destroying related documents.

What else is new in news

✶Every government loves productivity, and Tokyo’s is no different - except this time, it’s aiming for productivity in people’s bedrooms. Yup.

With Japan’s fertility rate at a record-low 1.2 children per woman (far below the 2.1 needed for population stability), Governor Yuriko Koike is rolling out a four-day workweek starting in April to make it easier for couples to have kids.

Local 🇵🇰

Only Pakistan can function this long without a land port..

After 12 years of delay, the government has introduced a bill to create the Pakistan Land Port Authority to improve the movement of goods and people across borders.

Once the bill is passed, Pakistan will become the third country in South Asia, after India and Bangladesh, to have a land port authority.

The details:

• The new authority will coordinate efforts between government agencies to:

  • Make trade and travel smoother.

  • Improve border security.

  • Prevent illegal activities like smuggling and illegal immigration.

• There is currently no central agency to manage border activities, which causes delays in moving goods and people (in contrast, India and Bangladesh established land port authorities in 2012 and 2002, respectively).

• High-tech solutions are needed to address the delays and security concerns at borders.

• A 16-member governing council, led by the prime minister, will oversee the authority's work.

Way forward: Creating the Pakistan Land Port Authority will help Pakistan improve trade, security, and efficiency at its borders.

TLDR: After 12 years of delay, the government has introduced a bill to create the Pakistan Land Port Authority to enhance trade and movement across borders. Once approved, Pakistan will join India and Bangladesh as the third South Asian country with a land port authority.

News Flash

✶ According to the State Bank's Credit/Loans Report, as of October 2024, people in Pakistan had a total of Rs8.5 billion in credit card debt, which is just 1% of all consumer loans. So far, banks have mostly focused on giving credit cards to individuals, but they haven’t offered many options for businesses or small companies.

Tech

Global 🌎️

Google wants us to whisk images

If you’re tired of typing (can't relate) but still want to have fun with AI image generators, Google will take care of you.

They’ve introduced a new AI tool called Whisk, that lets users create images by uploading other images instead of typing long text descriptions.

The details:

• Whisk lets you upload multiple images to set the subject, style, and scene for the AI to work with.

• The tool is meant for quick, creative image exploration rather than detailed, perfect edits.

• You can adjust the results by editing the text prompts that Whisk uses to generate the images.

• Users can download, save, or change the generated images using simple prompts.

Way forward: Whisk makes it easier for people to create and explore images using other images as input. Currently, Whisk still in the testing phase and is available for users in the US who have signed up for Google Labs (a platform where Google tests and experiments with new and innovative products, tools, and features).

TLDR: Google’s new AI tool, Whisk, lets you create images by uploading other images instead of typing long text prompts. It’s designed for quick, creative exploration, allowing users to tweak results and download images.

What else is new in news

✶ The group behind HDMI, known as the HDMI Forum, has announced that it will reveal a new version of the HDMI standard on January 6th, which will support higher resolutions and refresh rates.

It might be called HDMI 2.2 and will need new cables to fully use its features (ugh), though old cables may still work for some things (fingers crossed).

Local 🇵🇰 

New wrapped alert (but not cool enough to put it on your instagram stories)

Pakistani startups funding wrapped 2024 is here.

Invest2innovate (i2i) Ventures released its Pakistan Startup Ecosystem Report (PSER) 2024 which provides a detailed analysis of Pakistan's startup ecosystem.

The details:

• Pakistani startups have raised only $37 million by November 2024, a big drop from $355 million in 2022. However, some recent deals, like $15 million raised in the third quarter of 2024, show some positive signs.

• Fintech, e-commerce, and cleantech are the most funded sectors this year. In fintech alone, startups secured $30.5 million in 2024.

• Some notable deals this year include SadaPay’s acquisition by Papara, PostEx raising $7.3 million, and COLABS raising $2 million for expansion in the MENA region.

• Women remain underrepresented in startups, holding 39% of the workforce but receiving only 18.75% of funding since 2015. Still, 2024 saw progress with 3,000 new female-led startups.

• The TV show Shark Tank has helped make entrepreneurship more popular and visible. Last season, around Rs200 billion was pledged to businesses, with the largest share going to a single platform, Saraaf.

Way forward: After the “easy money” era ended, VCs are now more cautious as only one in 20 pitches is likely to succeed. While funding has decreased, people are optimistic about 2025 because the country’s economy is starting to stabilize.

TLDR: The Pakistan Startup Ecosystem Report 2024 highlights a major drop in funding, with startups raising $37 million by November 2024, down from $355 million in 2022. Fintech led funding at $30.5 million, while women-led startups showed progress with 3,000 new additions this year. Despite challenges, optimism remains for 2025 as the economy stabilizes.

Tech tour of news

✶The Senate of Pakistan has approved the creation of the National Forensics Agency to improve the country’s forensic services. This new agency will replace the current project and provide advanced forensic and digital forensic support for national security.

More interesting Itla (اطلاع) we consumed:

🧶 Not often a weekend read will follow us to the weekdays but this one did, especially as it explained how the origins of nosy af workplace tools (think of Clickup/Jira/Trello) can be traced back to something as dark as slavery in the West during the 1800s.

One of the most memorable bit was: “Like today’s titans of industry, planters understood that their profits climbed when they extracted maximum effort out of each worker. So […] Plantation entrepreneurs developed spreadsheets, like Thomas Affleck’s “Plantation Record and Account Book,” which ran into eight editions circulated until the Civil War… [it] quantified capital costs on their land, tools and enslaved workforces […] Perhaps most remarkable, they also developed ways to calculate depreciation […] by assessing the market value of enslaved workers over their life spans. Values generally peaked between the prime ages of 20 and 40 but were individually adjusted up or down based on sex, strength and temperament: people reduced to data points.”

Maybe the term "corporate slavery" is closer to the truth than we thought.