ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani technological firm that aims to provide innovative supply chain solutions to the country’s agricultural sector has raised $2 million in a pre-seed round let by Global Founders Capital and Zayn Capital, Tech Crunch reported on Wednesday.
Tazah Technologies, a B2B agriculture marketplace, was launched two months ago by Pakistani entrepreneurs Abrar Bajwa and Mohsin Zaka who previously worked with a ride-hailing company in leadership positions.
The founders of the firm said they both belonged to central Punjab, an area known for its agricultural produce and were aware of the challenges faced by the country’s farming sector.
According to Tech Crunch, Pakistan’s agricultural sector contributes about 24 percent to the country’s gross domestic product, though its supply chains were “fragmented and complicated” that led to spiraling food prices in the country.
“We have spent months in wholesale markets, we’ve interviewed hundreds of retailers and we got to know that standardization of product is needed in Pakistan,” Bajwa told Tech Crunch in an interview. “We get into the bottom of operations, because retailers will know what exactly is in the sack.”
The company’s cofounder added: “We’re not just a box-moving operation because in one sack of potatoes, there can be multiple rotten potatoes, so you don’t want to just buy from farmers and then give to retailers. That doesn’t add a lot of value.”
Tazah Technologies plans to help small and medium agricultural sellers who are mostly overlooked in the industry.
Its founders say “agriculture has been a mostly ignored sector in Pakistan from a technology perspective” and hope more agri-tech startups will emerge in the future to address the problems of local farmers.
Pakistan’s startup ecosystem has received a major boost this year, with local firms getting over $228 million in investment just in the first eight months of 2021, compared to $77 million in 2020, according to Ignite, a Pakistani government-owned non-profit company.
A group of young startups have made splashy funding announcements in recent weeks.
Quick-commerce startup Airlift unveiled a record $85 million Series B round last month, followed by business-to-business (B2B) venture Bazaar’s record $30 million Series A round. Last month, Tag, a one-year-old Pakistani startup that offers banking and financial services, raised over $12 million in what is now the largest seed financing round in Pakistan, and Oraan raised $3 million in the largest seed funding closed by a women-led startup in the country.
“I am very pleased to see that during the period Jan-Sep 2021, Pakistani startups raised a record USD 305 million of investment globally. The sectors include e-commerce, fintech, health and freight,” Commerce Adviser Abdul Razak Dawood said on Twitter earlier this week.
“As we are move forward, I urge our startups to look into the agriculture sector which has a lot of potential,” the adviser said, challenging Pakistani startups to touch $1 billion in investment by the end of the year.
Pakistani agri-tech startup raises $2 million in pre-seed round
https://arab.news/b6qez
Pakistani agri-tech startup raises $2 million in pre-seed round
- Tazah Technologies plans to work with small and medium agricultural sellers to provide innovative supply chain solutions
- Company founders both come from central Punjab, known for its agricultural produce, and privy to challenges faced by farmers
Pakistan opposition to continue protest over ex-PM Khan’s health amid conflicting reports
- Pakistan’s government insists that the ex-premier’s eye condition has improved
- Khan’s personal doctor says briefed on his condition but cannot confirm veracity
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s opposition alliance on Monday vowed to continue their protest sit-in at parliament and demanded “clarity” over the health of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, following conflicting medical reports about his eye condition.
The 73-year-old former cricket star-turned-politician has been held at the high-security Adiala prison in Rawalpindi since 2023. Concerns arose about his health last week when a court-appointed lawyer, Barrister Salman Safdar, was asked to visit Khan at the jail to assess his living conditions. Safdar reported that Khan had suffered “severe vision loss” in his right eye due to central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO), leaving him with just 15 percent sight in the affected eye.
On Sunday, a team of doctors from various hospitals visited the prison to examine Khan’s eye condition, according to the Adiala jail superintendent, who later submitted his report in the court. On Monday, a Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi observed that based on reports from the prison authorities and the amicus curiae, Khan’s “living conditions in jail do not presently exhibit any perverse aspects.” It noted that Khan had “generally expressed satisfaction with the prevailing conditions of his confinement” and had not sought facilities beyond the existing level of care.
Having carefully perused both reports in detail, the bench observed that their general contents and the overall picture emerging therefrom are largely consistent. The opposition alliance, which continued to stage its sit-in for a fourth consecutive day on Monday, held a meeting at the parliament building on Monday evening to deliberate on the emerging situation and discuss their future course of action.
“The sit-in will continue till there is clarity on the matter of [Khan's] health,” Sher Ali Arbab, a lawmaker from Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party who has been participating in the sit-in, told Arab News, adding that PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan and Opposition Leader in Senate Raja Nasir Abbas had briefed them about their meeting with doctors who had visited Khan on Sunday.
Speaking to reporters outside parliament, Gohar said the doctors had informed them that Khan’s condition had improved.
“They said, 'There has been a significant and satisfactory improvement.' With that satisfactory improvement, we also felt satisfied,” he said, noting that the macular thickness in Khan’s eye had reportedly dropped from 550 to 300 microns, a sign of subsiding swelling.
Gohar said the party did not want to politicize Khan’s health.
“We are not doctors, nor is this our field,” he said, noting that Khan’s personal physician in Lahore, Dr. Aasim Yusuf, and his eye specialist Dr. Khurram Mirza had also sought input from the Islamabad-based medical team.
“Our doctors also expressed satisfaction over the report.”
CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS
Despite Gohar’s cautious optimism, Khan’s personal physician, Dr. Yusuf, issued a video message on Monday, saying he could neither “confirm nor deny the veracity” of the government’s claims.
“Because I have not seen him myself and have not been able to participate in his care... I’m unable to confirm what we have been told,” Yusuf said.
He appealed to authorities to grant him or fellow physician, Dr. Faisal Sultan, immediate access to Khan, arguing that the ex-premier should be moved to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad for specialist care.
Speaking to Arab News, PTI’s central information secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram said Khan’s sister and their cousin, Dr. Nausherwan Burki, will speak to media on Tuesday to express their views about the situation.
The government insists that Khan’s condition has improved.
“His eye [condition] has improved and is better than before,” State Minister Talal Chaudhry told the media in a brief interaction on Monday.
“The Supreme Court of Pakistan is involved, and doctors are involved. What medicine he receives, whether he needs to be hospitalized or sent home, these decisions are made by doctors. Neither lawyers nor any political party will decide this.”
