LAHORE, PAKISTAN: Coworking space startup, Colabs, has secured $3 million in seed funding in a spherical led by Indus Valley Capital, Zayn Capital and Fatima Gobi Ventures.
Colabs co-founder and CEO Omar Shah, a former funding banker, told TechCrunch, ‘We realized that people setting up operations in Pakistan want different services; they want assistance to arrange companies, course of payrolls and to make sure tax compliance. That is why we launched our enterprise solutions.”
“Our plan is to get to 600 paying customers within the subsequent 12 months, and from there we will roll this product out to the market,” said Shah.
Mr Shah and his twin brother Ali Shah co-founded Colabs as a co-working outfit for entrepreneurs launching companies and multinationals setting hubs in Pakistan. This was in 2019 and they were impressed by the flourishing startup ecosystem and advancing technology space within the country.
Prior to launching Colabs, Mr Shah labored within the private fairness sector for about eight years, with his final assignment at Abraaj Capital, earlier than he collaborated with his brother, who operates lengthy established family-run actual property and development agency SABCON, to launch the startup. The family-owned actual property agency develops Colabs spaces.
The startup hosts over 100 companies with a mixed 1,200 people throughout its three locations in Lahore. It plans to open 100,000 seats throughout the nation over the subsequent 5 years in a nationwide expansion to main cities, together with Islamabad and Karachi.
“The idea for Colabs is to create areas throughout the country, the place we can service freelancers, startups, SMEs, and large enterprises. It is a community for anybody who desires to begin up their profession or an organization or desires to enter the country. Colabs will support them of their journey. We want to become that gateway into Pakistan,” said Shah.
“Our growth plan is very ambitious. But we see a requirement for what we’re providing because by the point we open our new spaces, they’re already sold-out. And that is because there are such a lot of companies that are entering the country. And so many startups right here that are elevating capital and want to be inside areas like ours, versus investing of their very personal campus,” he said.
The rise of versatile workplaces has additionally grown post-Covid as extra companies reduce the overheads related to working unique bodily locations. These co-working areas like Colabs, additionally host events, that are important for networking, studying or assembly potential investors or clients.
According to Shah, the rising curiosity in Pakistan by main investors like Tiger Global means that the expansion of the country’s startup ecosystem is set to continue, increasing the demand for areas like Colabs. Investments into Pakistan rose greater than 5 times final year to $350 million from $65 million in 2021 on the backdrop of a fintech and e-commerce boom.
Colabs’ new funding brings the total quantity raised by the startup to $4 million, together with capital from an unannounced pre-seed round.
Aatif Awan, founder and managing partner of Indus Valley Capital said, “We’re thrilled to partner with the Colabs team to assist them construct the main platform and community that will energy the expansion of Pakistani tech throughout startups, freelancers and global companies increasing into Pakistan.”
The seed spherical was joined by Shorooq Partners, Kinnow Capital, Muir Capital, Sai Ventures, and a few key angels, together with Turner Novak, William Hockey, and Teddy Himler.
Zayn Capital co-founder and managing partner Faisal Aftab said, “I have closely watched Colabs develop into one of many key gamers in Pakistan’s startup ecosystem. We were lucky sufficient to have met a few of the startups we invested in, of their spaces.”