Gaper has announced the launch of the Gaper Technology Fund, of which, Fund I of Rs. 500 million will be deployed in 2023.
In the past, funding and business ecosystem growth have typically focused on startups and businesses in their nascent stages. This fund centers its focus on IT service companies already in business. Global recession, coupled with local economic uncertainty has slowed down the IT sector globally which is often thought to be immune to exogenous shocks.
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“The main aim of the fund is to facilitate mergers and acquisitions across the industry which will in turn accelerate growth and increase market visibility for companies involved,” said Ahmed Muzammil, Co-Founder of Gaper.io.
Gaper.io is an AI-driven marketplace that connects software engineers and businesses. Founded by Mustafa Najoom and Ahmed Muzammil at the start of the COVID pandemic, the company has been on an upward trajectory of growth since its inception in 2020.
The event was graced by delegations from Saudi Arabia, the Government of Punjab, along with CEOs and Founders of multiple IT and technology companies that applauded the effort put forth by Gaper and expressed great interest in the potential of such funds to help IT companies in the current economy.
In addition to targeting IT service companies in Pakistan scale and go public, this fund will also help companies from Vietnam, the Philippines, and the US to partner with Pakistani companies and augment their deliveries.
“Coming from a finance and brokerage background, I have come across numerous risk-averse investors looking for a secure place to invest in Pakistan. Empowering service companies that are cash flow positive by giving them a clear path to Pakistan Stock Exchange will not only build trust but also create a much more investment-positive industry,” said Mustafa Najoom, Co-founder of Gaper.io.
Adding to the conversation, Vic Ahmed, who is a serial entrepreneur famously known as the founder of the biggest tech company from Pakistan back in the 1990s, CresSoft, shed light on the importance of mergers and acquisitions in the tech industry of Pakistan.
“It’s imperative that we proactively create opportunities for mergers in order to maximize collective value extraction from the industry,” Ahmed added.
80 CEOs from tech companies from Pakistan, the US, and Saudi Arabia including Bilal Hashmat (CureMD), Ismaeel Al Qhtani (Saudi AZ), Saad Hameed (Game District), Nasser Akhtar (InfoTech Group), Raheel Iqbal (OZI Group), Khurram Samad (GeniTeam), Farrukh Usman (Byonyks), Ahsan Nasim (Coeus Solutions), Tanzeel Ur Rehman (Virtual Force) joined the inaugural session of fund hosted by Gaper.io and expressed collective appreciation on behalf of the tech community and added that such a fund will help accelerate the IT service industry and allow more companies the opportunities to list which will, in turn, increase investor confidence and market visibility.
The session was also joined by Rizwan Saeed (Add. Foreign Secretary), Fazeel Asif Jah (Chairman, PBIT), Malik Mudassar (PASHA), and Junaid Querishi (President OPEN Silicon Valley).
