Investors willing to invest in risky start-ups to innovate

Valhalla CEO says capital is easiest part of business

KARACHI: Many start-ups believe in playing safe and are reluctant to take any risk, when in fact investors are actually looking to invest in businesses that are willing to take a plunge to start something new.

"Venture capitals like to invest in those who, instead of embarking on safe and sound ship, take a life raft and sail on unknown directions to discover a life of their own," said Valhalla Private Capital, Canada CEO R Stewart Thompson, while talking in a session about 'how I approach angel investing', organised by Nest i/o on Saturday.

Talking about the limitations a potential entrepreneur has to face when investors refuse to fund their start-ups, he said, "I firmly believe that capital is the easiest part of business; once you stop wasting your and our time you will get the investment quickly."

Foreign investment is also necessary for Pakistan just like many other countries, for example Alibaba was funded by Yahoo. Talking about the skepticism about online businesses, Gobi Partners Co-founder Thomas G Tsao said the skepticism is normal as it was the same when we heard Chinese entrepreneurs trying to bring digitalisation 10 years ago, said

However, there is a lot of room for home grown start-ups, he said, adding problems of Pakistan have to be solved by Pakistanis, not by someone from the Silicon Valley.



Currently, Pakistan is one of Asia's fastest growing internet markets, with over one million people going online via mobile phones every month. The e-commerce market has similarly witnessed phenomenal growth recently, driven by the country's large population, rising middle class, and strong digital adoption rates. It is growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 100%, and as per Google's analysis, it will surpass the $1-billion revenue mark by 2020, said Sastaticket CEO Shazil Mehkri.



If local investors are not investing, foreign investment can work as a catalyst. However, the sustainable way is only the local investment, which will take time, but we have examples of countries like Hong Kong, one of the richest countries, where entrepreneurs found difficulties in attracting investments, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 11^th, 2018.

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