Over the last few decades, the face of the global economy has transformed, with more start-ups rolling in the market. According to data darbar, Pakistani startups have received more than $347 million in VC funding in 2022 alone. Being the financial capital of the country, Karachi is beaming with startups that require co-working spaces to run their businesses from. It appears another player has entered the market. founder 2.0 launches its 1st Chapter in Karachi, adding another 144 seats to the approximate capacity of 15,000+ seats existing nationwide.
The company hosted an exclusive dinner to launch and commemorate its vision by aiding net working from the 23rd floor across the Karachi Skyline. The event was attended by one of the only unicorn founder in the country presently, Jonas Diezun – Co-Founder of Razor group that went on to raise over USD 1 Billion and is currently working on a generative AI startup.
The event was attended by several stakeholders in the corporate world and startup fraternity including Jamil Mughal, CEO of Mcdonalds & Director at Lakson group, Hassan Khan, Founder of Trax, Rafay Sheikh, CEO of Dunkin, Akbar Jaffer, CEO ASSL and Jaffer Group, Rabeel Warraich, founder and CEO of Sarmayacar VC Fund, Owais Shaikh of Hubpay, Raza Afzal, co-founder of Truck it in, Kassim Shroff and Ahsan Kidwai, founders of Krave Mart, Jonas Eichhorst, Chairman of Bykea, Muneeb Maayr, founder of Bykea, Adeel Rasheed, Co-Founder of Snappretail & Chairman Of The Supervisory Board, AIESEC, Haider Raza, Co-founder of Dealcart, Ahmed Ayub, Co-founder of Airlift, Muzaffar Manghi, Co-founder of farmdar, Talha Khan of Orko, Taha Iqbal Teli and Ahsan Ali Khan of Zaraye, Khurram Shroff, President of imining Technologies, Ali Ladhubhai of Abhi, Usama Nini, co-founder of Qureos and CEO of Affinity; Usman Khan and Pir Saleh Qureshi; Director at Stylight textiles. The Dinner was also attended by The co-founders of Swich; Shah Aun Hussan and Syed Aoon Shah, who is also the the Investing partner at Founders 2.0.
“We’re thrilled to witness the benchmark Founders 2.0 is establishing for the coworking ecosystem of the country. This will certainly help start-ups remain laser focused on their high impact domains”, said Aman Nasir, Partner at Sarmayacar, who was also in attendance at the event.
The Launch dinner also graced with the presence of Miss Tanzila Umi Habiba – The provincial IT minister & member of the Sindh Provincial Assembly as well as the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Higher, Technical Education and Research in Sindh, who continually praised Founders 2.0 for creating a state-of-the-art facility for tech startups to grow and thrive from.
“Founders 2.0 seems to be a dynamic and promising project. Pakistan needs more progressive facilities such as this one to facilitate the young entrepreneurs & thriving tech startups of Pakistan.” Said Ms. Tanzila.“I hope they succeed in their vision by enabling synergies and growth across the tech sector, especially during these tumultuous economic times. We will continue to support their initiatives.” She added.
Various prominent political figures & leaders like Pir Muhammad Sadiq, Chairman of LuariPak Group as well as Pir Noorullah; Special assistant to Cheif Minister Sindh were also present at the dinner alongside Hollywood film producer, Habib Paracha & Asmer Naim; Director at K-electric.
Founders 2.0 is a new player in the market environment that claims to radically alter the co-working paradigm of Pakistan with their first office kicking off at the Top Floors of the iconic Bahria Town Tower Karachi, Located at the commercial center of the metropole city. Their Facility offers unconventional spaces with carefully cultivated environment of creativity, communication and collaboration for all types of professionals, commuting to facilitate and fast track growth.
With existing market leaders like Collabs, Kickstart and The Hive among others that have captured and dominated the coworking landscape of the country for half a decade, Founders 2.0 is attempting is propel the user to inherit certain expectations whilst setting up a distinctive vision of co-working spaces amidst grasping competition.
“We’re going to raise the bar and I believe we’re equipped to achieve what we’ve envisioned.”, Said Shehr Bano Hussain, co-founder of Founders 2.0.
The company hosts 144 seats of which 70% capacity has been pre-booked and sold out or is in discussion months prior to officially launching despite not having marketed extensively, most of the seats are predominantly occupied by Canadian and US based tech startups; beam.so, Caary Capital and Qureos to name a few of their clients, which as per Shehr Bano Hussain, is a clear indicator of the enormous gap as well as the kind of demand there is for quality co-working in Pakistan, be it local startups or tech companies disrupting markets overseas.
With plans to set footprint in Pakistan upon launching chapters across multiple cities before expanding to UAE, Mr. Shehr Bano explains his vision for Founders 2.0 “Our vision goes beyond the physical premises.” She said. It appears the new market player has big plans and is geared towards setting a distinguished climate for interaction and engagement at their space, “We’re attempting to build concrete support-systems here. We’re currently focused on developing an extensive network of partners and industry-specific mentorship programs to accelerate growth, and enable some kind of cross-border exchange in the tech space to bridge the existing gaps as opposed to being classified as a mere co-working space”. Ms. Bano claims that founders 2.0 is setting out to provide its clientele with the opportunity to be a part of a close-knit community of aggressive entrepreneurs and market disruptors.
The company also claims that they plan to employ technology to scale the industry of shared office spaces once they succeed in achieving their first few milestones.
Founders 2.0 delivers fully furnished & serviced private offices suites, in bright self-contained spaces overlooking the Karachi Skyline, high-speed internet, Bookable meeting rooms, Sound insulated calling pods, gaming spaces, reception facilities, access to an exclusive mini café on the 23rd floor of the smart building, and free flow of endless fancy Iced-Americanos and espressos among other hot beverages exclusively for its customers.
“We will not get into the race of multiplying seats, that’s not our area of focus, the objective is to add significant value to every single user of the space, our customers pay a premium owing to the quality of service being offered and the value-add in terms of connect and social network.”, said Ms. Shehr Bano. “It’s all about high-energy formulation; creating the energy and climate that supplements synergy & scale. People simply fail to understand that seats in this business are not mere products rather a full flash service.” She added.
This latest addition to the country’s coworking space amongst a tumultuous economic crunch is welcoming. What the country requires in these testing times is innovation, growth and a sociable environment for businesses to grow and the tech sector to pick up. Founders 2.0 aims to provide just that and more.
