Ep15 Career Path Series with Omar Abedin - Head of Investments at TMT Ventures VC Fund

At the National Incubation Center Karachi (NICK) I was getting increasingly frustrated by our inability to support the amazing startups there with funding.

So when I was approached by the CEO Abdul Aziz Anis to join Pakistan's first VC Fund, TMT Ventures, as Head of Investments, I jumped at the opportunity.

TMT's sponsor, the massive AKD Group, had a great track record of investments from 2002-2008, and they were ready to get back into the VC game.

We started setting up the processes for the Fund, and began meeting startups and potential investors. We met hundreds of startups during that exciting year, creating a massive funnel that led us to identify 10 startups that we felt were great candidates for our initial investments.

Unfortunately, when it was time to commit, our anchor investor decided to focus on the stock market and real estate, and without their commitment, it became impossible to convince external investors to put their trust in us. Combined with a global drying up of VC funding, and Pakistan's exceptionally challenging political and economic conditions, the timing was off.

C'est la vie.

The company shuttered operations just over a year after we got going. Shame really. It could have been awesome.

#VCfund #fundraising #startups #entrepreneurship #shithappens

[MushtaqAnsari-rf]

Thank you Omar for sharing your wonderful experience.