4x NSTP Startups won seed funding of $35,000 through ISF fund.

Innovator Seed Fund (ISF) is an initiative of HEC’s Higher Education Development Programme (HEDP) that aims at engaging entrepreneurs and upcoming aspirants who want to convert their business ideas into action. Under ISF, a package of support and seed funding is awarded to early-stage start-ups through HEC-recognised Business Incubation Centres (BICs) at universities.

Under ISF, HEC conducted the pitching competition for 26 start-up applicants out of which 4 startups were from NSTP Incubator, TechOne, which have been shortlisted from a pool of 186 applicants. Startups from TechOne Incubator that won seed funds include Ez Geyser, mimAR, TruID, and Funkshan.

The award ceremony for grant winners was held on 24^th Nov 2022 where 4 winners of NSTP were awarded seed funding of $35,000 each, in addition to seed fund startups will get support from NSTP’s unique innovation ecosystem in the form of entrepreneurial training, legal training and support, financial education, business development service provision, and investment readiness training. Startups will also get the chance to network with potential investors in the future to meet further capital needs during the scale-up phase.

Chairman HEC Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed, Acting Country Director World Bank Pakistan Gailius J. Draugelis, Executive Director HEC Dr. Shaista Sohail, Vice Chancellors, members of corporate bodies, jury members, and other notables attended the ceremony.

HEC constituted an independent jury panel having eminent industry and business representatives to adjudicate the competition. The jury members included Mr. Azhar Rizvi, CEO Cambridge Advisors Network; Mr. Noshad Minhas, Country Head Pakistan, Fasset; Dr. Zain-ul-Abdin, General Manager SEEDS, IGNITE; Ms. Nadia Jahangir Seth, General Manager, Policy & Planning SMEDA; Dr. Shoab Ahmed Khan, Chancellor CASE; Ms. Madiha Parvez, Head Corporate Innovation, Telenor; Mr. Owais Anjum, CEO, EMumba Pvt Limited; Ms. Fatima Mazhar, Member Advisory Board, COLABS – CEO Confidential; Mr. Furqan H. Qureshi, Founder, TheFourDees; and Mr. Aftab Chatha, CEO Chatha Bio Care.