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We are an early stage fund for startups in Pakistan. We are a team of builders ourselves, and looking to partner with passionate, authentic people, and help them build the next generation-defining companies in the region.
- Who are we?
- What are we excited about?
- How does the fund work?
- Why us?
- Who have we invested in so far?
- What’s with the name?
Who are we?
- Faaez Ul Haq: Data Scientist with a focus on optimization, experimentation and ML. Helped launch multiple new businesses at Uber and currently, Head of Data Science at Pipe. Love the outdoors, and working with my hands. Trying to leave a more prosperous and just world for my 👶.
- Usman Masood: Early employee at two exited startups, built and ran the core bookkeeping infrastructure at Stripe. Now CTO at Pipe. Systems hacker, database nerd and generative art hobbyist. Learning to be present and finding ways to give back.
What are we excited about?
We're most excited about people building the rails of the internet economy, especially companies that are working on things that are hard to scale.
Currently our top areas of focus are:
- 💸 Payments and Infrastructure for Online Businesses
- 🚛 Logistics for the On-Demand Economy
- 🧺 Aggregators in Fragmented Industries
- 🌝 Crypto & Web3
- 🏫 Education and Health
How does the fund work?
We started in 2021, and worked on a deal-by-deal basis. For 2022, we have a rolling fund. Currently, our investors are mostly friends and family, though we’re happy to include anyone excited about the growing Pakistani tech ecosystem.
We take a 20% carry and charge no management fees. We have committed to re-investing at least 50% of our carry into Pakistan, via either venture capital or non-profit.
Our check sizes range from $50k-$200k. We typically invest in seed stage companies, though are open to come in at later stages as well.
DM us on Twitter or email us at friends@kinnow.vc to get in touch!
Why us?
We, and our LPs, are actively building companies ourselves, and often help founders with hands-on, tactical advice in areas ranging from GTM strategy, hiring and investor pitches, to system design, product development and running experiments. Our close ties to Pakistan and the US also puts us in a unique position of provide insights that transfer over to the Pakistani market.
Capital is abundant — including in Pakistan as of late. When choosing who to take money from, we believe founders should seek out partners who are available for them and can help them in their day to day. We do.
Usman and Faaez have been incredible partners for Trukkr, and have played a strong supportive role in helping us scale smartly and efficiently. They are exactly the type of value-add investors we were looking for at an early stage, and we're very pleased to have them onboard for the rest of our journey. — Mishal Adamjee, co-founder of Trukkr
I have been working with Faaez and Usman since the summer of 2021 when they invested in Byte. I have found them to be super accessible and responsive every time we needed them. Every interaction with them is incredibly valuable. It is great to know that we always have Usman and Faaez just a message away. They are two of my favorite investors/advisors. I highly recommend partnering with them! — Safee Shah, founder of Byte
Who have we invested in so far?
| Name | Website | Industry |
|---|---|---|
FoodDelivery | ||
LogisticsFreight | ||
Agriculture | ||
FintechSaaS | ||
Co-workingReal Estate | ||
Insurtech | ||
Ecommerce | ||
Fitness | ||
Healthcare |
What’s with the name?
Kinnow is a delicious hybrid of two citrus cultivars — 'King' (Citrus nobilis) × 'Willow Leaf' (Citrus × deliciosa). Like us, it has strong connections to both California and Pakistan: it was developed at the University of California Citrus Experiment Station, but really took off in the fertile plains of Pakistan. [Read more]