Pakistani Developer Hamdek Launches 270-Agent Autonomous Software in Direct US Market Entry
* Islamabad-based Hamdek bypassed traditional white-label models to launch its proprietary agentic AI platform directly to US enterprise buyers at the Odoo Show in Cleveland. * The platform, Wolf Pack, deploys a central director node coordinating 270 specialized AI agents to execute autonomous workflows across finance, HR, and manufacturing. * Built on the open-source Odoo framework, the system targets an established enterprise user base seeking to upgrade from manual ERP tools to autonomous process management. * Hamdek's direct US entry reflects a structural shift in Pakistan’s $4.5 billion IT export sector, transitioning from intermediary-dependent outsourced services to original product development.
Respond.io Secures $62.5M Series B; Pakistani CTO Hassan Ahmed Out-Raises Domestic Tech Sector
- Respond.io, co-founded by Pakistani CTO Hassan Ahmed, closed a $62.5M Series B led by Camber Partners. - The single raise eclipses the $36.6M total secured by Pakistan’s entire domestic startup sector in 2025. - The SaaS firm achieved $35M in ARR, 169% YoY growth, and a 30% profit margin prior to securing the new capital. - The platform centralizes 20+ communication channels and currently processes 2 billion quarterly messages for 10,000+ global businesses. - The new funding is allocated for North American and European expansion, strategic M&A, and technical hiring. - The founders scaled internationally to access mature venture networks and payment rails, demonstrating the urgent need for structural improvements within Pakistan's domestic tech sector.
Thought Leadership
Saudi Edge AI Startup RIME Secures $2 Million Seed Round to Expand On-Site Operations
• RIME, a Riyadh-based operational AI startup, secured over $2 million in Seed funding led by SEEDRA Ventures, with backing from Athla Investment and Unity Invest Partners. • Founded in 2024, the company deploys autonomous AI agents via edge computing, currently processing local data from 6,000 cameras across 2,000 GCC operational sites. • The capital will fund technical recruitment, platform development, and enterprise deployments across Saudi Arabia, bypassing cloud-latency issues to enable real-time, on-site automated decision-making.
Haball Closes $52M Pre-Series A and Crosses $3B in B2B Payments Prior to Gulf Expansion
• Haball secured a $52M pre-Series A, composed of $5M in equity led by Zayn VC and a $47M financing facility from Meezan Bank. • The Shariah-compliant supply chain fintech has processed over $3B in B2B payments and disbursed $110M+ in working capital to nearly 8,000 SMEs. • Haball holds a significant regulatory moat as the first Pakistani fintech to secure a Federal Board of Revenue license for digital invoicing. • The company will launch operations and a regional headquarters in Saudi Arabia in 2025, while actively evaluating expansion into the UAE and Qatar.
Saudi Construction Tech Startup Fitting Raises $1.1M to Digitize Procurement
• Fitting, a Saudi ConTech startup founded in 2025, raised a $1.1M second seed round from an undisclosed strategic real estate investor. • The platform centralizes construction procurement, enabling contractors to order materials and track deliveries directly with suppliers. • The strategic investor provides direct market access and operational insight to help tailor the software to actual site bottlenecks. • Capital will fund geographic expansion within Saudi Arabia, technical infrastructure upgrades, and local engineering hires in alignment with Vision 2030.
Pakistan Demands Compute Equity at UN AI Summit, Pledges 1 Million AI Professionals by 2030
• Balochistan Governor Sheikh Jaffar Khan Mandokhail represented Pakistan at the UN Youth and AI Summit, demanding equitable access to global AI infrastructure and computing power for the Global South. • Officials outlined the National AI Policy target of training 1 million AI professionals by 2030 and announced the rollout of BS AI programs across all 11 public universities in Balochistan. • Summit delegates finalized a Youth-led Declaration to shape the UN Global Digital Compact, though critics noted the absence of young Pakistani technologists in the official speaking delegation.
Press Releases
AI & Robotics
Saudi Edge AI Startup RIME Secures $2 Million Seed Round to Expand On-Site Operations
• RIME, a Riyadh-based operational AI startup, secured over $2 million in Seed funding led by SEEDRA Ventures, with backing from Athla Investment and Unity Invest Partners. • Founded in 2024, the company deploys autonomous AI agents via edge computing, currently processing local data from 6,000 cameras across 2,000 GCC operational sites. • The capital will fund technical recruitment, platform development, and enterprise deployments across Saudi Arabia, bypassing cloud-latency issues to enable real-time, on-site automated decision-making.
Haball Closes $52M Pre-Series A and Crosses $3B in B2B Payments Prior to Gulf Expansion
• Haball secured a $52M pre-Series A, composed of $5M in equity led by Zayn VC and a $47M financing facility from Meezan Bank. • The Shariah-compliant supply chain fintech has processed over $3B in B2B payments and disbursed $110M+ in working capital to nearly 8,000 SMEs. • Haball holds a significant regulatory moat as the first Pakistani fintech to secure a Federal Board of Revenue license for digital invoicing. • The company will launch operations and a regional headquarters in Saudi Arabia in 2025, while actively evaluating expansion into the UAE and Qatar.
Healthtech
MedIQ Secures $6M Series A to Export Healthtech Infrastructure to the Gulf
- **The Deal:** MedIQ raised $6M in a Series A led by Rasmal Ventures and Joa Capital, pushing total funding to $9.8M. - **The Milestone:** Reached EBITDA-positive status before closing the Series A, driven by a B2B model targeting hospitals, insurers, and government agencies rather than individual consumers. - **The Strategy:** Validated its healthcare operating system in low-margin Pakistan before expanding into Saudi Arabia’s SAR 7.2B healthtech market, serving over 10M patients since 2023. - **The Market Shift:** Captured the largest share of Pakistan’s 2025 startup funding, driving a trend where female-founded startups secured 8 of the 11 disclosed equity rounds for the year.
Bootstrapped app Khidma connects Muslims directly to scholars and therapists
- Khidma merges Islamic scholarship with mental healthcare to provide faith-based counseling for underserved Muslim communities. - The bootstrapped platform generates $2,500 in monthly recurring revenue with a 31.8% repeat usage rate, validating early demand. - Uses AI strictly for user routing and routine queries, ensuring verified human experts handle all high-stakes religious and emotional counseling. - Platform design prioritizes extreme privacy through encrypted, audio-only consultations, encouraging users to discuss sensitive family and spiritual matters safely. - Company validated its service manually via WhatsApp before writing code, ensuring product decisions remain rooted in actual user behavior.
Cybersecurity
Lahore's CodeNinja Raises $1.6M Led by sAi Venture Capital to Scale Enterprise AI
- CodeNinja secures a $1.6M round led by sAi Venture Capital, joined by Dallas-based Plutus21 Capital, defying a 95% YoY drop in mid-2023 Pakistani funding. - The capital will scale enterprise cloud and AI capabilities, transitioning the domestic IT export market from low-tier freelancing toward complex B2B services. - sAi Venture Capital executes its first deal following SECP licensure, utilizing a local-currency fund model to shield operations from foreign-exchange volatility. - sAi Managing Partner Ahsan Jamil joins the CodeNinja board to actively drive international enterprise sales and oversee cross-border compliance.
Uzbek Fintech Akinda Scales Shariah-Compliant Investment Infrastructure Amid Central Asian Banking Reforms
- Akinda transitions from a consumer stock screener to an API-driven infrastructure provider for Islamic finance institutions globally. - The platform processes equities through AAOIFI Standard No. 21, enforcing strict 5% thresholds for non-compliant income and 30% caps on interest-bearing debt. - Recent passage of Uzbekistan’s Law ZRU-1126 opens a localized B2B market, while the startup already claims 10,000 global MAUs and integrations with Interactive Brokers and Charles Schwab.
SaaS
Saudi Construction Tech Startup Fitting Raises $1.1M to Digitize Procurement
• Fitting, a Saudi ConTech startup founded in 2025, raised a $1.1M second seed round from an undisclosed strategic real estate investor. • The platform centralizes construction procurement, enabling contractors to order materials and track deliveries directly with suppliers. • The strategic investor provides direct market access and operational insight to help tailor the software to actual site bottlenecks. • Capital will fund geographic expansion within Saudi Arabia, technical infrastructure upgrades, and local engineering hires in alignment with Vision 2030.
Simplifi.my Processes RM12 Billion in Legal Transactions, Captures 250 Malaysian Law Firms
• Simplifi.my processed 25,000+ legal and property transactions worth RM12 billion+ since March 2023, capturing 250+ Malaysian law firms. • Non-technical founder Mohammad Hafiz Hasan utilized 16 years of finance and property expertise to build workflow automation for a highly regulated, analog sector. • The platform is transitioning from pure back-office enterprise software to a consumer-facing legal access portal via new iOS and Android applications. • An upcoming 12-to-24-month expansion into Southeast Asia will critically test the platform's ability to navigate fragmented cross-border regulatory environments and localized compliance laws.
Fintech
Haball Closes $52M Pre-Series A and Crosses $3B in B2B Payments Prior to Gulf Expansion
• Haball secured a $52M pre-Series A, composed of $5M in equity led by Zayn VC and a $47M financing facility from Meezan Bank. • The Shariah-compliant supply chain fintech has processed over $3B in B2B payments and disbursed $110M+ in working capital to nearly 8,000 SMEs. • Haball holds a significant regulatory moat as the first Pakistani fintech to secure a Federal Board of Revenue license for digital invoicing. • The company will launch operations and a regional headquarters in Saudi Arabia in 2025, while actively evaluating expansion into the UAE and Qatar.
Uzbek Fintech Akinda Scales Shariah-Compliant Investment Infrastructure Amid Central Asian Banking Reforms
- Akinda transitions from a consumer stock screener to an API-driven infrastructure provider for Islamic finance institutions globally. - The platform processes equities through AAOIFI Standard No. 21, enforcing strict 5% thresholds for non-compliant income and 30% caps on interest-bearing debt. - Recent passage of Uzbekistan’s Law ZRU-1126 opens a localized B2B market, while the startup already claims 10,000 global MAUs and integrations with Interactive Brokers and Charles Schwab.
Ed-Tech
Punjab Activates AI Delivery Unit Under 2029 Strategy, Projects 100,000 Tech Jobs
- Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif audited the Punjab AI Vision 2029 roadmap, evaluating the newly established AI Office's first two months of deployment. - The provincial government launched an "AI-enabled Delivery Unit" to track public project execution, enforced by a direct chief ministerial review mechanism called the "CM AI Stocktake." - Officials project the initiative will generate 100,000 tech sector jobs over three years, backing the claim by rolling out an introductory AI curriculum across 100 provincial schools. - Serving 110 million residents, successful execution of Punjab's roadmap would create a definitive benchmark for digital infrastructure upgrades across the rest of Pakistan.
Shamoon Siddiqui’s Human Friendly Robotics Deploys Specialized Collaborative Machines to Solve Construction Labor Deficits
- Pivot to Physical Deep Tech: Serial software entrepreneur Shamoon Siddiqui launched HFR to solve construction labor shortages via collaborative, task-specific robotics. - Rejecting Humanoid Hype: HFR deploys purpose-built hardware (Tyler for flooring, Wattson for data center wire pulling) that shares a unified software architecture, valuing utility over imitation. - Aggressive Physical Milestones: The company targets 100,000 square feet of robotically installed flooring and 100 commercial wire pulls alongside tier-one contractors over the next 12 months. - Disciplined Scale: Backed by early Muslim tech capital, HFR mandates North American commercial validation before targeting surging infrastructure markets in the Middle East.