SeeNReport Series A funding : What does it mean for local industry
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If you are any way tied to local startup scene or are interested in whats happening around you must have read or heard the news that SeeNReport recently got series A funding
you can read their official press release here. SeeNReport is a place where the community is responsible for generating the news. what they do is allow users to create news by sending in through their mobile emails and on the site, also they the content can have multimedia like videos and pictures.
It was an initiative from 2` compliment with active help from Dr Umar Saif (Who is another Icon for our local industry). Other people in the founding team includes Sharjeel Ahmed Qureshi, Yaser Awan and Adil Saleem. If you meet these all beside Dr Umar Saif would make you feel really old as these guys are young and now have some thing to show for their efforts
So now that we are done with the basic intro of what SeeNReport does and people behind it. lets analyze what does this funding mean for a lot of other struggling and aspiring entrepreneurs in our country.
First and foremost thing is that this funding strongly dispels the common fear that no one is ready to fund a local startup, and that you need to have an office in a western country to secure a funding. So if you go all out and prove your mettle the opportunities are there, off course its hard to get seed funding and for that you only have scarce resources of your relatives or friends but once you get going and have some thing to show for your self you get required attention and now this proves that you get funding too 
Second most important thing coming out of this funding is that the focus of SeeNReport was completely local, when rozee was funded it was after showing a strong growth and business model for a product which was completely tailored for local market, some pessimists brushed it aside by saying it as a once in a blue moon thing. but if you analyze there is a pattern emerging, SeeNReport also has a completely local focus with all of its news being generated by local people and completely local aspect, still it got out and was funded.
You have to realize that Our country is the sixth most populous region in the world, with internet penetration still under 10%, does any one realize what happened when the telcos came how much mobile usage we had then and now, its a phenomenal growth, do you by any chance think that big communication giants don’t realize the potential of growth, with things like EvDO coming in Pakistan and internet rates going down this below 10% figure will rise, and some day we will have a huge market to capitalize on in our own back yard.
This is the fact that is being realized slowly, the local market offers great potential and opportunities, off course the local population might not be spend thrift as US market but the revenue from advertisement is there, no body would like to pass on such a huge population. Plus if you are successful in demonstrating you potential in Pakistan the road towards east (Gulf and Middle East) are always open, their culture closely matching ours and with abundant cash flow you can easily migrate some thing made for Pakistan for those countries.
So if you have an idea that solves a local issue or provides a facilitate our young and internet savvy upcoming generation try it out doing it locally is cheap, if you still have doubts go through the success stories of SeeNReport, rozee.pk and choopal.pk and others that i might have forgot
And again lots of Congratulations to the SeeNReport team not only for getting funded but for making all of us realize that local opportunities do exist and are up for grabs for who ever makes a try.
5:23 pm
Great article .. thank you.
how much funding they have got? that’s an important number to analyze before concluding that there is a huge opportunity for local startups. I agree in terms of rozee its great – but that’s because of monis background. What is there for a local pakistani living in pakistan who wants to start a venture?
There are several other startups that didn’t go well – whether its nilaam.pk and several others
5:40 pm
I have observed that we can make great products. But the steps to RAISE Funds are mostly hidden from entrepreneurs. Those who succeeded in raising capital try to hide their experiences. OK, don’t tell ur product secrets but you can share what can be done to raise capital after having a great product.
10:19 am
@Hammad, i don’t know the amount of funding, the huge opportunity i mentioned was not due the fact that funding was great, it is that there is an opportunity of un discovered local potential.
Regarding failures there will always be failure in any markets be it the US of here, we need to analyze what are the cases of failures you are right nilam did not take off despite the hype they created,
Osama did a very detailed analysis of what these services need to do
http://greenwhite.org/2008/04/04/jawwad-farid-is-selling-his-soul-err-time-any-bidders-why-not/
you can ask why nilam failed and sites like http://www.hafeezcentre.com.pk/ http://pakwheels.com/
http://www.beliscity.com/
http://www.shophive.com/
is thriving. they are almost offering same things but with different ways, some have better adapted to local culture for example offering services as cash on deliver (most people are not comfortable with credit cards) and similar things.
3:05 pm
Despite the fact that SeenReport may have only raised a rather small amount of funding from unknown investors, it is significant because Pakistani entrepreneurs often complain that money is not available. It is available for the resourceful with good ideas, and being resourceful is a fundamental ingredient of being an entrepreneur. Dozens of investors said NO to SeenReport before they found one who would say yes — this shows determination and resolve.
SeenReport now needs to be financially profitable and I’m not sure there is a clear business model yet. I hope the team figures one out before their investor’s money runs out.
3:38 pm
Does not seem like very professional investor group (http://www.aljanabigroup.ae/). Is this angel funding or venture capital funding?
3:09 pm
This is the updated site and seem reasonable to me. Yes the website could be improved but they seem to be fine.
http://www.aljanabigroup.com/