High Output Ventures, a Singapore-based venture studio, launched an accelerator program in Pakistan in August 2020. The program was a bootcamp for the chosen startups where HOV helped and coached them through the early stages of their businesses. Today, January 28th, marked the end of their HOV Accelerate Cohort 1.
The first Cohort hosted by the Singapore-based VC started out in the August of 2020 and by October, they had announced the three startups that made it through to their first Cohort in Pakistan. Now, after three months of hard work and unexpected twists and turns, their accelerate program has finally concluded.
HOV remarked, in a social media post, that the pandemic made things a little more difficult and challenging this time around. Countless video calls, deep dives, and virtual pitch sessions were held to make things happen with the Coronavirus terrorising the country.
The Three startups that made it through HOV’s tough selection phases were:
Baby Planet – a one-stop online shop for parents to buy anything that their new-born’s need. The privately-owned Lahore-based online store offers a wide variety of good to choose from. It also sells everything from baby strollers and chairs to clothing, bottles, and diapers.
Hotpod – Hotpod is a ready-to-use shared kitchen platform developed for restaurants and food entrepreneurs. The startup offers small food companies access to the same economies of scale as larger food companies at a fraction of the cost. This allows them to develop themselves and allows them to expand into new markets with minimal risk and costs.
Swag Kicks – Swag Kicks is also an e-commerce platform that sells genuine, branded, pre-owned shoes at a reasonable price.
HOV has said that all three of these startups posses the capability to thrive as businesses and can potentially become leaders in their own markets. Since only three startups made it through the selection process, HOV gave each of them more time and was able to give them more individual attention and skilfully coach them through the early stages of their businesses.
