Invest2Innovate (i2i) has built up a strong reputation as one of the few reliable accelerators in Pakistan. It was founded by Kalsoom Lakhani more than three years ago with the main focus on social enterprises and impact oriented startups. The accelerator supported startups and the broader entrepreneurship ecosystem in developing markets at a time when Entrepreneurship was a new concept in Pakistan.
Accelerators and Incubators are used interchangeably, but they are not the same. Incubators provide an external management team for an idea developed internally at a relative high equity. On the other hand, accelerators take startups with externally developed ideas at a single unit equity in return for capital and mentorship. Hence, startups can join accelerators to expand further in the right direction with guidance and support.
We, at Pakistan, have both incubators and accelerators available, but i2i is the only one providing a standalone acceleration program. It has accomplished some remarkable feats as an accelerator which is apparent from a recent impact report release.
i2i releases impact report at the end of each accelerator cycle to highlight the program’s learning and major findings. This year, however, the accelerator collected and analyzed the data for the last three cycles over the span of three years. According to this report, i2i has accelerated 16 startups, created job opportunities for 204 individuals, raised $700K in funding altogether and a few other impressive figures. Check out the infographic for the i2i impact report below.
