Percentage changes are usually quite deceiving as they have a great ability to make metrics look better or worse than they are in reality. Consider December’s inflation as a case in point: at 4.1 per cent, it implies economic stabilisation even if one major underlying reason is the high base of the index. It also works the other way around, particularly for production-related indicators where activity is finally ‘growing’ again after multi-year lows.

But when it comes to Pakistani startups, even percentages fail to work their magic as the low base continues to get smaller. This was the story of 2024 as funding clocked in at $22.5 million, plunging 70pc over the previous year, which itself had recorded a 77pc dip. As a result, the total investment receded well below the 2019 levels, when the local ecosystem was still quite nascent and hardly any of the current venture funds even launched. Similarly, the number of deals declined further to just 15, worse than even the 2018 reading.

Dismal as the headline numbers may appear, the reality was at least slightly better, even if far from good. For starters, the amount is significantly understated as nine of the 15 announced deals didn’t disclose the actual dollar value.

While the majority of the rounds happened to be at seed or earlier stages, there was one Pre-Series A and another Series A in the mix. Safe to assume they would have raked in seven-figure transactions. On the........

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