British International Investment

Techxila Fund I

PakistanSouth AsiaCommunications & IT servicesConsumer - other servicesFinancial servicesFood & AgricultureGeneralist

Techxila Fund I is a venture capital fund managed by Fatima Gobi Ventures that invests in early stage start-ups in Pakistan.

This investment was made when British International Investment was named CDC Group.

Our investment

Description of the investment.

This investment is part of our strategy to: (i) support local entrepreneurial ecosystems in our markets in order to build new businesses which create jobs, and; (ii) provide us access to early-stage companies that have the potential to create transformational impact at scale.

Our commitment to one of the few institutionalised venture investing platforms in Pakistan can help demonstrate the commercial viability of Pakistan’s nascent venture capital sector. Techxila Fund I will invest in tech-enabled business models of which a subset are expected to contribute at scale to productive employment and market efficiencies in some of our priority sectors to the benefit of Pakistan’s workers, consumers, and suppliers.

Impact information

Applies to investments made from 2019 onwards. The tabs in this section define what we expect to achieve through the investment, assessing the potential impact of the investment against six dimensions of impact. You can find more details on our methodology of assessing impact here.

What?

Impact
  • Enable income-generating opportunities through direct and indirect job creation (SDG 8.5)
  • Enable income-generating opportunities through tech-enabled access to market and financial services (SDGs 8.5, 8.10)
  • Enable tech-enabled access to healthcare and education (SDGs 3.8 and 4.4)

How?

Primary Secondary

Our investment will help to build a track record and prove the viability of Venture Capital in Pakistan – thereby attracting a greater supply of capital to this sector to further unlock economic growth. Signs of success would include the growth of investees and successful follow-on fundraises at an investee level (short-term), positive financial returns and a follow-on fund with increased representation of commercial LPs (medium-term), and an increase in financial commitments by commercial investors into Pakistan’s venture capital market (long-term).
  • Invest in four business models with the potential for large-scale job creation.
  • Invest in four fin-tech and marketplace business models.
  • Invest in two ed-tech and health-tech business models.

Who?

Stakeholder Geography Characteristics
Employees and suppliers

Pakistan

Lower income workers
Consumers

Pakistan

MSME owners and individual workers. Likely to include a wide range of stakeholders (from low to higher-income) given the mass-market focus of the businesses.
Consumers

Pakistan

Patients and students. Likely to include a wide range of stakeholders (from low to higher-income) given the mass-market focus of the businesses.

How much?

Scale Depth/Duration

Our base case assumes 70% write-offs (14 companies), 20% small exits (4 companies), and 10% winners (2 companies) by the end of Fund life. This is reflected through conservative scale projections looking at what a single company scaling successfully can achieve against each impact outcome.

Catalysing markets: Likely to occur in the long term (>10 years) if the platform is commercially successful.

Contribution/additionality

Contribution/additionality
  • Financial additionality: We provided the largest commitment to the fund, alongside Fatima Group, supporting it to reach its target size at final close.
  • Value additionality: Support in building environmental, social, goverance and business integrity management systems and processes to reduce negative impact risks

Grid score

Grid Score

To help us direct our investments, we previously used a tool called the Development Impact Grid. It scored investments out of four, based on two factors: the difficulty of investing in a country and the propensity of the sector to generate employment. This tool was used for investments until the end of 2021. Since 2022 it has been replaced by the Impact Score.

2.7-3.3

Risk

Execution Risk
  • Risks related to fundraising, a first-time team, and the fund's early-stage focus could affect both the catalytic and direct impact of the fund. This risk is aligned with commercial risks and is to some extent mitigated through the selection of a quality team.

Understanding our impact information (PDF)

Environmental and social information

  • Environmental and social summary

    A high-level description of the environmental and social aspects of the investment. This may include a summary of key environmental and social risks identified during environmental and social due diligence (ESDD); key elements of an environmental and social action plan (ESAP); or ways in which we plan to support the investee improve environmental and social standards, such as through their environmental and social management system (ESMS); as well as any other priority areas agreed with the investee.
  • Environmental and social risk

    A risk category rating, which indicates the level of environmental and social risk associated with an investment. For an explanation of the categorisations used, see here. We consistently provide an environmental and social risk category for all investments screened from 2023 onwards.

Environmental and social summary

We worked with the fund manager to develop and implement an ESMS for this first-time fund.

Understanding our approach to environmental and social risk (PDF)

Reporting and Complaints Mechanism

The Reporting and Complaints Mechanism allows anyone outside BII to report alleged breaches of the business integrity or environmental and social provisions of BII’s Policy on Responsible Investing. This includes breaches made by BII, a BII investee, or a portfolio company of a fund in which BII has invested. The Reporting and Complaints Mechanism Rules are available here. Reports and complaints can be submitted by email to [email protected] or by mail. See more details on our Reporting and Complaints Mechanism here.

For any other general enquiries contact us at [email protected]

  • Key facts
    Last updated

    When the last quarterly update of the website database occurred.
    :
    June 2024
    Project number

    An identifier number shared by investments in the same project.
    :
    D4278
    Status

    The current status of the investment (green flag for active and red flag for exited).
    :
    Active
    Region

    The geographical region where the country is located. We currently invest in Africa, South Asia, South East Asia and the Caribbean. In 2023, BII’s investment mandate was extended allowing it to invest in regional funds linked to Ukraine, with the majority of activity expected to begin post-war. Investments outside these regions were made prior to 2012 under previous investment mandates.
    :
    South Asia
    Sector

    We prioritise those sectors that facilitate development and need our capital the most. Our priority sectors contribute towards many of the Sustainable Development Goals. They range from investing in the power infrastructure that will provide people with better access to electricity, to investing in financial institutions that direct capital to the individuals and businesses that need it the most.

    :
    Communications & IT services, Consumer - other services, Financial services, Food & Agriculture, Generalist

    We provide capital in the following ways: directly – through direct equity, direct debt, guarantees and other non-intermediated financial instruments; and indirectly – principally through investment funds.

    For direct investments and fund investments, this is the date BII committed capital to the investments. This is typically the date on which legal agreements are signed by all parties.

    For the portfolio companies of our fund investments, this is the date (either the month or the quarter) on which the fund committed capital to the portfolio company.

    For direct equity investments, this is the date at which British International Investment exited the investment.

    For debt investments, this is the date at which the final debt repayment was made.

    For funds, this is the date at which the fund was terminated.

    For underlying fund investments, this is the date at which the fund manager exited the investment.

    The total amount committed, per financial instrument, per investment, on the date BII becomes subject to a binding legal obligation to provide funding or assume a contingent liability. This information is provided in US dollars.

    For direct investments, this is the amount that BII has committed to the business or project. For fund investments, this is the amount BII has committed to the fund.

    The currency in which the investment was made.
    Investment type :
    Fund
    Start date :
    July 2021
    Amount :
    $5m
    Currency of investment :
    USD
    Fund Manager:
    Fatima Gobi Partners
    Domicile

    The company or investment fund’s place of incorporation.
    :
    Cayman Islands

    Click here to read our data guidance

Investments made by this fund into companies:

For further information about these companies, visit https://fatimagobi.vc/

Investment name Country Region Sector Start date Status
Abhi Limited (Abhi) Pakistan South Asia Financial services August 2022 Active
Adal Financial Pakistan South Asia Financial services December 2021 Active
Airlift Technologies Pte Ltd. (“Airlift”) Pakistan South Asia Communications & IT services September 2021 Exited
Colabs Global Pte. Ltd. (Colabs) Pakistan South Asia Generalist August 2022 Active
DealCart Pakistan South Asia Communications & IT services June 2022 Active
Fasset Technology Inc. (Fasset) Pakistan South Asia Financial services August 2022 Active
Intellia Hub Inc.(Intellia) Pakistan South Asia Communications & IT services August 2022 Active
Inventhub Pakistan South Asia Communications & IT services December 2021 Active
Lean Technologies (Lean Tech) Pakistan South Asia Communications & IT services August 2022 Active
Maqsad Pakistan South Asia Communications & IT services December 2021 Active
PriceOye Pakistan South Asia Consumer - other services December 2021 Active
Rider Pakistan South Asia Consumer - other services December 2021 Active
Safepay Pakistan South Asia Communications & IT services December 2021 Active
SastaTicket Pakistan South Asia Communications & IT services August 2022 Active
Savyour Pakistan South Asia Consumer - other services December 2021 Active
TAG Pakistan South Asia Communications & IT services December 2021 Active
Tajir Pakistan South Asia Communications & IT services December 2021 Active
Tazah Technologies Pte. Ltd Pakistan South Asia Food & Agriculture August 2022 Active
Trellis Housing Finance (THF) Pakistan South Asia Financial services December 2021 Active
Truckitin Pte Ltd. (“Truck It In”), Pakistan South Asia Communications & IT services September 2021 Active
Udhaar Pakistan South Asia Communications & IT services December 2021 Active
Wemsol (Private) Limited (“Keenu”), Pakistan South Asia Communications & IT services September 2021 Exited
Zarya Pakistan South Asia Consumer - other services December 2021 Active

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