Khalid Bajwa, CEO of Patari, a Pakistani music streaming platform has announced that the company has secured US$ 200,000 of seed stage funding from Sarmayacar, an inavestor syndicate. Patari is a a Plan9/X alumni. The announcement was made at the signing event in Lahore.
While talking about the seed investment, Mr. Bajwa said:
“Our success at Patari had been based on innovating quality products and investing in music. Our partnership with Sarmaycar will allow us to scale up and truly unleash the massive potential inherent in Pakistani music.”
The event was also attended by Dr. Umar Saif, Chairman PITB who relaying his best wishes said:
“What started as an idea a few years ago has now spread like a wildfire across the country. Witnessing the remarkable growth of this startup culture and majorly being a part of it feels amazing. Investors believing in the passion and entrepreneurial skills of this young lot, confirms that this culture is here to stay for a long period of time. I wish Patari and emerging startups a successful and prosperous future.”
He further advised the startups and investors and said:
“While I would encourage startups to be completely forthright, honest, transparent and responsible with regards to investor money, the investors need to patient and responsible with the startups too. They must realize that startups may falter and fail and that they must keep them motivated to make them rock stars.”
The event was also attended by Nabeel A. Qadeer, Director Entrepreneurship, and Enterprise Development; as well as Rabeel Warraich, the founder of Sarmayacar, and other members of the syndicate.
Patari is a remarkable music streaming service that has many notable awards to its name. With the launch of its Beta service in April 2015, their guerilla marketing campaign went viral. The platform was officially launched in September 2015 with mobile apps for android, iOS along with their own official website. The music streaming service is adamant on boosting the local Pakistani music scene and has shown compliance to copyright laws, and won over the artist community after announcing Rs. 1.25 million in royalty payouts.
Ahmer Naqvi, the director of content at Patari said:
“Before Patari, the two truisms of the local music industry were that no one adheres to copyrights, and no one pays royalties. We were able to show that both can be done, and as such our story is a story of success not just for the music industry, but also an example of how Pakistanis are creating world-class tech products.”
Earlier this year, The music streaming service had become the first digital partners from Pakistan in tech giant Facebook’s F8 program, allowing greater compatibility for Patari products within the Facebook platform. The company also participated in Facebook’s Music Stories that allowed listeners to preview songs while still staying within their Facebook app or web page. The service won the mBillionth award in India, the US Embassy in Pakistan’s Startup Cup and placed second in the World Startup Cup.
Patari has also secured several high-profile musical releases, including the exclusive digital rights to releases by artists like Noori, Mooroo, Uzair Jaswal and the soundtracks for films like Ho Mann Jahan and Bin Roye. It also released an EP called ‘Patari Aslis’, which comprised of original tracks by indie artists funded by Patari. One of the songs on the EP, Mehdi Maloof’s Do Hi Rastay Hain, went onto be nominated for a Lux Style Award.
Sarmayacar, the investor syndicate investing in Patari, primarily focuses on angel and seed stage investments, and Patari is its first partner. Rabeel Waraich, founder of Sarmayacar while talking about their decision to fund Patari said:
“Our focus isn’t only on startups as a business prospect, but on ventures that harness the inclusive growth of the Pakistani economy as well. We chose Patari because it is a startup driven by a dynamic team that will help revitalize the waning music industry of Pakistan. With Patari’s platform, we hope to propel the upcoming music scene to new heights and bring back the golden era of Pakistani music.”
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