Investor Profile: i2i Ventures — Thesis, Cheque Size & How to Apply

Pakistan's first female-founded institutional fund investing exclusively in Pakistani entrepreneurs, i2i Ventures is the investment arm of Invest2Innovate, an ecosystem builder that has worked in Pakistan since 2011. Co-founded by Kalsoom Lakhani and Misbah Naqvi, the fund was launched to close a specific gap: promising Pakistani technology founders who struggled to find a committed early-stage partner with the patience and networks to help them scale beyond seed.

Investment thesis

The thesis combines commercial ambition with a gender lens. i2i Ventures invests in technology-enabled Pakistani startups and takes what it calls a smart-investing approach, engaging closely with early-stage founders and their teams to build ventures positioned for scale. It places particular emphasis on women-focused ventures alongside its broader early-stage mandate.

Sectors and stages

Its focus is early-stage technology across a wide set of sectors, including software, financial technology, retail and e-commerce, logistics, the internet of things, clean technology, artificial intelligence, big data and the future of work. On stage, it invests at pre-seed, seed and Series A, with a stated commitment to backing founders at seed level and supporting them as they grow towards post-seed and Series A rounds.

Fund size and cheque size

The fund launched with $15 million, announced alongside its first investment, and its first phase was supported by the Dutch Good Growth Fund's Investment Fund for Local SMEs, alongside high-net-worth individuals from the United States, East Asia and the Middle East. Third-party profiles put its investment range at $100,000 to $10 million, with a sweet spot around $1 million.

Notable portfolio

Its portfolio illustrates the breadth of the mandate. Reported names include CreditBook, a bookkeeping platform for small merchants; Abhi, a consumer-finance company offering earned-wage access; Safepay, a payments company; DealCart, a grocery and retail platform; Swag Kicks, a sneakers retailer; Tazah, an agriculture supply-chain company; Rider, a logistics company; Metric, a digital accounting app; TelloTalk, a messaging platform; ezBike, an electric-mobility company; Truck It In, a trucking marketplace; Edkasa, an education company; and Oraan, a financial-services company. Its very first investment was Mauqa Online, an Islamabad-based on-demand platform for domestic services, backed with a six-figure seed round.

Programs and support

Beyond capital, founders gain access to the wider Invest2Innovate ecosystem. Its i2iScale programme is a bespoke, execution-focused, 12-week online accelerator for post-revenue startups ready to grow, fundraise or scale, and its Investor Founder Discovery Platform (IFDP) is designed to match startups with investors by stage, business model and instrument. It does not publish a credits or perks catalogue, so founders should ask what non-cash support is available at term-sheet stage rather than assuming it.

How to apply for funding

For founders wondering how to get funding from i2i Ventures, the practical route runs through the Invest2Innovate ecosystem rather than a single open fund portal. Create a profile on the Investor Founder Discovery Platform (IFDP) via invest2innovate.com, explore the i2iScale accelerator if you are post-revenue, and seek a warm introduction through the network, since the fund's own history is rooted in mentoring and ecosystem relationships. i2i Ventures funding rewards founders who treat the investor as a long-term partner, not just a cheque.