South Asia Investor Review

Securiti.ai has been named "Most Innovative Startup" at RSA Conference in San Francisco, according to media reports. It has been founded by Rehan Jalil, a serial  Silicon Valley  entrepreneur of Pakistani origin who graduated from  NED University  located in Karachi. Jalil's startup is taking advantage of the growing global data privacy market being fueled by new regulations like European Union's GDPR and California's CCPA. In a statement issued after winning the RSA award, Jalil said: “Privacy is a basic human right, and companies want to honor individual rights of privacy and data protection. Privacy compliance and operations are only getting more complex for businesses around the world, and we’re humbled that the judges recognized our vision for AI-powered PrivacyOps and data protection.” L to  R: Shahjahan Chaudhry, Jahan Ara, Riaz Haq, Rehan Jalil Securiti.ai , a startup that recently raised $50 million in series B funding, is using artificial inte...

Hundreds of Pakistanis and Pakistani-Americans attended Pakistan Tech Summit 2020 at Draper University in San Mateo, California on February 15, 2020. It was organized by Arzish Azam of Ejad Labs with sponsorships from JS Bank, Netsol, VisionX, Pakistan IT ministry, Pakistan National IT Board and Pakistan Software Exports Board. This event came after a recent report in Germany's  Deutsche Welle  (DW) by Miriam Partington who wrote in a story titled "Pakistan: The next big Asian market for tech startups?" that "Pakistan's young and tech-savvy population, market of over 220 million people and increasing levels of local capital are creating opportunities for tech entrepreneurs". Pakistan Tech Summit: At this conference, I was really encouraged by the presence of many young Pakistan entrepreneurs eager to realize the vision of Digital Pakistan. Enthusiasm is necessary but not sufficient. What is missing is serious attention to attract more risk capital to sup...

Thirty-eight year-old Mayor Pete Buttigieg (بو دجاج)  of a small Indiana town of South Bend has so far been the biggest surprise with his surge in Democratic Party primaries for the presidential nomination this year. His strong showing among the top two candidates in Iowa and New Hampshire has been as much of a shock to the pundits as the poor performance of former Vice President Joe Biden who is also seeking the nomination. Mayor Pete is now beginning to get more scrutiny by media pundits and commentators. Mayor Pete's Last Name: Mayor Pete Buttigieg, 38,  is Maltese-American. His last name literally means "father of chicken".  His parents came from Malta, a small Mediterranean island close to Sicily and North Africa.  His last name is in Maltese, a language strongly influenced by Arabic. It is attributed to settlers from Sicily where Siculo-Arabic was spoken after the island was conquered by the Fatimids from Egypt in the 9th century AD. Buttigieg's Sexual ...

Aqsa Ajmal, a graduate of Pakistan's National University of Science and Technology, is among six finalists for Lexus Design Award 2020 for industrial design.  Each of these finalists will receive 3 million Yen (over $25,000) in funding and mentorship in an exclusive program in New York City under the guidance of prominent design leaders from a variety of design fields. Pursewit Sewing Machine. Source: Lexus Aqsa's entry is named Pursewit. The device provides an easier way to incorporate sewing skills into income generation for the blind who rely upon touch and other senses. The thread path is much more simplified and streamlined; the user follows a straight, outlined path from the spool pin to the machine’s arm and through a loop, then down to the needle. The machine provides feedback at each step to ensure the process is completed, according to Lexus. Aqsa Ajmal. Photo Credit Lexus Aqsa's entry ranked among the top 6 from 2,042 submissions from 79 countries. T...