South Asia Investor Review

Afiniti and Careem are two technology unicorns engineered in Pakistan by Pakistanis. AI (artificial intelligence) startup Afiniti software has largely been engineered in Lahore while taxi hailing service Careem's technology has mostly been developed in Karachi. Here's more about these unicorns: Careem: Careem is a taxi hailing app that is giving its American competitor  Uber  a run for its money in a region stretching from Pakistan to the Middle East and North Africa. The company cofounded by Mudassir Sheika, a Pakistani national, is headquartered in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Careem's last round  was valued at over a billion dollars when it raised $350 million from Japanese e-commerce firm Rakuten and Saudi Telecom Company (STC) at the end of 2016, according to  Tech Crunch . Careem's software has been developed by its technology partner  VentureDive  based in Karachi, Pakistan.  VentureDive was started by serial Pakistani entrepreneur...

Washington D.C. based AI technology firm Afiniti, founded by serial Pakistani-American entrepreneur  Zia Chishti , has filed for initial public offering (IPO) at $1.6 billion valuation, according to VentureBeat. Zia Chishti founded his first company  Align Technology  in 1997 in  Silicon Valley . It creates clear plastic braces for straightening teeth by using advanced 3-D computer imaging. The technology now trademarked as  Invisalign  has  helped millions of people  straighten their teeth for a beautiful smile without enduring the pain and unsightly looks of the traditional steel brackets and wires used in orthodontics. Align Technology is now valued at $10 billion. Afiniti: Afiniti  uses artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to enable real-time, optimized pairing of individual call center agents with individual customers in large enterprises for best results. When a customer contacts a call center, Afiniti matches his or her phone ...