{"id":26775,"date":"2025-12-10T01:44:29","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T01:44:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=26775"},"modified":"2025-12-10T01:44:40","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T01:44:40","slug":"saudi-is-now-logical-second-market-for-pakistani-founders-says-sarmayacar-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=26775","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Saudi is now logical second market for Pakistani founders,\u2019 says Sarmayacar chief"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong><em>Saudi Arabia, propelled by Vision 2030, is the gravitational centre of the region, says Rabeel Warraich<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/channel\/UCFWx0mweS7ExXjs3s_wH0CQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BusinessRecorder\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/businessrecorder\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/brecordernews\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.brecorder.com\/feeds\/latest-news\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><strong>Sarmayacar\u2019s expansion into Saudi Arabia marks a natural next step for Pakistan\u2019s first institutional venture capital (VC), backed by a \u2018core thesis\u2019 proven at home and a regional landscape that has shifted significantly.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After investing in 24 companies, reviewing over 2,000 deals, securing exits to Middle Eastern buyers, and registering returns, Rabeel Warraich, founder and CEO of Sarmayacar, believes that Pakistan has validated the company\u2019s ability to produce real companies with real returns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.brecorder.com\/news\/40328602\/pakistani-venture-sarmayacar-says-green-climate-fund-pledges-15-million\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Pakistani venture Sarmayacar says Green Climate Fund pledges $15 million<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brecorder.com\/news\/40396067#\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>At the same time, Saudi Arabia, propelled by Vision 2030, has moved from being interesting to becoming the gravitational centre of the region, pulling capital, regulation, talent and industrial policy toward technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFor Sarmayacar, the move isn\u2019t a pivot but a response to market gravity,\u201d Warraich told&nbsp;<em>Business Recorder<\/em>, who believes that \u201cformalising this corridor is now the logical next step\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Citing examples of startups like ABHI, which have scaled up their operations in the Kingdom, \u201cSaudi is now the logical second market\u201d for founders seeking large businesses, says Warriach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.brecorder.com\/news\/40383544\/earned-wage-access-services-saudi-tray-partners-with-pakistans-abhi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Earned wage access services: Saudi TRAY partners with Pakistan\u2019s ABHI<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur expansion simply formalises a corridor that our best startups are already running.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Recently, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia\u2019s bilateral ties have shifted from mere financial support to a more integrated strategic economic partnership, marked by the launch of a new<a href=\"https:\/\/www.brecorder.com\/news\/40389664\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&nbsp;Economic Cooperation Framework&nbsp;<\/a>in late 2025 to boost investment, trade and development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sarmayacar wants to act as a bridge between the two countries, taking Pakistani products \u201cthat are already validated and help them localise, get regulated and sell in Saudi Arabia\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat means going beyond capital and actually doing the permission-ing and relationship work that matters in the Kingdom,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the other side, the VC also backs budding Saudi startups by plugging them into Pakistan as a cost-efficient testing ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cPakistan lets you iterate fast, hire the right talent, generate traction and pressure test unit economics before you deploy heavy capital inside Saudi.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.brecorder.com\/news\/40395151\/ksa-singapore-germany-japan-who-should-pakistans-freelancers-and-it-firms-target\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>KSA, Singapore, Germany, Japan: who should Pakistan\u2019s freelancers and IT firms target?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Warraich believes Saudi companies become more regionally competitive when they use Pakistan as the efficiency layer and Saudi Arabia as the value capture layer. \u201cThat is a real corridor. That is how regional champions are built.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the corridor only works if you understand how both ecosystems think, operate, and regulate. This is where Sarmayacar comes in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve done this for real. We exited a Pakistan logistics player to a Middle Eastern strategic buyer. We helped ABHI scale in the GCC and acquire a bank; we\u2019ve navigated the most sensitive regulatory stakeholders on both sides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe are building a local operating presence in Saudi Arabia and taking a collaborative partnership approach with leading Saudi GPs so we bring our relative strengths together,\u201d Warraich said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pakistan averted an imminent sovereign default in mid-2023 through a last-minute deal with the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.brecorder.com\/news\/40391011\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">International Monetary Fund (IMF)<\/a>&nbsp;and support from friendly nations, including KSA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, Sarmayacar explained that Pakistan\u2019s macroeconomic turbulence and the global VC slowdown are not the drivers behind its shift to Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cPakistan is still where you can build products, iterate quickly and hire talent efficiently. That advantage has not gone away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhat has changed is that Saudi Arabia is now where value is actually being captured because that\u2019s where purchasing power and pro-tech policy momentum sit today. So connecting those two markets is not a hedge, it\u2019s the logical way to unlock more value for founders,\u201d said Warraich.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reference Link:- <a href=\"https:\/\/www.brecorder.com\/news\/40396067\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.brecorder.com\/news\/40396067<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sarmayacar\u2019s expansion into Saudi Arabia marks a natural next step for Pakistan\u2019s first institutional venture capital (VC), backed by a \u2018core thesis\u2019 proven at home and a regional landscape that has shifted significantly. After investing in 24 companies, reviewing over 2,000 deals, securing exits to Middle Eastern buyers, and registering returns, Rabeel Warraich, founder and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[23860,2076,11208,483,24049,2906],"class_list":["post-26775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sample-category","tag-bilateral-relations-3","tag-economy-2","tag-investment-2","tag-pakistan-2","tag-saudi-arabia-3","tag-trade-2","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26775"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26777,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26775\/revisions\/26777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}