KARACHI (National Times) – A shaky economic situation in the country has taken a grave toll at the Pakistan’s tech ecosystem as it saw a worst drop in funding in fourth quarter of 2022 since the firs the Q1-2020.

A firm that maps Pakistani startups and markets, Data Darbar, in its reports said Pakistan’s startup funding declined by 79.24 on year-on-year basis and over 76% QoQ per cent to $15.15M in Q4-2022.

Meanwhile, the local startup could secure only eight deals in the fourth quarters, registering single digits for the first time since Q2-2020. This was also the worst quarter for the average and median ticket sizes which plunged to $2.53 million and $1.15M, the lowest since Q1-2021, the report said.

The data shows only 11 unique investors, with only one new participant, made deals in Q4-2022, even below that pre-Covid levels.

The funding in the second quarters witnessed drop in the second quarter but it still clocked in at $347.4 million, down 5% from 2021.

E-commerce secured most funding amounting to $190.27 million, with Bazaar, Dastgyr, Retailo, and Jugnu as the leading gainers.

The slowdown did not hit only Pakistan as the startups faced drop in funding globally as it was recorded as $74.5B in Q3-2022, down from $164B in the same period of 2021.