Plan9 - PITB's Tech Incubator
Plan9 is Pakistan's largest technology incubator, a project of the Punjab Information Technology Board. Launched in August 2012, it was founded by Dr. Umar Saif, Chairman of the Punjab Information Technology Board. Plan9 mainly provides office space, technical equipment, monthly stipend, mentorship, networking opportunities, international exposure and legal advice during 2 six-month incubation cycles every year. All of these facilities are offered free of cost and Plan9 takes no equity in any of its startups. As of Summer 2014, Plan9 has incubated 49 teams of aspiring entrepreneurs and helped them evolve into successful and sustainable startups from mere business IDeaS.
History
After co-founding several startups at the Saif Centre of Innovation, one of the first incubators in Pakistan, Dr. Saif decided to form Pakistan's first public sector technology incubator after being appointed as the Chairman of the Punjab Information Technology Board in November 2011. The project was launched in August 2012 as 'Plan9 – Where Ideas Take Flight' with the aim to instill a culture of technological entrepreneurship in Pakistan and encourage the educated youth to embrace entrepreneurship and become job creators rather than job seekers.
In November 2012, Nabeel Akmal Qadeer joined Plan9 as the program manager and revamped the project into a linchpin of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Pakistan, with a vision to give Pakistan its first billion dollar tech startup.
The name Plan9 is inspired from its namesake operating system released by Bell Labs which despite having failed initially, changed the way local and remote resources were accessed and utilized and became a seed to later operating systems. In the same way, Plan9 Technology Incubator was conceived to be a seed for technological entrepreneurship and startups in Pakistan.
Program
The program comprises an incubation cycle of 6 months twice a year, in which the incubated teams are provided an environment conducive to the creation and growth of a sustainable business. The incubated teams are chosen via back-to-back Launchpads held in three major cities of the country (Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi).
Plan9 provides an average funding of USD $250,000 for all startups in each incubation cycle. In exchange, Plan9 takes absolutely nothing. 8 startups graduated in the first incubation cycle, and the number has been gradually increasing every subsequent cycle. The current cycle has 17 startups.
On January 25, 2014, Plan9 signed an MOU with Blackbox, under which every year two Plan9 startups would be able to attend the Blackbox Connect in the Silicon Valley.
In May 2014, Plan9 formed a partnership with Acumen in order to identify and help social enterprises that use technology to address society's most pressing problems. Under this partnership, at least one team backed by Acumen will be incubated in every cycle.
At the end of the incubation cycle, Plan9 holds a “Demo Day”, whereby the graduated startups are able to showcase their products and do a test-run for them in front of investors, potential clients and journalists.
Plan9 Network Partnership
In February 2014, Plan9 began its network partnership programme with some of the leading universities and institutes in Pakistan in order to replicate the globally validated incubation model of Plan9 across various parts of the country.
Global Recognition
Plan9 startups such as Groopic, XGear, Appography and KickStoro have been able to acquire seed funding from international investors and were selected to join accelerators across the US, South America, Europe and Asia.
Plan9 Alumni
Appography: Mobile app ‘Vivid’ enables users to tackle customer service issues by “ending the endless wait and annoyance of a customer service call”
Tourplanner.pk: Online travel portal that caters to the inbound needs of Pakistani travelers.
Bookme.pk: A premiere online ticketing system where one can easily book cinema and bus tickets.
xGear: Reinvents driving around smartphone to unlock real-time vehicle information.
Baby Planet : An online shopping portal for baby products, operating all over Pakistan.
404 Solutions: Travly - an app that lets you plan out your intra-city travels right from the comfort of your home.
Court Piece: Develops online versions of Pakistan’s traditional social games.
Eyedeus Labs: Groopic- an app that lets the photographer be in the picture. This app attracted significant attention, including a special news feature by CNN and another by Gizmodo.
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