Patari, a Plan9/X alumni and one of Pakistan’s most celebrated startup, is scaling new heights in unparalleled fashion with every passing day. Much more than just a regular streaming site, it plays home to some of the most glorious music made in Pakistan, both past and present, legally and with pride. Expanding its self further, the site now includes several podcasts on a range of subjects and is constantly updating its music library.
The signing event in Lahore was attended by team Patari, Dr. Umar Saif, Chairman PITB, Rabeel Warraich, the founder of Sarmayacar and others.
The announcement was made at a signing event in Lahore.
Patari, a Plan9/X alumni and one of Pakistan’s most celebrated startup, is scaling new heights in unparalleled fashion with every passing day. Much more than just a regular streaming site, it plays home to some of the most glorious music made in Pakistan, both past and present, legally and with pride. Expanding its self further, the site now includes several podcasts on a range of subjects and is constantly updating its music library.
For these reasons and more, we’re not surprised with Patari’s announcement that “it has secured US$ 200,000 of seed stage funding from Sarmayacar, an investor syndicate”.
According to a press statement, the announcement of the details was made on Friday at a signing event in Lahore, which featured Patari’s team, including its founders and current employees. It was also attended by Dr. Umar Saif, Chairman PITB, Nabeel A. Qadeer, Director Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development; as well as Rabeel Warraich, the founder of Sarmayacar, and other members of the syndicate.
Speaking on this significant occasion, Khalid Bajwa, the CEO of Patari, said: “Our success at Patari had been based on innovating quality products and investing in music. Our partnership with Sarmayacar will allow us to scale up and truly unleash the massive potential inherent in Pakistani music.”
Dr. Umar Saif, Chairman PITB, speaking about the startup culture, said: “What started as an idea a few years ago has now spread like a wildfire across the country. Witnessing the remarkable growth of this startup culture and majorly being a part of it feels amazing.”
He added: “While I would encourage startups to be completely forthright, honest, transparent and responsible with regards to investor money, the investors need to be patient and responsible with the startups too. They must realize that startups may falter and fail and that they must keep them motivated to make them rock stars.”
Ahmer Naqvi, the director of content at Patari said that “before Patari, the two truisms of the local music industry were that no one adheres to copyrights, and no one pays royalties. We were able to show that both can be done, and as such our story is a story of success not just for the music industry, but also an example of how Pakistanis are creating world-class tech products.”
Since arriving with its beta service in April 2015 via a “guerrilla marketing campaign that quickly went viral” and launching in September 2015, Patari has rolled out mobile apps for iOS and Android in addition to its website and has picked up several accolades along the way. Lauded for compliance to copyright laws, Patari won over the artist community after announcing Rs. 1.25 million in royalty payouts.
Earlier this year, Patari became the first digital partner from Pakistan in tech giant Facebook’s F8 program. It also secured several high-profile musical releases, including the exclusive digital rights to releases by artists like Noori, Mooroo, Uzair Jaswal and the soundtracks for films like Ho Mann Jahaan and Bin Roye. It also released an EP called Patari Aslis, which comprised of original tracks by indie artists funded by Patari.
