Reporting snapshot · 22 September 2026. Pakistan and the United States formally opened the Innovation Hive, a startup platform run by the United States Educational Foundation in Pakistan (USEFP), at a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Islamabad on Monday, 21 September, with coverage published in Pakistani national newspapers on Tuesday, 22 September. The account of the launch and the quoted remarks rest on the Associated Press of Pakistan wire report and on coverage by Dawn, The Express Tribune and Daily Times; the figures cited are the minister's as reported.
What happened
Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja and US Chargé d’Affaires Natalie Baker formally inaugurated The Innovation Hive at the United States Educational Foundation in Pakistan (USEFP) in Islamabad on Monday, 21 September, cutting the ribbon at a ceremony attended by officials including STEPI Pakistan chief executive Dr Mazhar H. Qureshi and USEFP alumni affairs director Mazhar Awan, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan and The Express Tribune.
The Innovation Hive is a permanent platform housed at USEFP’s building in Islamabad’s H-8 sector, designed to connect Pakistan’s emerging entrepreneurs with American expertise, technology, networks and markets. Baker said the platform would connect more than 250 American mentors with entrepreneurs at every stage over its first year and that the US government would invest to support top Pakistani entrepreneurs. “Talent exists everywhere in Pakistan; it just needs a place where opportunity can find it,” she said.
Addressing the ceremony, Khawaja described the Hive not merely as a building or an office but as a “strong bridge” that would give Pakistani entrepreneurs direct access to the US market and investors without having to leave the country. “The US market you want to reach is no longer across the ocean; its address is now in Islamabad,” she told the gathering.
What the Innovation Hive offers
Dawn reported that the Hive gives emerging entrepreneurs direct access to American expertise, technology and networks, and is built to turn business ideas into lasting success. Monthly “Links and Leads” sessions will bring entrepreneurs together with mentors and peers, regular “demo days” will give Pakistani startups a stage to showcase their products to wider audiences, and online certificate programmes will sharpen the practical business skills founders need, the newspaper said.
The platform extends USEFP’s traditional role, for decades focused on Pakistani students studying in the United States, into entrepreneurship.
Tech exports and the US market
Khawaja used the ceremony to set out the state of Pakistan’s technology economy. She said Pakistan’s IT and telecom exports were growing 20 to 21 per cent annually, with more than half of the country’s technology exports now directed to the United States, making it the sector’s strongest partner, according to Daily Times.
She described the US as Pakistan’s largest export market overall, accounting for around 20 per cent of total exports during fiscal year 2025-26, and said bilateral trade exceeded eight billion dollars in 2025. Under the Pakistan-US trade framework that followed the trade agreement reached in July 2025, US import duties on IT services, textiles and other sectors were reduced, and Pakistan abolished its five per cent Digital Services Tax as a goodwill gesture, she added.
The minister pointed to the growing physical presence of US technology companies as evidence of confidence in the market. Google welcomed a Chromebook assembly line in Pakistan last year and opened an office this year, Apple appointed its first head of government affairs for Pakistan, based in the country, and the Silicon Valley accelerator Plug and Play has joined the startup ecosystem.
Startup funding: second round of the Pakistan Startup Fund
Khawaja used the occasion to give an update on the Pakistan Startup Fund, the government’s equity-free grant programme run under the Ministry of IT and Telecommunication and executed by Ignite, the national technology fund. The fund, launched about two years ago, provides up to 30 per cent of an investment round without taking government equity and has begun disbursing to startups.
The second round, she said, would be more ambitious. The government would provide a minimum $10 million seed grant, while the World Bank and other development partners would support the creation of a larger anchor fund, with the aim of attracting international capital and eventually developing the programme into a fund of funds. “I am quite adamant that the government of Pakistan will not be managing the fund,” she said, adding that leading global fund managers would be brought in to run it to build confidence among international venture investors.
The minister also cited the existing support structure: through nine National Incubation Centres, Ignite has supported more than 2,350 startups and created over 185,000 employment opportunities, and a new incubation centre for women founders has recently been established. She said the combined enterprise value of Pakistan’s venture-capital-funded startups had exceeded four billion dollars, with startups raising $74.2 million in funding in 2025 and funding for companies founded or co-founded by women rising from $5.5 million in 2024 to $10.1 million in 2025. The Special Technology Zones Authority provides technology and AI companies with ten-year tax and customs incentives.
Khawaja said the initiatives were part of a wider digital push under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who she said had directed that digital technology and telecommunications become “the core foundation” of the economy, an enabler across all sectors rather than a standalone vertical.
Why it matters
The launch is a concrete addition to the Pakistan-US technology relationship at a moment when the two governments are expanding commercial engagement. For Pakistani startups, the Hive provides a physical channel to American mentors, investors and markets that previously required going abroad, and it runs alongside other government efforts to attract international capital, such as the investment push outlined for Pakistan’s technology sector.
The timing is notable: it came the day before the 28th ITCN Asia, Pakistan’s premier technology exhibition, opened in Karachi, and in the same week senior ministers were at the UN General Assembly in New York. The minister’s figures also carry weight: exports growing 20 to 21 per cent annually, with more than half flowing to a single market, is growth but also a concentration that depends on the health of the US economy and its demand for Pakistani services.
What is still uncertain
The most immediate open questions concern what the Hive will actually deliver. The 250-mentor target and the commitment of US government investment were announced at the ceremony, but no timeline for the first cohorts, selection criteria or investment size had been published when this article was prepared. Similarly, the second round of the Pakistan Startup Fund was described as “more ambitious,” with a $10 million seed grant and World Bank support under discussion, but the closure of the anchor fund, its final size, and the identity of the professional fund managers had not been confirmed.
As with all such reporting, this is a dated snapshot. The remarks and figures quoted are those of officials at the ceremony as reported by the wire service and the newspapers; the figures on exports, trade and startup funding were not independently verified by KhabarWire.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a synthesis of published material, not eyewitness reporting. Sources were reviewed on 22 September 2026. The account of the launch, the quoted remarks and the sectoral figures rest on the Associated Press of Pakistan wire report and on coverage by Dawn, The Express Tribune and Daily Times published on 21-22 September; the figures quoted are the minister's as reported and were not independently verified.
- Associated Press of Pakistan — Shaza formally inaugurates 'The Innovation Hive' established by USEFP21 September 2026 · Primary record of the inauguration, the attendees, the minister's statement on the Hive as a bridge to the US market, the export, trade, startup funding and tax figures, and the visits at the end of the ceremony.
- The Express Tribune — New platform opens US market to startups22 September 2026 · Independent confirmation of the launch, Baker's remarks on 250 mentors and US investment, the US export-share and trade figures, and the Startup Fund, Ignite and STZA details.
- Dawn — USEFP inaugurates Innovation Hive22 September 2026 · Independent report on the Hive's purpose, the 250 mentors and US investment commitment, and the planned monthly "Links and Leads" sessions, demo days and online certificate programmes.
- Daily Times — IT, telecom exports growing 20-21pc annually, says minister22 September 2026 · Independent account of the minister's remarks on 20-21 per cent annual export growth, the US share of tech exports, the presence of Google, Apple and Plug and Play, the Pakistan Startup Fund second round and its planned anchor fund.
