The Ministry of Information Technology launched the Pakistan Startup Fund on Tuesday with the aim of lowering the risk for aspiring entrepreneurs.

The government has big hopes for the project and will invest Rs2 billion in it each year with the hope of getting Rs10 billion in foreign investment.

IT Minister Umar Saif said that the project hopes to bring a total of Rs50 billion in Pakistan’s startup ecosystem.

Speaking to the media after the launch, Saif said that investors can be driven away if the risk involved in the nascent stage of a startup is too high.

He added that the government will invest upto 30% in startups so the risk can come down.

The minister added that Pakistan does not have a single unicorn but there were enough good startups that could get there in the right conditions.

He said that almost $800-850 million dollars have been invested into startups in recent years and there were 85 incubators in the country.

Saif said that Pakistan often has to look towards lenders for as little as $1 billion but startups is where the real solution for Pakistan’s economy lies.