Pakistan, June 1 -- In 2021, money seemed to fall from the sky. Pakistani startups raised a record $347 million across 82 deals, with the grocery-delivery company Airlift alone pulling in an $85 million round - at the time the largest in the country's history. The mood was euphoric. Incubators multiplied, co-working spaces filled up, and a generation of young founders convinced themselves that Karachi and Lahore were the next frontier in global tech.

Two years later, the same ecosystem had nearly stopped breathing. Funding cratered by roughly 90 per cent, collapsing to barely $30 million. Airlift shut down. TAG, once a fintech darling, imploded. The euphoria curdled into a question that should interest anyone who cares about how poor cou...