Kalsoom Lakhani

GP @i2i_ventures, Founder @Invest2Innovate. We invest in bold founders solving big probs in Pakistan. Mama to tiny human + pup. ARMY + Gooner 💜❤️🤍 she/her✌🏽

[Kalsoom Lakhani @kalsoom82]

👋 friends. Some news: After 15 years of supporting & strengthening Pakistan's startup ecosystem, @Invest2Innovate , the org I founded in 2011, is shutting its doors and closing this chapter.

(Just so it's clear 😅: @i2i_ventures, the VC fund I run w/ @MizNaQ, is still very much alive & continuing forward.)

This news might feel bittersweet to some, but we wanted to celebrate the legacy of what Invest2Innovate has achieved in the past 15 years: supporting 1200+ founders, 190+ entrepreneurial support orgs in Pakistan & the region, training 200+ angel investors, releasing detailed insights & data-driven reports benchmarking Pakistan's startup ecosystem & its growth, and work that extended beyond PK -- Bangladesh, Nepal, Cambodia, Vietnam, Iraq, Lebanon & more./

[Variety @Variety]

BTS will not submit its music for consideration at next year's #Grammys.

“We have decided not to submit for Grammy consideration this year. We hope our music can be heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language. We thank Army and everyone who has always stood by us," the group said in a statement. https://t.co/1A5D5cjEwr

[Kalsoom Lakhani @kalsoom82]

We're LIVE with Season 2 Ep 3 of our @i2i_ventures podcast The Comparable! In this episode, we dug into the complex sector of trucking 🚛, a key part of the global supply chain, and one of the hardest pieces to innovate/disrupt. ✨

We spotlight @TRUCK_IT_IN in Pakistan & Cargon building from Georgia for the Central Asia/Europe region. Both moved away from the "Uber for Trucks" approach quite quickly, est themselves as market leaders adapted for the nuance of their respective realities.

YouTube: https://t.co/IXqNTYSn2i
Spotify: https://t.co/svl5kfpjLw

[Gracie💙 @Gracie_Blue89]

This has made me so angry 😡

Billions of people watching around the world and Argentina decided to start FIGHTING after the final whistle.

Behaving like this at a World Cup Final, absolutely terrible. They should be ashamed of themselves

#ESPARG #WorldCup

[Arsenal Radar @ArsenalRadar]

🚨 Ian Wright with an important message… Listen closely. 👂#afc

[Kalsoom Lakhani @kalsoom82]

WELP LOOKS LIKE THE GHOSTS OF TEAM USA PAST HAVE COME BACK TO HAUNT US.

[Joseph S Blatter @SeppBlatter]

Red cards are not overturned by political phone calls. They are overturned by rules, evidence and independent bodies. If a U.S. President intervenes with the FIFA President — and a player is suddenly cleared before a World Cup knockout match — the question is unavoidable: Quo vadis, FIFA?

Football must never become a playground for political power. #FIFA #WorldCup #GianniInfantino #DonaldTrump

[Charles Watts @charles_watts]

Just staggering to listen to.

He even calls into question the integrity of a FIFA referee. Will Infantino say something? Of course not.

Urgh, just awful. What a shame.

[Kalsoom Lakhani @kalsoom82]

This @FIFAWorldCup has taken up a lot of real estate in my brain the past few weeks.

As someone who only became an ardent footie fan (@Arsenal forever, COYG 🫶) ~ 6 years ago but is now a rabid follower/consumer of all things football, one thing I wish I paid more attention to when I was a casual (only major tournament) watcher: the MIDFIELDERS.

Most people love strikers because they score goals, and receive (well deserved) glory. But I personally love great midfielders even more -- they're often the ones setting up the play, dictating the tempo of the game, finding the spaces in really tough low blocks. Odegaard did that really well in the Norway v Brazil match yest, for eg. My fave player of the World Cup to watch so far + a great example of this is Michael Olise for France because wow he is SO fun to watch. Keep an eye on him during the next France match because the man is a maestro. 🎶

What are other things casual fans should look out for?

[Kalsoom Lakhani @kalsoom82]

Not all heroes wear capes.

Ladies & gentlemen, my mother. Taking stupidity down, one thread at a time. 😅

[Paklaunch.com @paklaunchdotcom]

Deep Tech, AI & India 🇮🇳🤖

What does it take to build globally competitive deep tech companies from emerging markets? Join this insightful conversation featuring @RishaadVC , General Partner at Golden Sparrow, in discussion with moderator @kalsoom82 , Co-Founder & GP at @i2i_ventures

From AI innovation and venture capital to India’s rapidly evolving startup ecosystem, this session offers valuable perspectives for founders, investors, and anyone interested in the future of technology.

🎥 Watch the full session here: https://t.co/IJbZYPkvFA

💬 What are your thoughts on the future of AI and deep tech in South Asia? Share them in the comments.

#Paklaunch #DeepTech #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #India

[Kalsoom Lakhani @kalsoom82]

We're live with Episode 2 of Season 2 of The Comparable, my @i2i_ventures podcast that spotlights emerging market innovations & the ppl making them a reality. In this episode, I sit down w/ Pedro Arnt, CEO of @dLocalPayments, 1 of the largest payment players for emerging economies (working w/ 60+ countries & 1000+ payment methods!). We talked abt leadership transitions, the complexities of scaling across EMs, working w/ distributed global teams + more. 🌍🚀💸

YouTube: https://t.co/fyuZ4lVoA5
Spotify: https://t.co/nuWn4ZQx3K

[Kalsoom Lakhani @kalsoom82]

@MohidulAlamX @i2i_ventures @OraseyaCapital @userevora @AnchorlessBD @F6_Ventures @Hi2Global @OrbitVenturesVC @SallaApp 🚀

[Kalsoom Lakhani @kalsoom82]

Excited for @i2i_ventures to co-lead a $2M seed round w/ @OraseyaCapital in @userevora (fka MyAlice) alongside @AnchorlessBD, @F6_Ventures, Conjunction Capital, @Hi2Global, @OrbitVenturesVC & strategic angels (like the co-founder of @SallaApp!).

Revora is the AI-native operating layer ecommerce merchants need to acquire, convert, support, and retain customers. In the last 12 to 18 months, they've grown 10x with Saudi Arabia as their main market. This raise lets them go deeper into KSA and across MENAP, and keep building the AI brain ecommerce merchants run on.

More on why we backed them: https://t.co/GctEGyiIJ0

[Kalsoom Lakhani @kalsoom82]

@Huk06 See I was wary of that slippery slope so just kept going until I gave in halfway and she looked like a crazy person at school but it's fine whatever she's 3.

[Kalsoom Lakhani @kalsoom82]

I have a masters degree in conflict resolution. I like to think this background has made me pretty good at mediations and negotiations.

Until I had a kid.

On Monday, my 3 year old wanted to wear her swimsuit to school. There was no reason for this, other than she wanted to.

I tried every negotiation tactic I knew. She just doubled down. No reasoning worked. She'd listen, then double down again.

After a 40 min deliberation, she went to school in the top half of her swimsuit, paired with shorts. I'm pretty sure we both lost the negotiation, and it was a very humbling experience. 😅

[Kalsoom Lakhani @kalsoom82]

@umachingunde She's less of a good negotiator and more just unwilling to negotiate!

[Kalsoom Lakhani @kalsoom82]

@themoridwan @i2i_ventures @OraseyaCapital @userevora @AnchorlessBD @F6_Ventures @Hi2Global @OrbitVenturesVC @SallaApp Agreed!

[Arsenal @Arsenal]

Happy one-month anniversary since Arsenal became 25/26 Premier League champions 🏆