Bangladesh's technology scene is changing rapidly. New startups are entering the space at regular intervals. It will take few more years to mature but for now it is growing pretty fast. People are central to any big change and it is no different for Bangladesh's tech industry. We have tried to find out tech entrepreneurs who are directly and indirectly contributing to moving Dhaka's tech scene forward.
Many of these are common names that come up when people talk about Bangladesh’s fledgling tech startup scene but many names are new. Some have already built and sold successful companies while others are building multimillion dollar companies and some are just starting out. Either way, these are the people who saw things coming before almost everyone else, took chances, and ventured into uncharted territory.
We have tried to put together a list purely to see where Bangladesh’s tech scene is heading toward. This list is no ranking and neither the list is organized in any particular order.
This is a subjective list about people who have built important things, put examples for others to move forward, and who are building exciting technology ventures in Bangladesh while also contributing to the ecosystem.
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Kamal S. Quadir
CEO-bKash
Founder, CellBazaar
FSindex Profile
Kamal S. Quadir was founder of CellBazaar, an electronic marketplace which, which was acquired by Norwegian telecommunications operator Telenor in 2010 and rebranded as Ekhanei.com this year. Kamal is the co-founder and CEO of country’s largest mobile money company bKash.
He is a TED Fellow, a First Mover Fellow of The Aspen Institute and a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. This year Kamal has been named as the Schwab Foundation's Social Entrepreneur of the Year.
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Fahim Mashroor
Co-founder and CEO- BDjobs.com
Co-founder and CEO- Ajkerdeal.com
Co-founder- Beshto
FSindex Profile
Fahim Mashroor is the Bangladesh’s first successful dotcom entrepreneur. His company BDjobs.com started back in 2000 and became a huge success later on. In 2014, BDjobs was valued at BDT 130 Crore when Seek International bought 25% at the company. Later on Fahim went on to found Ajkerdeal, and Beshto.
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Iraj Islam
Co-founder, NewsCred
FSindex Profile
Iraj Islam is the co-founder of NewsCred, world’s leader in content marketing. Raised in Sweden, Iraj ventured back to Bangladesh during the early days of NewsCred. Founded in 2008 by Shafqat Islam, Iraj Islam and Asif Rahman, NewsCred raised more than USD 90 million from top-tier Silicon Valley venture capitalists and is today the world's leading content marketing platform.
Iraj was named one of Sweden's top 3 entrepreneurs by Swedish magazine InternetWorld in 2006. He was also named in the Silicon Alley 100 2012 by US publication Business Insider.
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Shameem Ahsan
Co-founder, Akhoni.com
General Partner, Fenox Venture
FSindex Profile
Shameem Ahsan is the CEO of Akhoni.com, one of early ecommerce startups in the country. He is also President of BASIS, the highest body IT entrepreneurs in the country. Previously, he founded eGeneration Ltd. and Benchmark-eGeneration Ltd.
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Mahmudul Hasan Sohag
Founder and Chairman, Onnorokom Group
FSindex Profile
Mahmudul Hasan Sohag is the Founder and Chairman of Onnorokom Group, one of the fastest growing new generation companies in Bangladesh. There are around seven entities under Onnorokom umbrella.
Sohag is one of the most successful and extraordinarly entrepreneurs Bangladesh has seen in recent years and is known for his visionary thinking and for his distinct approach to doing business.
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Waseem Alim
Founder, Chaldal
FSindex Profile
Waseem Alim is the co-founder and CEO of ChalDal, Inc. Founded in 2013, Chaldal graduated from Y Combinator this year and raised fund from 500 Startups and few notable Silicon Valley venture firms.
Before Chaldal, Waseem worked as Director of Product Strategy at Sigfig, a Silicon Valley financial technology startup and Director of Product Development at Nvest.
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Muhammad Nazimuddaula
Co-founder and CEO, G&R
FSindex Profile
Nazimuddaula is one of the few early internet entrepreneurs of Bangladesh. G&R started its journey back in 2009 but not exactly as what it is today. After trying and failing to build few internet businesses, G&R finally settled to become an Ad Network back in 2010. It took the company almost six years to become what it is today. The company has grown rapidly during past few years.
Early this year Genex Infosys Ltd acquired G&R and the company became part of a larger empire.
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Zakaria Swapan
Founder and CEO, Priyo
FSindex Profile
Returning from USA, Zakaria Swapan started Priyo.com back in 2011 with a very small team. With its controversial approach, the media startup has soon become a major destination for internet content in Bengali. In 2014, Priyo received an undisclosed amount of investment from Silicon Valley based Venture Capital firm Fenox Venture.
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Ivy Huq Russell
Founder, Maya
FSindex Profile
Ivy Huq Russell, a former investment banker, Founded Maya with a vision to empower women through giving them access to information and a shared community. After beta launch in September 2011, Maya is now a home to Bangladeshi women seeking community, advice, and support for a better life.
Last year, Maya launched Maya Apa, an app where anyone can ask and get personalized solutions for their problems. Born and grew up in Chittagong, Ivy went to Scholastica, Dhaka for her O and A level and then she went off to study in the UK where she worked in Finance.
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Maliha M Quadir
Founding Managing Director, Shohoz.com
FSindex Profile
Maliha is the founding managing director of Shohoz.com, country’s first and fastest growing online ticketing platform. Started back in 2014, Shohoz has received venture funding from Fenox, and Singapore based Sengel Venture and has expanded its service in hotel booking as well. Recently, we have seen few new players in the market posing potential threat to Shohoz.
However, Bangladesh market is pretty big to accommodate multiple ticketing companies and Shohoz has been able to position itself strongly in the market.
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Sabbir Rahman Tanim
Co-founder, 3rd Bell
FSindex Profile
Sabbir Rahman Tanim is co-founder and CEO of 3rdBell, one of the Bangladesh’s fastest growing video streaming sites in Dhaka. Started early 2014, 3rdBell recently raised an undisclosed amount from few local investors.
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Zahidul Amin
CEO And CO-Founder, Chorki.com
FSindex Profile
Zahidul Amin is the CEO of Chorki, a recently launched local search engine. Since its start early this year, Chorki has been doing great work and launched multiple products. Before Chorki, Zahid worked at Social Enterprise Dnet as CTO.
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Mohammad Abdul Matin Emon
Co-founder and CEO, Doctorola
FSindex Profile
Mohammad Abdul Matin Emon is the Founder and CEO of Doctorola, a startup aims to disrupt the healthcare industry in Banhladesh. Emon has an astounding body of work. Previously, he started successful businesses, worked as CIO in a few leading local and international organizations, and also had taste of his share of failure in business. Doctorola just raised BDT 20m from BD Venture Limited.
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Md. Shofiul Alam
Co-founder and CEO, Belancer
Shofiul is the Co-founder and CEO of the country’s first local freelancing marketplace. Started back in 2014, Belancer is one of the fastest growing startups in Dhaka.
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This list is far from complete. Please let us know if we missed anyone doing great work.
