Meet Shadiyana, the startup transforming how Pakistan plans weddings.
Pakistan’s fast-growing wedding-tech ecosystem just got a major boost. Shadiyana, the Islamabad-based startup simplifying how Pakistan plans weddings, has raised $800,000 in pre-seed funding from Indus Valley Capital (IVC) a major vote of confidence in a sector valued at over PKR 900 billion and long overdue for innovation.
With 500,000+ users, 600+ vendors, and 30,000 weddings planned, Shadiyana is positioning itself as the go-to digital hub for couples looking to plan, book, and manage their big day without the stress traditionally associated with wedding logistics. The platform is now expanding beyond the capital into Lahore and Karachi, marking its evolution from a local service to a national wedding-tech player.
A Personal Pain Point Turned Scalable Vision
For Co-Founder & COO Neelam Shoaib, the spark came years ago when she fell sick during her sister’s wedding, a moment that revealed how chaotic, exhausting, and resource-intensive weddings can be for Pakistani families.
“That rush from every new booking… that’s what drives us,” she shares. “We built the Shadiyana Wedding Planner App to make Pakistan’s grand, but inefficient, wedding ecosystem seamless and smart.”
Her co-founder, Izzah Zaman (CEO), recalls how choosing the entrepreneurial path was unconventional for them: two women, software engineers, and complete outsiders to the wedding industry.
“Coming from working-class backgrounds, the expected path was stable jobs and quiet weekends,” Zaman says. “But we loved building things, losing ourselves in the process.”
Their outsider perspective became their superpower, allowing them to imagine a restructured, digitized version of an industry deeply rooted in tradition.
A First-of-Its-Kind Wedding Planner App
As part of its expansion, Shadiyana has launched Pakistan’s first fully integrated, end-to-end wedding planner app, enabling couples to:
- Discover and compare vendors
- Book services with transparency
- Manage all wedding tasks in one place
- Access planning resources in real time
This digital-first approach aims to bring trust and structure to an industry often plagued by price uncertainty, miscommunication, and last-minute chaos.
Investor Confidence in a Massive Underserved Market
IVC’s Managing Partner Aatif Awan calls Shadiyana a “high-fit” team for the problem they are solving.
“Shadiyana is bringing order, transparency and trust to one of Pakistan’s largest but most underserved industries,” he said. “Their customer obsession and founder-market fit make them exactly the kind of team we love to back.”
With millions of weddings taking place across Pakistan each year and spending often stretching over months, Shadiyana’s timing couldn’t be better.
What’s Next for Shadiyana
Backed by nearly $1 million in funding, the startup is preparing for the next phase of growth:
- Expanding vendor networks across major cities
- Introducing new technology-driven planning features
- Strengthening its team with talent passionate about shaping the future of wedding planning
- Deepening market presence in urban and semi-urban centers
As the company scales, it aims to create a culture rooted in innovation, transparency, and community qualities that could position it as Pakistan’s dominant player in the wedding-tech category.
