GenAI & Blockchain Builders & Investors Meetup + Hike 🧗🏻♂️ # 2
About the Series
Islamabad's recurring GenAI and Blockchain meetup for founders, builders, and investors. Lightning talks. Startup pitches. A fireside chat on the global AI funding landscape.
About the Event
The second edition of Islamabad's GenAI and Blockchain Builders & Investors Meetup is here and this time, we're going deeper.
This is an evening packed with substance: a session on AI and cybersecurity, live startup pitches, and a fireside chat with one of the most prolific builder-investors in the AI space.
Whether you're building AI products, investing in them, or figuring out where to start: this is your room.
Location: Will be shared after approval
Agenda
2:30 PM - ☕️ Doors Open & Networking
Check in, grab chai & snacks, find your people. Open networking with founders, engineers, and investors.
3:00 PM - 🚀 Welcome & Kickoff
Opening remarks. Why this meetup exists. The vision for Islamabad's AI and Blockchain builder community.
3:10 PM - 🌍 Why AI Harness Matters
A short talk on how tooling, orchestration, and infrastructure are becoming the real MOAT, not models.
3:20 PM - 🔐 AI & Cybersecurity (Session) with Ali N Khan
Ali will be covering the intersection of AI and cybersecurity: how AI is being weaponized, how it's being used for defense, and what "AI-native security" looks like in 2026.
3.45 PM - 🔥 Fireside Chat: Build, Scale, Exit, Repeat
A conversation with Hassan Bhatti on what it takes to build category-defining companies
4.15 PM - 🔗 In Conversation: Pakistan's Crypto Era
A conversation with Bilal bin Saqib on what's possible to ship right now in Pakistan's crypto and Web3 economy
4:45 PM - 👩💻 Startup Pitches
Early-stage AI startups pitch to a live audience of builders and investors. Q&A follows each pitch.
5.00 PM - ⛰ Group Hike
Optional group hike for nature enthusiasts to make connections while climbing the serene Margalla hills.
6:00 PM - 🍖 Open Networking & BBQ
Unstructured time to connect, exchange ideas, and follow up on pitches.
🔗 In Conversation: Pakistan's Crypto Era
Bilal Bin Saqib MBE Chairman, Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) and Minister of State
Bilal is the architect of Pakistan's national crypto and blockchain strategy and one of the country's most vocal advocates for builder-led innovation. He has spent the past year creating the institutional framework and the political tailwind for a new generation of founders to build crypto, blockchain, and Web3 products in Pakistan.
Pakistan now ranks among the largest retail crypto markets globally, with over 50 million users and roughly $300 billion in annual trading volume. Markets that previously existed in the shadows are now coming into the light and the builder opportunity is wide open.
🛡️ AI & Cybersecurity Session
Ali Noman Khan Founder, Pillar 5 VC · Founder, Golden Gate Innovations · Co-founder, OraClaim
Ali is a serial entrepreneur at the intersection of AI and cybersecurity, with deep experience securing the most sensitive data in government, insurance, and banking. This session will cover:
→ How AI is changing the threat landscape: from automated attacks to deepfake social engineering
→ AI-native defense: what the next generation of cybersecurity looks like
→ Building trust in AI products that handle regulated, high-risk data
🔥 Fireside Chat: Build, Scale, Exit, Repeat
Hassan Bhatti Serial Entrepreneur · 4 Exits · Co-lead, Superhuman AI · Ex-Snowflake
Hassan has started, scaled, and exited 4 companies over the last decade - from a bootstrapped services business to ventures acquired by industry leaders including Snowflake.
Today, he co-leads Superhuman AI, one of the world's fastest-growing AI newsletters, and is building in stealth in the AI agent and memory space. He also invests actively, through a fund and his own syndicate, backing founders building category-defining companies.
⚡ Lightning Talk: Why AI Harness Matters
Rahim Rasool Chief Data Scientist, OraClaim, Former Professor of AI, University of Denver
A 5-minute opening talk by Rahim Rasool on why the real competitive moat in AI isn't the model, it's the harness. Orchestration, tooling, evaluation, deployment infrastructure, and human-in-the-loop design are where durable value is being built.
Startup Pitches
🚀 Pitch Your Startup
We're reserving 3 slots for early-stage AI or Blockchain startups to pitch live. 3 minutes per startup + 2 minutes Q&A. All stages welcome; from pre-seed to Series A.
Who Should Attend?
👩💻 AI & Blockchain Founders - Building GenAI or Blockchain products in Pakistan or globally
🛠️ Builders & Engineers - Shipping agents, apps, and infrastructure
💰 Investors - VCs, angels, and corporate investors backing AI & Blockchain technologies
🏛️ Academia - Researchers and professors
About the Series
GenAI Meetup Islamabad
A recurring community event bringing together the people building, funding, and shaping Pakistan's GenAI ecosystem. Inspired by the thriving AI meetup culture in San Francisco - we're creating the same energy in the capital.
Each edition features a curated mix of startup pitches, technical talks, fireside chats with industry leaders, and open networking.
Sponsor
This event series is sponsored by Pillar5 VC. Pillar5 is a DeepTech VC firm investing in technical founders building revolutionary companies.
Host: Rahim Rasool & Hamza Faisal
Please notify the host by cancelling your registration if you can no longer make it to the event. No shows will impact future invitations to this event series.