FS Letter: Startups to Watch, New Bets, and Lessons from the Archive

Hello everyone, welcome to this week’s Future Startup Letter, a weekly selection of stories, ideas, and conversations about business, entrepreneurship, technology, and the people building in Bangladesh and beyond.

Here are five of our latest stories, along with two conversations from the Future Startup archive worth revisiting.

1. Four Companies We’re Watching in September 2026

After nearly two years, Startups to Watch returns with four young companies spanning education, logistics, deep tech, and e-commerce, and very different bets on Bangladesh’s future.

2. GoZayaan Appoints Farooq Sobhan as Chairman, A Broader Startup Trend

GoZayaan is moving beyond travel into services for Bangladeshi expatriates. Farooq Sobhan’s appointment comes as Hometown expands into remittances, new markets, and more complex institutional territory.

3. Pathao Launches Pathao Commerce, Pathao’s Motivation

Pathao Commerce brings storefronts, orders, inventory, payments, delivery, and customer chats together for social-commerce merchants. The launch reveals how Pathao sees the next phase of digital commerce.

4. Philip Kotler Headlines iDEAN’s AI for Marketers Summit

Philip Kotler joined Bangladesh’s marketing community to discuss AI, branding, and what changes when powerful tools become widely available. The summit also announced a Bangladesh edition of B2B Brand Management.

ViewSense wants to combine advertising, media, PR, data, and AI in one business. We spoke with its founders about the opportunity and the changing economics of digital marketing.

Debasish Chakraborty has spent a decade building businesses. He talks about failure, affordable loss, customer conversations, and the lessons that shaped Chamak’s trade-finance thesis. Read the interview →

7. A Conversation with Mizanur Rahman, CTO, Brain Station 23

Brain Station 23 CTO Mizanur Rahman discusses entrepreneurship, managing a growing technology company, and how AI could reshape Bangladesh’s software business and the skills leaders need to adapt. Read the interview →

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Future Startup Team Ideas, people, and companies shaping Bangladesh’s future.