Karakoram

What Karakoram does

Karakoram is a London-based Impact Venture Studio and design, engineering, and innovation consultancy founded in 2019 that builds civic-technology solutions for humanitarian, environmental, and democratic-resilience challenges. It serves national governments, United Nations agencies, and international NGOs, typically in low- and middle-income countries, delivering engagements through direct project contracts, competitive innovation challenges (e.g., UNDP), and co-development partnerships with technology vendors such as HID Global.

Its core technology stack spans software, hardware, AI, sensors, and IoT, and is materialised through a portfolio of distinct products rather than a unified platform. These include Plataforma de Identidad Digital (NFC-enabled refugee ID with encrypted pseudonymised data), Theia (LoRa-based contactless thermometers with a self-hosted InfluxDB/Grafana data hub), Pastoral (IoT- and satellite-driven precision livestock farming delivered via a Telegram chatbot), the Peacefulness Data Engine (Arabic-language social-media analytics for peacebuilding in Lebanon), and the Humanitarian Passport (blockchain-backed worker vetting using ICAO-compliant RFID passport verification). Technical differentiators include GDPR-compliant architectures that minimise server-stored personal data, open-source hardware designed for on-ground manufacture, and integrations designed to function in low-connectivity environments.

The revenue model is professional services: Karakoram is paid consultancy fees for strategy, design, engineering, and prototyping engagements, with projects sometimes spinning out as independently funded ventures (e.g., Pastoral received UNDP Cultiv@te pre-seed capital). Pricing is not publicly disclosed and is negotiated per project, and there is no evidence of recurring SaaS contracts at scale; the company is privately held with no disclosed institutional equity funding.

Name

Karakoram

Legal name

Karakoram

Website

https://karakoram.co

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Karakoram is a London-based impact venture studio and consultancy that designs and builds civic-technology products (digital identity, health data, precision agriculture, peace-tech) for governments, UN agencies, and NGOs across emerging markets.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Civic Technology Consulting

NAICS

Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813)

SIC

International Affairs (9721)

akta.pro primary industry

Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus & Resilience Programming (BPADAEAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Humanitarian Health & Emergency Medical Relief NGOs (HLAJAKAE), Nutrition & Food Security (Global Health) NGOs (HLAJAKAH), International & Local Implementing NGOs (HLAJAKAD)

Keywords

• Civic technology consulting
• Humanitarian innovation services
• Digital identity platforms
• Impact venture studio
• IoT prototyping solutions

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Innovation Consultancy Services: Karakoram provides strategic resources, bleeding-edge development capability, and user-focused design services to governments and NGOs. Revenue is generated through consulting project fees for design, engineering, and innovation engagements, typically funded by international development organizations.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Karakoram is an Impact Venture Studio and Design/Engineering/Innovation consultancy that creates breakthrough civic technology solutions for humanitarian challenges. The firm partners with governments, UN agencies, and NGOs to build discrete products spanning digital identity, IoT-based health monitoring, precision livestock farming, blockchain-based worker verification, and peacebuilding analytics, often spinning proven solutions out into independent ventures.

Product overview

Karakoram is an award-winning Impact Venture Studio and Design, Engineering, & Innovation consultancy specializing in Civic Technology. Rather than a unified software platform, Karakoram operates as a venture studio that develops discrete technology products addressing humanitarian, environmental, and democratic resilience challenges. Their product portfolio includes: Plataforma de Identidad Digital (humanitarian migrant ID with NFC), Theia (real-time health data with IoT sensors), Pastoral (precision livestock farming via Telegram), Humanitarian Passport (blockchain-based aid worker verification), and Peacefulness Data Engine (social media analytics for peacebuilding). Services offered include Digital Services & Government Design Systems, Hardware/Software/AI/Sensor/IoT Engineering, R&D and Experimental Prototyping, Field-Based User Research, Iterative Product Development, and Strategy/Data Engineering.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Pastoral: World's first precision livestock farming (PLF) tool built specifically for livestock farmers in low-and-middle-income countries, using IoT sensors, satellite data, and Telegram chatbot interface.
• Theia
• Plataforma de Identidad Digital (PID)
• Peacefulness Data Engine & Visualiser
• Humanitarian Passport

Products and services

• Plataforma de Identidad Digital (PID) A multi-tier digital identity platform built for humanitarian contexts, providing refugees and migrants with a portable digital ID. It combines a secure mobile identity wallet, a three-fold authentication system using optical OCR, RFID (ICAO-compliant), and fingerprint matching, plus a verifiable-credentials ecosystem for cross-border identity verification. Targeted at governments and humanitarian organisations managing displaced populations.
• Theia A real-time health data platform that connects patients and clinicians through a custom hardware thermometer, a self-hosting data hub built on InfluxDB and Grafana, and a Telegram-based chatbot interface for low-connectivity settings. Targeted at health ministries, UN agencies, and NGOs operating clinical programs in low-resource environments.
• Pastoral A precision livestock farming platform that uses IoT collars and drone/aerial remote sensing to monitor cattle health, GPS location, pasture quality, and crop encroachment on pastoral land. Targeted at smallholder pastoralist farmers and partner NGOs/governments in African pastoralist regions, with open-source hardware PCB designs for transparency and adoption.
• Humanitarian Passport A blockchain-based platform for verifying and sharing humanitarian-worker credentials, designed to reduce fraud in the humanitarian sector by giving field workers a verified digital record of experience and training. Targeted at humanitarian organisations, NGOs, and field-worker agencies.
• Peacefulness Data Engine & Visualiser A data engine and visualisation tool that uses AI/NLP to analyse Arabic-language social-media posts and other digital channels to surface peacefulness signals across populations. Targeted at peacebuilding NGOs, UN agencies, and researchers measuring social cohesion and conflict dynamics.

Quantifiable outcome

• NPS score of 65 from early test farmers
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

AI capability5 records

Feature9 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and flagship.

• HID GlobalcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2021Global secure identity company HID partnered with Karakoram for the Plataforma de Identidad Digital project, manufacturing high-security NFC-enabled ID cards at their print facility in Italy. HID provided the physical ID card manufacturing expertise including security features like holograms and UV ink stamps.
• UNDP Accelerator Lab ColombiacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Conceptualized the Plataforma de Identidad Digital initiative and partnered with Karakoram to develop a prototype within a 3-month timeframe for Venezuelan refugees in Colombia.
• DanmissioncoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021200-year-old Danish NGO partnered with Karakoram through an Innovation Partnership to develop peace-tech solutions. First joint project was the Peacefulness & Co-Existence Index data analytics platform for Lebanon, funded by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021FAO collaborated with Karakoram and Uzbekistan government on Pastoral platform development, providing expertise in agricultural policy and livestock farming for LMICs.
• Uzbekistan GovernmentcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021The Uzbekistan government partnered with Karakoram, UNDP, and FAO for field trials and design sprints of the Pastoral precision livestock platform in Ahangaran District.
• PCBWayminorOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing Partner · 1 January 2020PCBWay manufactured the custom-built electronics and PCBs for the Theia Thermometer in China as part of the open-source COVID-19 detection platform.
• InterpolflagshipTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2018As part of the UK Government's Operation Soteria, Karakoram was offered access to Interpol as the primary data source for the Humanitarian Passport platform's worker background verification system.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Dimagi: Social enterprise building digital health and data collection platforms (CommCare) for frontline workers in LMICs. Closely comparable to Karakoram in mission (civic tech for development), customer base (governments, NGOs, UN), and product approach (low-connectivity, field-deployable software).
• Medic (formerly Medic Mobile): Builds open-source digital health tools for community health workers in low-resource settings. Highly comparable to Karakoram's Theia health-data work — same LMIC public health customer, similar NGO/funder base, similar open-source ethos.
• Ushahidi: Open-source civic technology platform for crisis mapping and crowdsourced data collection. Comparable to Karakoram's Peacefulness Data Engine in deploying data analytics for humanitarian and peacebuilding contexts across LMICs and conflict zones.
• DataKind: Nonprofit that deploys data scientists to humanitarian and development organizations. Comparable as a fellow impact-focused data/analytics consultancy serving NGOs and UN agencies, though with less hardware/IoT depth than Karakoram.
• iMMAP: Information management services organization supporting humanitarian operations with data, mapping, and analytics. Highly comparable customer overlap (UN agencies, NGOs) and operational footprint in conflict and disaster zones.
• NetHope: Consortium of 60+ international NGOs collaborating on technology solutions for humanitarian and development work. Comparable as an intermediary that connects civic technology capacity with INGO/UN demand — a peer in the same ecosystem.

Broad incumbents

• IDEO: Global design and innovation consultancy with deep humanitarian and development practice (IDEO.org). Comparable in applying human-centered design and venture studio methodologies to social sector challenges, though at significantly larger scale and broader scope.
• Thoughtworks: Global technology consultancy with a mission-driven practice serving social impact organizations. Comparable as a tech consultancy with humanitarian/social sector clients, but operates at vastly larger scale and broader commercial footprint.
• Palantir Technologies: Data analytics and AI platform with dedicated humanitarian and government deployments. Comparable in serving UN agencies and governments with mission-critical data infrastructure, but operates at hyperscale with a fundamentally different product and business model.
• Jigsaw (Google): Google's incubator focused on geopolitical and civic technology challenges including censorship circumvention, disinformation defense, and digital safety. Comparable in applying frontier tech to civic resilience challenges, though backed by Alphabet balance sheet.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/KarakoramDev
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/karakorum-consulting

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments2 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Karakoram