OUR STORY
Contour Software started from Karachi in 2010, with a little over a dozen people, and has grown to 2,000 people in 13 years, with offices in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, serving client divisions located all across the globe.
Contour was founded in 2010, as a result of 18 months of pre-acquisition diligence, as well as pilot projects involving Pakistani freelancers, and Constellation Software’s ultimate acquisition of Gladstone PLC UK (via Constellation’s Jonas operating group). Syed Bilal Mahmood, who had been working to prove the concept within Constellation’s Perseus (formerly named CHS) operating group, moved from Canada to Pakistan, post-acquisition, to take the Karachi branch forward, as a joint venture between the two operating groups, before eventually expanding to serve most of the parent organization’s operating divisions.
Constellation Software Inc., Contour’s ultimate parent company (via Perseus/CHS), was formed in 1995, and became publicly listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2006. Constellation is a rapidly growing conglomerate of vertical market software (VMS) companies; each focused upon dominating its respective market niche. Constellation’s growth is based on a simple strategy: identify promising VMS firms; acquire them; and then integrate them into the Constellation family while building on their fundamental strengths to help them become world class organizations. Before it went public, Constellation was recognized amongst Canada’s Best Managed Companies. Today Constellation is the largest Canadian software company by revenues, its stock has out-performed some of the biggest names in the global tech ecosystem, and is the top global acquirer of software companies for 2017, 2018 & 2019.
Constellation software systems run public and private sector enterprises – utility companies, city transit systems, paper mills, schools, hospitals, hotels, manufacturing companies, construction firms, retailers, leasing, financing and digital banking companies, agri food businesses, amusement parks, museums, city governments, attorney offices, jails and more – globally.
While initially an offshore Development Centre, today Contour is serving as a full-featured Global Centre providing services covering all functional areas, to 200+ of the parent company’s divisions and corporate departments located all over the world.
Contour continues to grow as one of the top tech employers in Pakistan:
- Contour received the P@SHA ICT Award for Export Growth for 2020-2021.
- Contour received the PSEB Platinum Award for Export Growth for 2019.
- Syed Bilal Mahmood, Contour’s MD, received Canada Pakistan Business Council’s Business Excellence Award for 2019.
Contour is now also actively acquiring vertical market software companies in the region, per its parent company’s core mandate, having completed its first acquisition of AutoSoft Dynamics (Pvt) Limited – a Pakistan-based software company – in April 2022.
Software for Life!
