TL;DR Iran is a large, heavily connected market of over 90 million people, with a big industrial base, oil and gas, and a farm sector still worth about a tenth of GDP. The ideas that suit it help factories and hospitals waste less, offer locally hosted software that doesn't depend on foreign tools, and help farms stretch scarce water.

The market in numbers

  • Population: about 92.4 million in 2025[1].
  • GDP per capita: about US$3,924 in 2025[2].
  • Internet use: about 85% of people were online in 2024[3].
  • Mobile subscriptions: about 174 per 100 people in 2024[4].
  • Agriculture: about 10.6% of GDP in 2025[5].
  • Oil rents: about 18% of GDP in 2021[6].
  • Currency: the Iranian rial (IRR). Central bank: the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran[7].

What founders here actually have to work with

The upside is scale. More than 90 million people with about 85% online[1][3] is a real home market, and you don't need to export on day one to find enough buyers.

The constraint is that much of the global tool stack is hard to reach from inside Iran. US sanctions shape which foreign software, cloud services, card networks and parts you can use[8], so local payment rails and locally hosted software are the default, not a fallback. That also cuts the other way - a founder who builds a local version of a tool that foreign firms can't sell here faces less competition from them.

Imported equipment can be slow and costly to replace [Requires validation], which pushes ideas towards services, software and fixes that make existing plants last longer. Energy-heavy industry and a sizeable farm sector[5][6] give you plenty of buyers for efficiency work.

Ideas that fit Iran

All of these were researched for India. The rupee costs and Indian licences don't carry over, so treat each one as a starting brief.

Factories and energy

  • Stallmap: Shows where orders get stuck between quote and payment. The Indian version reads a popular desktop accounting package, so you'd connect it to whichever accounting software local factories actually run.
  • Exhaustwell: Turning compressor heat into hot water is a fix a mid-size plant can approve without a big budget. Source the skid parts locally where you can.
  • Emberbank: Brick heat stores that charge at off-peak hours and give steam later suit plants that pay more at certain times. Check how industrial power and gas are priced first [Requires validation].
  • Spareheat: Piping waste heat from one plant to its neighbour works best in dense industrial estates. Start with two plants that already know each other.
  • Chillsteady: Tuning chiller plants in hospitals and malls, paid from measured savings, sells itself if the savings are real. Hot summers make cooling a large bill in many cities [Requires validation].
  • Mirrorport: Listen-only monitoring of control networks at substations and water works protects old equipment without touching it. Your buyers are utilities, so expect long sales cycles.

Hospitals and health

  • Coldspare: A ransomware fallback and an incident desk for private hospitals. Build it on local hosting so it doesn't depend on foreign cloud access.
  • Ringread: Faster antibiotic results from blood cultures help hospital labs treat sooner. Check the device and lab approvals with the health ministry [Requires validation].
  • Slidewise: Second reads of cancer biopsy slides by specialists help hospitals outside the largest cities. Digital slide scanners may be hard to import, so price that in.
  • Rashdesk: Chemists send skin photos to a dermatologist and get advice back within hours. It fits a market where most people carry phones[4].

Farms and water

  • Canalbudget: Weekly water budgets and flow checks for canal irrigation help where every share of water is argued over. Work with the local water authority, not around it.
  • Dripservice: Service contracts that keep drip systems flowing evenly protect what farmers already spent. It's a technician business, so it scales by training people.
  • Saltfree: Solar units that make salty groundwater drinkable suit villages with brackish wells. Test the local water first, because that decides the design.

Payments and learning

  • Netmatched: Matches each online order to its payment, courier and cash-on-delivery money. Rebuild it for local gateways and couriers, since the Indian integrations won't apply.
  • Prackit: Offline virtual science practicals in Persian suit schools short on lab gear. Map it to the national curriculum.
  • Revisevoice: Speak-aloud exam revision for teens with learning difficulties. Exam pressure is a strong buying trigger for parents in many markets, so test whether it holds here [Requires validation].

Rules to check before you start

The Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran sets the rules for payments, lending and foreign exchange[7]. Company registration, tax registration and foreign ownership rules are things I couldn't confirm from an official source that I could reach, so check them with the national company registration office and the tax administration [Requires validation]. Health products need approval from the health authorities [Requires validation]. If you plan to use foreign software, cloud services or imported parts, check the sanctions position first[8].

This is a starting list, not legal advice. Check with a local lawyer or the agency itself.

Questions founders ask

Software and services built for local businesses are the cheapest start. Stallmap or Netmatched need a small team and a few first customers more than they need capital.

Do foreigners need a local partner to start a company in Iran?

I couldn't confirm the rule from an official source. Check with the company registration office and a local lawyer before you commit.

How do sanctions affect a startup in Iran?

Mostly through tools and money. Foreign software, cloud services, card payments and some parts may be off limits under US sanctions[8], so plan to build on local payment rails, local hosting and locally available hardware from the start.

Talk to Yash

In Iran the big question is often which parts of your stack you can actually get and keep running, and I'm happy to work through that with you before you build. If you need a hand, you know where to find me.

Talk to Yash →

Sources

  1. World Bank, "Population, total: Iran", 2025. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/IRN/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?format=json&mrv=1
  2. World Bank, "GDP per capita (current US$): Iran", 2025. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/IRN/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?format=json&mrv=1
  3. World Bank (ITU data), "Individuals using the Internet (% of population): Iran", 2024. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/IRN/indicator/IT.NET.USER.ZS?format=json&mrv=1
  4. World Bank (ITU data), "Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people): Iran", 2024. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/IRN/indicator/IT.CEL.SETS.P2?format=json&mrv=1
  5. World Bank, "Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (% of GDP): Iran", 2025. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/IRN/indicator/NV.AGR.TOTL.ZS?format=json&mrv=1
  6. World Bank, "Oil rents (% of GDP): Iran", 2021. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/IRN/indicator/NY.GDP.PETR.RT.ZS?format=json&mrv=1
  7. Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran, English home page, 2026. https://www.cbi.ir/default_en.aspx
  8. US Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control, "Iran Sanctions", 2026. https://ofac.treasury.gov/sanctions-programs-and-country-information/iran-sanctions

For illustration only. Names are fictional and ideas hypothetical; sourced facts are real but may be out of date. Nothing here is legal, financial or professional advice, and Yash Khatri is not personally liable for any use of it. Read the full disclaimer.