TL;DR Iraq is a market of about 47 million people where oil dominates the economy and most people are online. The ideas that fit serve the plants and contractors around energy, help homes and businesses cope with heat and power gaps, or bring better tools to hospitals, farms and online sellers.

The market in numbers

  • Population: about 47 million in 2025[1].
  • GDP per capita: about US$5,410 in 2025[2].
  • Internet use: about 81% of people were online in 2024[3].
  • Oil rents: about 43% of GDP in 2021[4].
  • Agriculture: about 3.4% of GDP in 2025[5].
  • Currency: the Iraqi dinar (IQD). Central bank: the Central Bank of Iraq[6].
  • Company registrations: the Ministry of Trade's Companies Registration Department registered 599 Iraqi companies and 27 foreign branches in September 2024[7].

What founders here actually have to work with

Oil is the anchor. With oil rents at about 43% of GDP[4], a lot of spending runs through refineries, power plants, oil field contractors and the state. Selling to them is slow, but the jobs are large and they repeat.

Outside oil, you've got a big and connected consumer base. About 81% of people are online[3], which makes online selling, delivery and software for small firms more workable than the GDP figure alone suggests.

Then there's the climate. Summers are very hot and many households lean on generators when grid power drops [Requires validation]. If your idea saves power, shifts load or keeps workers safe in heat then you're solving a problem people already pay to manage. Farming is a small share of GDP[5] but it depends on scarce river water [Requires validation], so water-saving tools have a clear job to do.

Ideas that fit Iraq

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

Oil, power and industry

  • Furnacewing: Caged drones that inspect boilers, stacks and silos during shutdowns suit refineries and power plants. Your entry point is usually a maintenance contractor, not the plant owner.
  • Exhaustwell: Compressor heat turned into hot water is an easy saving for a mid-size factory. Keep the kit simple so local technicians can service it.
  • Chillsteady: Chiller tuning for hospitals and malls, paid from measured savings, fits buildings that run cooling hard for months. Measure before you promise anything.
  • Gasround: Delivery rounds and time slots for gas cylinder distributors. Check how cylinder distribution is licensed and priced first [Requires validation].

Heat and home power

  • Islehold: Keeping a building's solar running alongside its diesel generator during cuts is the problem this was built for. Residential compounds and small businesses are the first buyers to try.
  • Lullcharge: Charge schedules for home solar batteries. The Indian version leans on time-of-day tariffs, so you'd rebuild the logic around outage patterns instead.
  • Heatmeter: Site heat meters and work-rest schedules for construction crews. Check what heat rules apply to outdoor work [Requires validation].
  • Shadevine: Climbing-plant shade screens on hot walls of schools and clinics. Pick plants that survive local summers with little water.
  • Swelterline: Cover that pays outdoor workers on very hot days needs an insurer as partner. It's a later move once you have weather data and a distribution channel.

Hospitals

  • Reliefnurse: Verified relief nurses booked by the shift for small private hospitals. Check nurse licensing and agency rules with the health ministry [Requires validation].
  • Strokelink: Software that links district hospitals to a hub neurologist for stroke calls. One hospital network that wants it is enough to start.
  • Coldspare: A ransomware fallback and incident desk for private hospitals that keep paper backups as their only plan.

Farms and water

  • Canalbudget: Weekly water budgets for canal-fed fields help the farms at the end of the line. Work with the people who manage the canals today.
  • Saltfree: Solar units that make salty groundwater drinkable. Test local water quality first, because it decides the whole design.
  • Spathewing: Drone pollination for date palm groves that now hire climbers every season. Confirm how much of the work is still done by hand in your area [Requires validation].

Online business and learning

  • Netmatched: Matches each online order to its payment, courier and cash-on-delivery money. Cash on delivery is common in many markets like this one, so check how sellers here get paid [Requires validation].
  • Prackit: Offline virtual science practicals in Arabic or Kurdish for schools short on lab equipment. Map it to the national curriculum.

Rules to check before you start

Companies register with the Companies Registration Department of the Ministry of Trade[7], and the Kurdistan Region may run its own process [Requires validation]. The Central Bank of Iraq oversees banks, payments and foreign exchange[6]. Check tax registration with the General Commission for Taxes [Requires validation]. Health, energy and drone ideas each carry their own approvals [Requires validation].

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

Questions founders ask

Services and software for businesses that already spend money. A cooling-savings service or an order-matching tool for online sellers needs skills and a few first customers more than capital.

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

I couldn't confirm the current rule from an official source. The Ministry of Trade registers foreign branches as well as Iraqi companies[7], so check with its Companies Registration Department before you commit.

Is Iraq only an oil market?

No. Oil drives the economy[4], but about 81% of people are online[3], and heat, power, health and water all create demand that has little to do with crude.

Talk to Yash

Iraq rewards founders who pick a problem people already pay to work around, like heat or power cuts, and I'm happy to help you test whether yours is one of them. If you need a hand, you know where to find me.

Talk to Yash →

Sources

  1. World Bank, "Population, total: Iraq", 2025. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/IRQ/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?format=json&mrv=1
  2. World Bank, "GDP per capita (current US$): Iraq", 2025. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/IRQ/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?format=json&mrv=1
  3. World Bank (ITU data), "Individuals using the Internet (% of population): Iraq", 2024. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/IRQ/indicator/IT.NET.USER.ZS?format=json&mrv=1
  4. World Bank, "Oil rents (% of GDP): Iraq", 2021. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/IRQ/indicator/NY.GDP.PETR.RT.ZS?format=json&mrv=1
  5. World Bank, "Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (% of GDP): Iraq", 2025. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/IRQ/indicator/NV.AGR.TOTL.ZS?format=json&mrv=1
  6. Central Bank of Iraq, home page, 2026. https://cbi.iq/
  7. Iraq Business News, "599 Iraqi Companies and 27 Foreign Branches Registered in Sept", 2024-10-18. https://www.iraq-businessnews.com/2024/10/18/599-iraqi-companies-and-27-foreign-branches-registered-in-sept/

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.