The connection between firm-level innovation and competition has received scholarly attention for a long time before now. This paper attempts to shed light on this complex relationship from a novel perspective where a detailed firm-level dataset of private manufacturing Pakistani firms spanning from 2002 to 2015 is used. We test whether the non-linearity estimate of Aghion et al. (2005) is sustained by our firm-level data. A multivariate probit estimation technique indicates that higher competition leads to a more probability of innovation, but at a declining rate as competitor numbers increase. Moderate confirmation of an inverted-U relationship between competition and innovation is found, especially in process and organizational innovation. The findings have practical implications for policymakers in the area of market structure and firm-level innovation.