How to get financing for a startup or an IT company in Кazakhstan?

Finding investments for a startup is one of the important problems for any founder, which always remains relevant. Startups and IT companies in Kazakhstan have the opportunity to attract financing in various ways: from investment funds, government organizations and by participating in various competitions. We have figured out all the possibilities available in Kazakhstan.

International Technopark of IT startups "Astana Hub"

The Astana Hub Technopark presents a number of programs for both beginners and already developed companies. The InvestDay event is held on a regular basis, where the best startups, leading business angels and venture funds from both Kazakhstan and foreign countries gather. In 2021, the technopark held 6 events, where startups from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, South Korea, Switzerland and the UK took part.

In addition, since 2021, the technopark has been financing the most promising projects under the Seed Money program in the amount of $ 5 thousand to $ 20 thousand. To receive funding, it is necessary to pass a competitive selection and become a member of Astana Hub. IT startups from Kazakhstan, the CIS and the whole world at different stages can apply for funding: from prototype to scaling.

Also, within the framework of the Digital Bridge International Forum, the Astana Hub Battle startup competition is held annually, where hundreds of IT startups compete for cash grants totaling $ 18 thousand.

Tech Garden, autonomous cluster fund "Park of Innovative Technologies"

Tech Garden is an accelerated program of search, evaluation, training and development of innovative projects aimed at improving the business processes of enterprises in Kazakhstan. The foundation's experts select innovative solutions that are promising for production and conduct an acceleration program for selected startup teams. As a result of the final demo day, the fund selects a technological solution for pilot implementation in an industrial enterprise.

Over the years of the foundation's existence, several waves of the acceleration program have been carried out. More than three thousand startups from Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Bulgaria, Poland, the USA, Norway submitted applications for participation in it, 96 startup companies were funded in the amount of about 990 million tenge.

Incubator MOST and venture Fund MOST Ventures Fund

MOST Ventures Fund is a private venture fund in Central Asia, which has been providing financial and non-financial support to IT entrepreneurs for more than 10 years, as well as conducting incubation and acceleration programs for the entire region. The Fund focuses on IT startups building IT businesses for the international market and allocates up to $20 thousand at the pre-seed stage, up to $400 thousand at the seed stage and up to $700 thousand at the Series A stage.

Technology startups from all over Central Asia are being considered for financing. The Fund positions itself as a sector-agnostic fund and considers different areas of IT companies. The fund's partners are Talgat Ismail, a venture angel investor with more than 20 transactions in Kazakhstan and abroad, and Bakht Niyazov, a venture investor, founder, head and chairman of the Board of Directors of Falconry Capital Fund.

Venture funds QazTech Ventures and Quest Ventures

Since 2020, QazTech Ventures has conducted two co-financing deals in international venture funds 500 Global and Quest Ventures for $10 million. Kazakh startups can apply for investments directly in these venture funds.

To receive funding, a startup must provide the necessary documents in the form of a pitch deck and fill out an application on the foundation's website. Each application is reviewed by an independent commission and, if necessary, is supported by the support of the foundation's mentors.

Also, due to the support of QazTech Ventures, the Quest Ventures Foundation is conducting an acceleration program of startup projects Kazakhstan Digital Accelerator. The program helps to promote Kazakhstani startup projects to the global market and develops the digital ecosystem of Kazakhstan.

National Agency for Innovation Development QazInnovations

The Agency provides grants for the commercialization of technologies for startups that are small businesses with a prototype and have successfully passed any of the accredited acceleration programs. The following sectors are supported: IT, FinTech, Green Tech, Space Tech, Electronics, Industry 4.0, New Materials, MedTech and BioTech, Robotics, Manufacturing. The grant amount at the first stage is no more than 20 million tenge, the maximum implementation period is 6 months, at the second and third stages no more than 80 million tenge, the implementation period for the second and third stages is 12 and 9 months, respectively. This type of grants obliges to co-finance the project from the applicant at least 10% of the implementation amount.