NUR-SULTAN – The Kazakhstan Digital Accelerator (KDA) program handed $50,000 investment checks to 10 startups during the Sept. 22 launching ceremony in Nur-Sultan, forbes.kz reported. KDA received around 200 applications from Kazakhstan, the U.K., India, Singapore, South Korea, and Uzbekistan.
KDA participant 1Fit startup developers receiving $50,000 for their project during the Sept. 22 launching ceremony in Nur-Sultan. Photo credit: zakon.kz.
The first ten KDA finalists will develop projects in Edtech (Aero, Okoo, Qlang), Agrotech (Egistic), MedTech and Health Tech (Cerebra, 1Fit), Consumer digital and retail (Campeat, Retail Analytica, ApartX) and Payments (Smart Gas).
QazTech Ventures and Quest Ventures, a leading Singapore fund, launched the KDA and chose the ten startups on Aug. 14. The venture funds and startups have had to hold their meetings virtually to maintain social distancing.
“A lot of work has been done, and today we officially congratulated the finalists on being included in the first stream of the KDA program and on receiving their first investments. We see a great potential in the Kazakh startup community. There was really stiff competition in the selection for participation,” said Quest Ventures Investment Director Anuar Seifullin.
QazTech Ventures is a subsidiary of the Baiterek National Managing Holding. Venture capitalists launched the KDA to develop and promote startup projects and the digital ecosystem in Kazakhstan.
“We hope that the knowledge and financial support they receive will help startups get on the right track when building their business model,” said QazTech Ventures Deputy Chairperson Dias Bexoltan.
The accelerator’s participants will study with experienced international mentors and professionals, and present projects to investors from Southeast Asia.
The KDA selected the startups based on four main selection criteria: the management team, the problem statement and proposed existing solutions, the business idea itself, and market validity.
