The export revenue of the entire
IT industry in Kazakhstan may reach $500 million by the end of 2023, in
particular, due to the opening of joint ventures with major foreign companies,
as noted by Astana Hub CEO Magzhan Madiyev. There are now over 300 of these
projects operating in the international technopark, which is almost a quarter
of all registered residents. According to Madiyev, all conditions have been
created to support and scale their IT products to bring them to foreign
markets.
“We offer educational programs, talent
support, and startup acceleration programs across the country. For example, we
are partners of the Google for Startups program in Central Asia. Also, startups
from Mongolia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia are now participating in this
accelerator program. We also fast-track their development here in Astana.
Moreover, we provide them an opportunity to participate in a six-month program
in Silicon Valley in the U.S., the capital of the world’s IT business, where we
facilitated the establishment of our own Central Asian IT hub,” he said.
Last year, Kazakhstan’s IT
exports grew fivefold to over $300 million, with nearly half of the sales
coming from Astana Hub’s IT products. In the first half of 2023, the revenues
of the technopark participants exceeded 161 billion tenge, while the volume of
attracted investments surpassed 31 billion tenge. Madiyev spoke about the
priority areas of Astana Hub’s work as part of the implementation of the tasks
outlined by the Head of State.
“The first goal is to increase
the volume of venture capital funding by creating new venture capital
investment mechanisms. Thus, we will work to attract funds and financial
institutions to invest more in our startups and companies. The second is to
increase human capital,” he shared.
