Kazakhstan aims to actively develop the ecosystem of venture capital or business angel investment. So far, this market has successfully established itself in Almaty, according to experts. The Astana Venture Club was opened at the Astana Hub International Technopark in order to expand this direction on a national level. To date, over 40 potential business angels are ready to join the club, with each of them planning to invest at least $50,000 in promising projects at the initial stage alone.
“The Astana Venture Club will focus on the largest possible flow of potentially global projects, including those from Kazakhstan, which undergo acceleration or receive other forms of support within the Astana Hub. The Club will try to promote the culture of business angel investing, which prevents situations where investors provide funds but require 50 percent of the project's income. This approach ensures that founders remain motivated to develop their projects. So, it is very important to foster this culture and encourage our businesspeople and other high-net-worth investors from various fields to actively engage by investing as individual business angels or as part of business angel syndicates,” Nurasyl Jarbassov, co-founder of the Astana Venture Club, said.
It is important to understand that angel investing is distinct from conventional one. Jarbassov notes that although these are quite risky investments, they have great potential to multiply. Besides, investors have a real chance to rapidly expand their investment portfolios.
“Projects should have the ability to scale up. The classic business model involves linear growth, which implies a gradual increase year after year. There is also the model of exponential growth, where several years are dedicated to building a particular business model, which then allows for a multiple increase. Overall, venture capital is a high-risk yet high-yield investment option,” Jarbassov added.
Nevertheless, the main thing in the development of the venture ecosystem is to support investors and provide practical assistance to innovative, technological, or IT startups. It is worth mentioning that a business angel school has opened its doors in Kazakhstan, for people ready to invest in breakthrough technologies and advanced entrepreneurial solutions.
