Ten KDA finalists received $50,000 each

An award ceremony for ten finalists of the international program “Kazakhstan Digital Acceleration” (KDA) was held today. The program is being implemented by Baiterek Holding and the Singapore venture fund “Quest Ventures”.

Each KDA finalist received a $50,000 convertible loan investment to grow their business. They were selected from 150 startups that participated in the program. The finalists not only received investments but also went through four-month training by international mentors, received an expert assessment and have already presented their projects to leading international investors to attract additional investments.

– Baiterek Holding is a state-owned company that manages money to create venture capital funds. The funds are created in cooperation with international professional venture capital funds who know how to manage money, select startups, and so on. Baiterek Holding allocates financing through co-investment funds, which allows us to form a third class in the startup ecosystem – venture investments. These investments are crucial for the startup ecosystem to start working by itself, – said Bagdat Musin.

Adil Nurgozhin, Baiterek Holding’s Managing Director, called the cooperation with the Singaporean colleagues successful and said that it is planned to launch the program in other regions of Kazakhstan.

– For the first time in Kazakhstan, a quasi-state company cooperates with Temasek at such a high level. The cooperation is quite fruitful; the portfolio is active and growing. The KDA program has proved to be successful. Our next goal is to launch it in other regions of Kazakhstan, including Karaganda, Pavlodar, Shymkent, Atyrau, and Almaty. We will be glad to see startups from the periphery regions as the next ten finalists, – said Adil Nurgozhin.

Diaz Beksoltan, Acting Chairman of the Board of QazTech Ventures, noted that thanks to the KDA program, startup projects from the periphery regions will also have the opportunity to enter the global market.

– QazTech Ventures, in collaboration with Astana Hub, will take trips to the regions starting next month to popularize this program. Our goal is to give those with fresh ideas opportunities to bring them to life, – said Diaz Beksoltan.

The cooperation of QazTech Ventures JSC, an affiliate of Baiterek Holding, with Quest Ventures began in March 2020, after the signing of the agreement on the creation of a joint fund with a capitalization of $50 million. According to the agreement, the fund will select and finance promising startup projects in Kazakhstan and Central Asia in the next five years.