The IT companies successfully progressed to the second stage of the Hero Training program, which was inaugurated by Tim Draper, the founder of Draper University and co-founder of venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson.

Initially, 199 startups applied to participate in the program. Out of these, 80 passed the pre-acceleration stage, and the top 15 were selected.

The fortunate startups are as follows: Flowsell.me (Kazakhstan), ozen (Kazakhstan), CITIX (Kazakhstan), SpaceLab (Kazakhstan), Smartestprep (Kazakhstan), Smart Technologies (Kyrgyzstan), BEEP (Kazakhstan), beyne.ai (Kazakhstan), FIBO CLOUD (Mongolia), Sqm-invest (Kazakhstan), Connected Home Ltd. (Kazakhstan), MEDIXBOT (Turkey), Med365 (Kazakhstan), Big Dream Lab (Kazakhstan), and Alaqan Technologies (Kazakhstan).

Furthermore, four startups—Beyne.ai, GoDays, Beep, and Smartestprep—received investments of $30,000 each from the program partner, My Ventures.

"This is a unique opportunity that we are providing to our startups for the first time. We are pleased to have a highly international group of participants. In addition to startups from Kazakhstan, we have also provided the opportunity for startups from Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, and, for the first time in our program, Turkey to learn in Silicon Valley. Additionally, based on the results of the two-week pre-acceleration stage, the Draper University Ventures team decided to invite a number of additional projects to a follow-up meeting, in addition to the 15 finalists. These participants will have an additional opportunity to secure up to $100,000 in seed funding from Draper University's dedicated alumni fund," noted Magzhan Madiyev, the CEO of Astana Hub.

As part of the partnership between Astana Hub and Draper University in Silicon Valley, the startups will undergo an intensive acceleration program and have the opportunity to scale their projects to the global market, including the US market.

The intensive acceleration program takes place at the Draper University campus, providing accommodation and workspace for all startups for up to six months. During this period, participants will have a unique opportunity to attract investments and enter the US market under the guidance of experienced technology entrepreneurs and experts from the Draper ecosystem.

While in Silicon Valley, the startups will have access to:

• Participation in an offline Demo Day
• Networking opportunities
• Expertise and mentoring from Silicon Valley experts
• Support from Astana Hub's international representative in the US.

It should be noted that the cooperation agreement was signed on March 10, 2023, in San Mateo, California, during the official visit of Bagdat Musin, the Minister of Digital Development, Innovations, and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan, by Magzhan Madiyev, the CEO of Astana Hub, and Asra Nadeem, the President of Draper University.