On the Day of digitalization and information technology workers, Astana Hub, the largest tech hub of IT startups in Central Asia, shared the results of its activities over 4 years since its foundation.

Astana Hub aims to form an ecosystem for IT business, train IT professionals and develop startup projects. Currently, more than 930 IT companies are participants of Astana Hub, 170 of which are foreign participants. They receive informational and educational support and get access to the physical infrastructure, business development programs, special tax, and visa rules. The total number of job positions created by the tech hub's residents is more than 12,000.

Since the launch of Astana Hub, the total income of the tech hub's participants amounted to 383 billion tenge, and the export of IT services amounted to 123.3 billion tenge. 

"Many Kazakhstani people use the development of the startups, which are, for instance, the participants of Astana Hub. These technologies accompany us everywhere: at work - Documentolog is a document management service; in the city - Parqour parking services, CITIX smart boards, UvU safe cab, Accessible Kazakhstan public space accessibility map for people with limited mobility, and many others. Thus, Astana Hub residents bring real benefits to Kazakhstanis every day and simplify routine tasks," said Magzhan Madiev, CEO of Astana Hub. 

The top 3 startups that attracted most of the most investments are: JET -  a mobile app for a scooter rental service using; CEREBRA - a program for early diagnosis of stroke based on neural networks; the system is working in pilot mode in 20 stroke centers across Kazakhstan; CTOgram - a platform for finding car service stations and car spare parts.

Since 2018, more than 15,000 people have completed educational programs at Astana Hub, such as Startup School, No-code School, Freelance School, Beta Career, and Tech Orda. Also, more than 2,000 people graduated from the acceleration and incubation programs of Astana Hub. 

The Tech Orda program was launched by the initiative of the Minister of Digital Development, Innovation, and Aerospace Industry Bagdat Mussin. It provides financial support for private IT schools. Under the program, a hundred students at 13 IT schools were funded in 2021. Moreover, this year it plans to fund the training of up to 3,000 students. Each programming school will get financing up to 600 000 tenge for each student. IT schools started applying for the program on September 1, 2022. Currently, 50 IT schools have received accreditation from participating in the program and are already selecting students for training within the allocated funds. By the end of the year, private IT schools will enroll more than 3,000 students between the ages of 18 and 45 who want to learn IT skills. 

In 2021, Astana Hub launched the first batch of the export accelerator program - Scalerator. The program allows startups to master competencies to enter new markets, such as North America, Europe, the CIS, and Southeast Asia, and sign contracts with companies worldwide. During the 10 weeks of the first stream of the program, participants concluded export contracts and agreements worth more than $840,000. The second stream was launched this year in September, with 40 startup projects participating.

Also, within the Seed Money program, starting in 2021, startups will receive direct financing for their project development. It is a comprehensive program to support IT startups at different stages (MVP, Product/market fit). Funding under the program is provided according to the revenue share (equity-free) model, which implies a commitment to pay 1% of the project's income for 3 years after the allocation. These funds are used to develop the IT industry ecosystem further. 

In April 2022, Astana Hub signed a partnership agreement with Google for Startups and became the corporation's first partner in the Central Asian region. The Silkway Accelerator program was launched for Central Asia, Azerbaijan, and Mongolia as part of the partnership. Thirteen of the 15 startups allowed to pump their projects into the first stream of the Silkway Accelerator have successfully completed the program - they have grown considerably and entered new world markets. Among the participants of the acceleration program are companies that have more than doubled their valuation in three months, as well as startups whose monthly income has grown by 22 times.

The second stream of the Silkway Accelerator program started on September 2, and the offline training in Astana also will last 3 months. In addition to mentoring, Silkway Accelerator participants received free accommodation near Astana Hub, space to work, and a chance to receive funding up to $55,000 under the Seed Money program.

The annual Digital Bridge International Forum plays a special role in the tech hub's activity. It traditionally includes numerous panel sessions, a tech hub's exhibition, an IT Startups Alley, an IT schools exhibition, an IT job fair, an Astana Hub Battle contest, etc. This year, the forum brought together more than 20 thousand participants, 300 IT companies, 150 venture capitalists and business angels, more than 300 speakers, and 100 startups from 15 countries. It became the biggest IT platform of the year that united the countries of Central Asia.

Also, various events are held regularly: Pizza Pitch, Speaker Night, Startaphana, and others. During 2018-2022, more than 1000 events were attended by about 50,000 listeners. 

Recall that the international tech hub of IT startups Astana Hub was created on November 6, 2018. Astana Hub aims to develop an innovation culture and improve the startup ecosystem through acceleration services, technological business incubation of Astana Hub participants, consulting, information, analytical, educational, marketing, and other activities which are looking to stimulate the development of technological entrepreneurship.