“Since 2023, the program has already completed five cohorts, bringing together 47 startups from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, and Türkiye. But more important than the numbers is the growth trajectory of the projects: from early international pilots to real deals and partnerships in global markets. For example, BeyimTech became the first Kazakhstani project to take 1st place in the Draper University program, established a partnership with Arizona State University, and entered the GSV Cup 50 list, while pwron.ai, after completing the program, entered the US market and began its first sales in Miami. These results confirm that teams from the region are already globally competitive and capable of building sustainable businesses beyond their home countries. We are pleased to see these results and will continue to systematically expand opportunities for startups from the region to access international markets,” said Astana Hub Managing Director Tanat Uskembayev.
From 61 applications, the strongest projects with proven growth metrics and high scaling potential were selected for the final stage. Over five weeks, they will work with mentors and investors in Silicon Valley, test their products in the US market, and adapt their go-to-market strategies in the B2B segment. The participating startups include:
- Pulsar – a DeepTech computer vision system that performs a full technical inspection of vehicles in seconds. The startup has already completed a pilot with Astana Motors, built a dataset of 150,000+ annotated images, and is under consideration for deployment on national highways.
- ibirAi – an AI-powered corporate learning platform with micro-lessons delivered via messaging apps. It demonstrates up to 95.8% user engagement and more than 80% course completion, working with companies in industry, pharmaceuticals, and financial services.
- AR SANA – an AI platform for scaling pediatric speech therapy. It already collaborates with 5 centers and 4 schools, has more than 430 families on the waiting list, and is developing its own model based on a dataset of 17,000 samples of Kazakh children’s speech.
- Beauty AI – an AI manager that turns data into profit using a “diagnosis – decision – result” approach. The platform is used in 150+ branches and is scaling to more than 2,000 locations.
- VoiceClinic – a next-generation voice AI agent for clinics, trained specifically for real multilingual environments. In pilots, it reduced missed calls from 39% to 0% and delivers up to 20x ROI in the first month. The project is part of the Astana Hub Ventures portfolio.
- Barion AI – a platform that turns business data into personalized AI agents capable of performing employee tasks: from sales and support to training and customer service, supporting more than 10 languages and over 1,000 active users.
“This is not just an accelerator, but an environment where founders undergo deep transformation. Our current focus is preparing ibirAi for entry into the US: we are testing cold sales, strengthening pitching, and validating the product for enterprise clients, while refining our go-to-market strategy. We aim to attract our first US enterprise clients by the end of 2026, close a seed round, and then scale into the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Without this program, this journey would take 2–3 times longer,” said ibirAi CEO Gani Abadan.
For reference, Hero Training is a five-week course for entrepreneurs providing intensive preparation in Silicon Valley. Participants gain access to markets in 25–30 countries, attend workshops, strategy sessions, AMA meetings with investors, mentorship from leading entrepreneurs, and networking events. One of the key elements of the program is the “Navy SEAL survival week” – a practice designed to build resilience, leadership, and team effectiveness.
“Since 2023, the program has already completed five cohorts, bringing together 47 startups from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, and Türkiye. But more important than the numbers is the growth trajectory of the projects: from early international pilots to real deals and partnerships in global markets. For example, BeyimTech became the first Kazakhstani project to take 1st place in the Draper University program, established a partnership with Arizona State University, and entered the GSV Cup 50 list, while pwron.ai, after completing the program, entered the US market and began its first sales in Miami. These results confirm that teams from the region are already globally competitive and capable of building sustainable businesses beyond their home countries. We are pleased to see these results and will continue to systematically expand opportunities for startups from the region to access international markets,” said Astana Hub Managing Director Tanat Uskembayev.
From 61 applications, the strongest projects with proven growth metrics and high scaling potential were selected for the final stage. Over five weeks, they will work with mentors and investors in Silicon Valley, test their products in the US market, and adapt their go-to-market strategies in the B2B segment. The participating startups include:
- Pulsar – a DeepTech computer vision system that performs a full technical inspection of vehicles in seconds. The startup has already completed a pilot with Astana Motors, built a dataset of 150,000+ annotated images, and is under consideration for deployment on national highways.
- ibirAi – an AI-powered corporate learning platform with micro-lessons delivered via messaging apps. It demonstrates up to 95.8% user engagement and more than 80% course completion, working with companies in industry, pharmaceuticals, and financial services.
- AR SANA – an AI platform for scaling pediatric speech therapy. It already collaborates with 5 centers and 4 schools, has more than 430 families on the waiting list, and is developing its own model based on a dataset of 17,000 samples of Kazakh children’s speech.
- Beauty AI – an AI manager that turns data into profit using a “diagnosis – decision – result” approach. The platform is used in 150+ branches and is scaling to more than 2,000 locations.
- VoiceClinic – a next-generation voice AI agent for clinics, trained specifically for real multilingual environments. In pilots, it reduced missed calls from 39% to 0% and delivers up to 20x ROI in the first month. The project is part of the Astana Hub Ventures portfolio.
- Barion AI – a platform that turns business data into personalized AI agents capable of performing employee tasks: from sales and support to training and customer service, supporting more than 10 languages and over 1,000 active users.
“This is not just an accelerator, but an environment where founders undergo deep transformation. Our current focus is preparing ibirAi for entry into the US: we are testing cold sales, strengthening pitching, and validating the product for enterprise clients, while refining our go-to-market strategy. We aim to attract our first US enterprise clients by the end of 2026, close a seed round, and then scale into the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Without this program, this journey would take 2–3 times longer,” said ibirAi CEO Gani Abadan.
For reference, Hero Training is a five-week course for entrepreneurs providing intensive preparation in Silicon Valley. Participants gain access to markets in 25–30 countries, attend workshops, strategy sessions, AMA meetings with investors, mentorship from leading entrepreneurs, and networking events. One of the key elements of the program is the “Navy SEAL survival week” – a practice designed to build resilience, leadership, and team effectiveness.
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