Kazakh startup Clockster has raised $750,000 from the Singapore–based Quest Ventures fund, whose anchor investors are JSC QazTech Ventures and Pavilion Capital, a subsidiary of Temasek Holdings, Russian HR & ED-Tech Accelerator and serial angel investor Talgat Ismail.

Clockster provides a simple and easy-to-use HR management tool designed for micro, small and medium-sized businesses. The system allows companies to automate payroll, time sheets, simplify and manage staff schedules and significantly improve the interaction between employees and their employers regardless of geographical location and time zones.

The use of Clockster among MSME representatives as a consequence leads to a reduction in inefficient overpayments to employees and the return of lost profits by up to 15%, and the overall productivity of employees increases by 20%. Clockster strengthens work discipline, reduces time for HR managers to manage schedules and puts documentation and communications in order within companies. At the moment, the startup has about 160 clients, 85% of whom are located in Kazakhstan, the rest are from Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, the Philippines and Singapore.#nbsp;

"Thanks to QazTech Ventures, we were able to present our project to experts from Quest Ventures Asia Fund II, as well as the HR & ED-Tech accelerator and receive venture investments in the amount of $750,000. We plan to direct investments for further scaling to the countries of Southeast Asia and the CIS, attracting new employees and marketing. I believe that such support is necessary for domestic startups, especially during the pandemic, when it is extremely difficult to enter global markets," notes Yerzhan Ryskaliev, founder of the Clockster startup.

According to QazTech Ventures, cooperation with the Singapore-based Quest Ventures fund began in March 2020, after signing an agreement to create a joint fund with a capitalization of 50 million US dollars. According to the terms of the agreement, the Fund will consider and finance promising startup projects in Kazakhstan and Central Asia in the next five years.

For Clockster, this investment round is the second. In the fall of 2018, investments in the amount of US$ 340,000 were attracted from the Kazakh venture fund ABC-I2BF Seed Fund and business angel Olzhas Zhienkulov, who is the co-founder and director of the Singapore fund Paladigm Capital.

"The Astana Hub resident Clockster project is an example of what results the partnership between the state and business should bring. This is the first major transaction within the framework of the fund created by JSC "QazTech Ventures" together with Singapore partners. And I hope that this will serve as an impetus for creating a full-fledged ecosystem with a working venture industry, which in turn will allow us to form a competitive startup community. Our support and active participation in the expansion of partnership borders with foreign markets will allow the scaling of such projects in the future. The team is entering the South-Eastern market, and I am sure they will succeed!", – commented the Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan Musin Bagdat.

It should be noted that Clockster is a participant of the international technopark of IT startups Astana Hub. All participants of the technopark receive tax preferences. Preferences exempt participants from paying taxes such as CPN, VAT, VAT on imports of goods, royalty tax, IPN and social tax for non-residents. Such a measure of state support allows IT companies to reinvest the saved funds in the development of their projects.