As part of the joint project by Digital Business and Astana Hub, “100 Startup Stories of Central Asia,” Alibek shared why his previous products “didn’t take off,” how he urgently flew to another city to continue talks with an investor, and how shai.pro differs from competitors. We also learned which major companies are already using shai.pro products, how the team shortened the deal-closing cycle, and what plans the startup has for the coming year.
“I Realized You Can Raise Big Money at the Idea Stage”
— Alibek, how did your journey in IT begin?
— In 2013, I graduated from the Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics at Moscow State University. Almost immediately, I found myself in entrepreneurship: I founded a web studio focused on website development and digital marketing. However, I always wanted not just to provide services, but to create a product I could sell and earn from.
I entered the startup industry in 2020, when my classmate Magzhan Ikram flew in from Singapore. He told me that he had raised $1 million in investment for his IT product at the idea stage. I realized that big money could be raised in this field and suggested launching a project together.
At first, we considered building a chatbot creation platform, but we couldn’t attract investment. We then switched to a financial tool in the digital currency space, but within six months we failed to obtain a license from the AIFC and suspended work. Instead, we decided to build our own blockchain-based analytics system, where users could access information about wallets and transactions without registration and analyze user behavior on crypto exchanges. That’s how the Oraclus project emerged.
In 2022, we raised $400,000 from a major blockchain data provider, and in 2023 we were accepted into Tim Draper’s Hero Training program. At that time, AI solutions were already actively being developed in Silicon Valley. We started thinking about how to integrate AI into our project — for example, creating a Perplexity-like intelligent search engine for the blockchain space.
However, further development required funding. In 2024, we announced the opening of a $2 million round. At the same time, our global competitors were raising much more — $30 million or even $60 million. We understood that it would be difficult without investment, but we failed to close the round and suspended work on Oraclus.
— When did the idea of creating AI agents emerge?
— Around the same time, another university friend flew to Kazakhstan from the UK. At that moment, he was working at the pharmaceutical company GSK in London, where he was involved in developing GenAI products and already using multi-agent systems.
He explained that agents can communicate with each other, make autonomous decisions, distribute tasks, and verify their execution. I was very impressed and suggested creating an AI solution that would provide companies with investment recommendations.
At the end of 2024, I shared the idea with the owner of several large companies in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Hong Kong, and Cyprus, as well as the main beneficiary of the Uzbek bank AVO, Ruslan Adilbayev. He saw potential in it, but it later turned out that other market players were not yet ready for such advanced solutions. Instead, one investment company we spoke with asked us to implement AI at a more basic level: to create a chatbot based on local data that would operate in a closed environment. We signed a contract and started working.
“In Our Previous Projects, We Focused on Building the Product — But We Should Have Sold More”
— How did things develop after that?
— In March this year, I met Ruslan Adilbayev again in Astana. He only had one hour before flying to Almaty. I began explaining in detail how multi-agents work and what they are capable of, and described the solution we were building for an investment company. We ran out of time, so I quickly bought a ticket for the same flight and flew with him. We talked during the flight, at the hotel, and the next day we drew up a business plan and signed an investment agreement. Ruslan invested $1 million into the project, which was used to develop the product and support the team. That’s when the story of shai.pro began.
— What challenges did you face at the beginning?
— At that time, the management of many companies didn’t fully understand how AI could help them. We approached the problem in a very practical way. First, we studied the business processes of potential clients by selecting focus groups of employees and conducting workshops to understand how AI could simplify their work. Then we compiled a list of tasks that could realistically be accelerated with AI agents and deliver visible results.
Management would then choose which agents to launch first, and we would get to work. This helped us build truly useful products and avoid implementing AI just for the sake of it.
For example, based on one request, we developed a vertical agent called SHAI Compliance AI, which checks documents for compliance with international and industry standards (ISO, GOST, API, ASME). Tasks that previously took hours can now be completed by the AI agent in just a few minutes.
The experience gained from working on previous projects also helped us avoid many common mistakes while building shai.pro.
— What mistakes are you referring to?
— The first was a lack of promotion. My partners and I are programmers — fairly modest people. We built products but didn’t talk about them publicly. Even when we raised $400,000 for Oraclus in 2022, we didn’t announce it in the media or on social networks. The amount seemed insignificant. Perhaps if we had been more visible back then, our previous projects might have continued.
It’s also important to be based in the country where most of your clients are, especially if you’re selling a complex product. In the case of Oraclus, most of our clients were outside Kazakhstan. We frequently traveled to Singapore, the UAE, and other countries where blockchain was developing rapidly. But we couldn’t close deals: when contracts involve large sums, you need to be physically close to the other party.
When opening a funding round, it’s important not to think in terms of “we’re in Kazakhstan, everything is cheaper here.” If you want to compete globally, you need to be able to hire strong specialists worldwide to solve complex problems faster and promote your products. That means raising significant capital.
Another mistake was a shift in focus. In previous projects, we prioritized building the product, whereas we should have focused more on sales. With shai.pro, we first pitched the idea to our initial client — an investment company — received funding, and then built the product using those funds.
Read more on Digitalbusiness.kz.
As part of the joint project by Digital Business and Astana Hub, “100 Startup Stories of Central Asia,” Alibek shared why his previous products “didn’t take off,” how he urgently flew to another city to continue talks with an investor, and how shai.pro differs from competitors. We also learned which major companies are already using shai.pro products, how the team shortened the deal-closing cycle, and what plans the startup has for the coming year.
“I Realized You Can Raise Big Money at the Idea Stage”
— Alibek, how did your journey in IT begin?
— In 2013, I graduated from the Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics at Moscow State University. Almost immediately, I found myself in entrepreneurship: I founded a web studio focused on website development and digital marketing. However, I always wanted not just to provide services, but to create a product I could sell and earn from.
I entered the startup industry in 2020, when my classmate Magzhan Ikram flew in from Singapore. He told me that he had raised $1 million in investment for his IT product at the idea stage. I realized that big money could be raised in this field and suggested launching a project together.
At first, we considered building a chatbot creation platform, but we couldn’t attract investment. We then switched to a financial tool in the digital currency space, but within six months we failed to obtain a license from the AIFC and suspended work. Instead, we decided to build our own blockchain-based analytics system, where users could access information about wallets and transactions without registration and analyze user behavior on crypto exchanges. That’s how the Oraclus project emerged.
In 2022, we raised $400,000 from a major blockchain data provider, and in 2023 we were accepted into Tim Draper’s Hero Training program. At that time, AI solutions were already actively being developed in Silicon Valley. We started thinking about how to integrate AI into our project — for example, creating a Perplexity-like intelligent search engine for the blockchain space.
However, further development required funding. In 2024, we announced the opening of a $2 million round. At the same time, our global competitors were raising much more — $30 million or even $60 million. We understood that it would be difficult without investment, but we failed to close the round and suspended work on Oraclus.
— When did the idea of creating AI agents emerge?
— Around the same time, another university friend flew to Kazakhstan from the UK. At that moment, he was working at the pharmaceutical company GSK in London, where he was involved in developing GenAI products and already using multi-agent systems.
He explained that agents can communicate with each other, make autonomous decisions, distribute tasks, and verify their execution. I was very impressed and suggested creating an AI solution that would provide companies with investment recommendations.
At the end of 2024, I shared the idea with the owner of several large companies in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Hong Kong, and Cyprus, as well as the main beneficiary of the Uzbek bank AVO, Ruslan Adilbayev. He saw potential in it, but it later turned out that other market players were not yet ready for such advanced solutions. Instead, one investment company we spoke with asked us to implement AI at a more basic level: to create a chatbot based on local data that would operate in a closed environment. We signed a contract and started working.
“In Our Previous Projects, We Focused on Building the Product — But We Should Have Sold More”
— How did things develop after that?
— In March this year, I met Ruslan Adilbayev again in Astana. He only had one hour before flying to Almaty. I began explaining in detail how multi-agents work and what they are capable of, and described the solution we were building for an investment company. We ran out of time, so I quickly bought a ticket for the same flight and flew with him. We talked during the flight, at the hotel, and the next day we drew up a business plan and signed an investment agreement. Ruslan invested $1 million into the project, which was used to develop the product and support the team. That’s when the story of shai.pro began.
— What challenges did you face at the beginning?
— At that time, the management of many companies didn’t fully understand how AI could help them. We approached the problem in a very practical way. First, we studied the business processes of potential clients by selecting focus groups of employees and conducting workshops to understand how AI could simplify their work. Then we compiled a list of tasks that could realistically be accelerated with AI agents and deliver visible results.
Management would then choose which agents to launch first, and we would get to work. This helped us build truly useful products and avoid implementing AI just for the sake of it.
For example, based on one request, we developed a vertical agent called SHAI Compliance AI, which checks documents for compliance with international and industry standards (ISO, GOST, API, ASME). Tasks that previously took hours can now be completed by the AI agent in just a few minutes.
The experience gained from working on previous projects also helped us avoid many common mistakes while building shai.pro.
— What mistakes are you referring to?
— The first was a lack of promotion. My partners and I are programmers — fairly modest people. We built products but didn’t talk about them publicly. Even when we raised $400,000 for Oraclus in 2022, we didn’t announce it in the media or on social networks. The amount seemed insignificant. Perhaps if we had been more visible back then, our previous projects might have continued.
It’s also important to be based in the country where most of your clients are, especially if you’re selling a complex product. In the case of Oraclus, most of our clients were outside Kazakhstan. We frequently traveled to Singapore, the UAE, and other countries where blockchain was developing rapidly. But we couldn’t close deals: when contracts involve large sums, you need to be physically close to the other party.
When opening a funding round, it’s important not to think in terms of “we’re in Kazakhstan, everything is cheaper here.” If you want to compete globally, you need to be able to hire strong specialists worldwide to solve complex problems faster and promote your products. That means raising significant capital.
Another mistake was a shift in focus. In previous projects, we prioritized building the product, whereas we should have focused more on sales. With shai.pro, we first pitched the idea to our initial client — an investment company — received funding, and then built the product using those funds.
Read more on Digitalbusiness.kz.
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