Magzhan Madiev joined the ninth edition of the MOST Podcast on the MOST Startup Media channel, hosted by Mirat Akhmetsadykov, Managing Partner of MOST Ventures, and Adil Nurgozhin, Managing Partner of Big Sky Capital. This episode was devoted to the results of the International Forum Digital Bridge 2022, the history and current development of Kazakhstan and Central Asia IT ecosystems. 

The Astana Hub's director emphasized significant outcomes of the Digital Bridge 2022 Forum, particularly the memorandum of collaboration with technoparks of the Organization of Turkic States.

Integration of IT-technoparks implies the merging of marketplaces, the possibility for startups to enter each other's markets, and the exchange of projects and talents. "For example, ApartX became a resident of Bilkent CYBERPARK in Ankara, which paves the way to join the Turkish market. Fibo.cloud (a startup from Mongolia), which signed a big contract with Transtelecom JSC, participates in The Silkway Accelerator," said Magzhan Madiev. 

The podcast members also discussed the startup financing aspects and investment attraction. According to Magzhan Madiev, it became possible to obtain a startup valuation of several million dollars under the conditions provided in the Astana Hub: "Tickets of 300, 500, and up to one million dollars are already a norm, but we should go further, and we need tickets for 5 and 10 million dollars. Until there are tickets for 10 million dollars, there will be no super cool, leading, global stories." Adil Nurgozhin noted that in Central Asia, there is a need for funds with $100 million capitalization and above, and in the near future, Kazakh venture capital funds will reach these figures.

Watch the full podcast recording on the MOST Startup Media Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QGMYUC6znA.