Astana Hub Recaps 2024: Record-Breaking Achievements and Future Outlook

Astana Hub, the largest tech park in Central Asia, has wrapped up 2024 by showing remarkable growth across all key metrics. Over the past year, tech park residents have attracted more than $177 million in investments, increased tech service exports to $481.5 million, and achieved total revenue of $1.3 billion. The creation of over 28,000 new jobs in the tech sector reflects robust development and a significant contribution to the country’s economy.

Astana Hub plays a vital role in strengthening the ecosystem for tech businesses, supporting startups at every stage of their growth. In 2024, more than 500 companies joined as new participants, bringing the total number of registered tech companies at the tech park to 1,600, including over 425 with foreign participation. Major investments were secured by companies such as CITIX, Hero’s Journey, and Higgsfield AI. Meanwhile, Arlan Biotech, GoDays, Zypl.ai, CerebraAI, CodiPlay, ApartX, Biometric, Parqour, Grand Mobile, Kwaka, Beksar, Alaqan, ZebraEye, and many others are successfully expanding into international markets.

“The tech industry is showing impressive growth compared to other sectors of the economy. In 2024, investments rose by 40% versus the previous year, tech service exports grew by 52%, total industry revenue increased by 48%, and the number of new jobs rose by 12%. This success is in large part due to effective government policies focused on human capital development. Over the past five years, the state has invested roughly 15 billion tenge in Astana Hub, resulting in tech industry revenues reaching 1.5 trillion tenge and net export earnings of $1.1 billion. With minimal investment, the tech sector has shown tremendous growth and creates a multiplier effect throughout Kazakhstan’s economy,” said Magzhan Madiyev, Chief Executive Officer of Astana Hub.

Throughout 2024, Astana Hub continued to implement key accelerator programs that provided startups with greater opportunities to enter global markets and attract investors. The Silkway Accelerator, launched jointly with Google for Startups, fostered project growth and helped participants expand into new markets. Hero Training, run in partnership with Draper University, provided access to scaling opportunities in Silicon Valley. Scalerator supported Kazakhstani startups in entering Southeast Asian and MENA markets. As a result of these programs, 49 tech park participants successfully scaled internationally last year, demonstrating the competitiveness of Kazakh tech companies and their readiness to strengthen their global presence.

AlchemistX and Silicon Valley Residency Program, both launched in 2024, further boosted Kazakh tech companies’ export potential. Within these programs, 22 startups from Central Eurasia achieved significant progress in Silicon Valley and raised $1.4 million in investments.

Participants in the Global Outsourcer program also delivered strong results, signing 98 export contracts worth $355,000 in just three months with clients in 24 countries, including the US, UK, Germany, Canada, and the UAE. By comparison, in 2023, the program concluded with 69 contracts totaling more than $158,000.

A new fund, Astana Hub Ventures, was established in 2024 as a key financial instrument for supporting and developing local startups. With $10 million in capital, the fund invests in both Kazakh startups and projects from Central Asia and beyond, with a particular focus on graduates of Astana Hub’s programs.

Also in 2024, in keeping with the President’s directive, Digital Nomad Visa and Digital Nomad Residency programs were launched to streamline the process of obtaining electronic visas and residency permits for foreign professionals and businesses. These initiatives help attract large international companies that stimulate regional development, create jobs, and share their expertise in competitive tech solutions and business operations. Several major international firms have already established offices at Astana Hub, including Playrix, TikTok, inDrive, EPAM, Glovo, and Presight.ai. In 2024, the tech park’s infrastructure was further enhanced by notable market players such as Yandex, Telegram, Higgsfield, Naimi.kz, Funtyx Games, and others.

In 2024, the leading tech parks in Central Asia — Astana Hub and IT Park Uzbekistan — joined forces under the unified brand of Central Asian Innovation Hubs to advance the startup ecosystem and showcase the region’s innovation potential on the global stage. As part of this collaboration, 39 startups from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan participated in major international tech events including the INMerge Innovation Summit in Baku, Web Summit 2024 in Lisbon, and TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 in San Francisco.

Astana Hub also remains committed to developing the tech ecosystem across Kazakhstan’s regions. In 2024, new IT hubs were launched in six regions, bringing the total number of regional centers under the tech park’s management to 18. Qostanai Hub and Kyzylorda Hub now feature dedicated GameDev centers that promote game development and the creative industry. Across these regional initiatives, 450 startup ideas have been generated, and 186 tech companies have joined Astana Hub’s tech ecosystem, fueling the tech sector’s growth throughout the country.

Last year also saw the launch of a large-scale AI Movement initiative aimed at advancing artificial intelligence (AI) in Kazakhstan. This initiative serves as the foundation for establishing Alem.AI, the International Center for Artificial Intelligence, set to open in 2025 at the Nur Alem sphere. The President has formally announced the opening of this center.

As part of the AI Movement, a specialized accelerator called AI’preneurs was created. Fifty talented specialists developed 21 startups, nine of which successfully completed the accelerator program, and seven teams secured financing through the Seed Money program. Altogether, in 2024, 40 projects received support from Astana Hub under the Seed Money program.

In October 2024, the first AI school in Kazakhstan, Tomorrow School, opened its doors, offering free, hands-on programming instruction from scratch and prioritizing peer-to-peer learning. Other notable AI Movement projects include the mobile game AI Quest, the multi-location hackathon Decentrathon 2.0, and a regional roadshow to raise awareness of AI. Educational initiatives under this program include the AI People Bootcamp, an online course titled “Introduction to AI: ChatGPT,” and ongoing teacher-training programs. AI startups also gain access to data and project funding through this program. Results from the AI Movement will be presented at the Digital Almaty 2025 international forum.

The Tech Orda program attracted a record 35,764 applications in 2024, highlighting the growing appeal of tech professions. A total of 3,465 grants were awarded, including 2,465 for the main track, 300 for schoolteachers’ professional development, and 700 for university educators. Under the IT-Aiel 2.0 project, 3,084 women from every region of Kazakhstan were given the opportunity to learn no-code programming, freelancing essentials, e-commerce, and other in-demand skills at no cost. In July 2024, a pilot online platform was launched to teach over 19,000 high school students (grades 10-11) the fundamentals of programming, focusing on no-code, low-code, and startup academy courses.

Astana Hub, as one of the organizers of the UNESCAP Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference, showcased Kazakhstan’s digital technology achievements at the Kazakhstan Tech Solution Day. Held in the country’s capital from September 3 to 5, 2024, the conference brought together more than 400 delegates from 30 countries, serving as a pivotal platform to demonstrate the nation’s innovative potential.

Staying true to its mission of fostering technological innovation to drive the Republic of Kazakhstan’s economy, Astana Hub remains focused on reaching its objectives: increasing tech service exports to $1 billion by 2026 and helping create Kazakhstan’s first “unicorn” by 2027.