In the next 10-15 years, we should expect the birth of large unicorn companies (large tech companies with access to the global market, with an estimate of at least a billion dollars) from the Central Eurasia (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Georgia). This was announced by the organizers of the first ever Silicon Valleys of the technology conference ”Central Eurasia at Silicon Valley".
The event was held in a landmark for Silicon Valley The valley is located in the Yerba Buena Arts Center hall, where Apple founder Steve Jobs first introduced the iPhone and iPad to the public.
The conference was attended by TOP 100 startups, entrepreneurs from the region, American venture investors, leaders of large companies, representatives of organizations - tech giants from Silicon Valley Valleys, students and professors of leading American universities and many others. The event was attended by 1,500 participants and more than 50 speakers, including senior officials of the governments of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, CEO of Coursera Jeff Magionkalda, founder and partner of Unshackled Ventures Nitin Pacisia, as well as representatives of Minerva University, Professor of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business Ilya Strebulaev, as well as professors from Berkeley Universities and other expertsmouths.
Central Eurasia is a prosperous region with huge untapped potential, according to the organizers of the event. With a total population of 100 million people and an average age of 27, about 200 thousand people annually receive
education in the field of STEM (science, technology, education, mathematics). The region has everything necessary for the development of the tech industry: universities, startup ecosystem, venture funds and representatives of the region in Silicon Valley Silkroad Innovation Hub Valley. During the first year of operation, the hub attracted 80 resident startups, which in turn attracted more than $ 30 million in investments.
“It's time to mark our region on the map of the global Tech industry!” - said the founders of the Silkroad Innovation Hub.
Jaslan Madiyev, Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of Kazakhstan, shared the figures - Kazakhstan accounts for 50% of GDP in Central Asia Eurasia. He shared the successes of the Government of the Republic in the field of innovation: Kazakhstan is on the 10th place in the UN GLOBAL Online Services index, on the 3rd place among the countries of Central and South Asia after Iran and India in the Global Innovation Index. He also cited the example of Astana Hub, which is chosen by decacorns (startups with a capitalization of more than $ 10 billion) and unicorns as a regional office. Today Telegram, Epam, InDrive and other large tech companies are based there.
Madiyev spoke about other initiatives of the Government of Kazakhstan in the field of digitalization - the possibility of obtaining a digital nomad visa, accessible Internet, etc. The head of the Ministry of Finance calls the next big program, scheduled for 2024-2029, the development of artificial intelligence - in particular for the public sector and the National Center Alem.ai .
“Recently, there has been a rapid development of new technologies, AI, blockchain, gamedev (video game industry), all this is spurring the market and entrepreneurs to create startups. Everyone sees successful cases, that startups are developing, attracting venture financing, going on IPOs and creating multibillion-dollar companies. I think this is a great motivation for entrepreneurs and startups,” the minister said.
Speaking about the problems facing entrepreneurs from Kazakhstan, Madiyev noted that Kazakhstani investors are ready to invest about 100-200 thousand dollars at an early stage, but when it comes to a more mature stage, it is difficult to find 1-2 million dollars of investments. Therefore, he believes to promote Kazakhstani startups abroad, especially in Silicon The valley.
"We are confident that in the near future, truly large international startup companies unicorns will appear in our region," added Jaslan Madiyev.
The founder of Silkroad Innovation Hub Asset Abdualiev noted that although the startup ecosystem in our region is not as well developed as in other countries, but now they see the startup ecosystem of the entire region as a rise.
“Our conference has become such a platform to introduce and introduce these future global Silicon Valley founders. America is the largest market, and I urge our startups not to be afraid, to keep and enter global markets,” Abdualiyev said.
Technology Conference “Central Eurasia in Silicon Valley Central Eurasia @ Silicon Valley was held with the support of Freedom Holding, as well as in partnership with Astana Hub and IT Park Uzbekistan. InDrive, represented by founder Arsen Tomsky, also acted as a partner of the event.
For information:
Central Eurasia, which includes Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, represents a region with a population of more than 100 million people, a combined GDP of $400 billion and national reserves of $90 billion. The region also has 2% of the world's oil reserves and 7.5% of the world's natural gas reserves.
Silkroad Innovation Hub was established in 2023 in Palo Alto, USA by two founders from Central Asia Asia: Asset Abdualiev (Kazakhstan) and Asror Arabdzhanov (Uzbekistan). The organization supports startups and entrepreneurs from Central Asia Eurasia is looking for ways to create or expand their enterprises in Silicon Valley and in the US market.

Source : https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/mdai/press/news/details/872019