The country has been on our radar for a long time as it combines a few significant factors for a healthy entrepreneur ecosystem growth such as strong governmental support, rapid country digitalization and technology development, and last but not least, an active entrepreneurial community. Furthermore, Kazakhstan is becoming less dependent on its oil and gas resources and is eager to explore alternative ways of doing business and boosting the economy. The proof of this is a state program Digital Kazakhstan aimed at developing a holistic digital infrastructure and investing in the training of high-quality experts in the tech sector.

For this year’s edition of the regional Seedstars Summit in CEE & Central Asia, we are partnering with the government of Kazakhstan and Akimat of Nur-Sultan (Astana Innovations) to expand the impact of their work and to accelerate growth in the region.

Kazakhstan’s capital, Nur-Sultan, is home to more than 35% of the country’s entrepreneurial talents. Among these bright entrepreneurs are our alumni and finalists of the Seedstars World Competition such as Clockster, a cloud-based HR-system to manage employees work time, and Smart Satu, digital trade platform for products turnover automatization in the fast-moving consumer goods industry, and many more.

In 2019, Seedstars World Competition is taking place in 13 countries in CEE & Central Asia, and we have already managed to select the 12 most promising early-stage startups. At the Seedstars Summit CEE 2019, they would have a chance to pitch their idea one more time in front of the most respected investors and jury in the region, and after that, start preparing for the final competition at the Seedstars Summit happening on the 3rd of April in Lausanne, Switzerland. To get ready for the pitch, all the winners will participate in a one-day bootcamp where they will work with their mentors and peers on refining their growth strategy.

So who are those lucky ones? (drumroll sound)

🇷🇸Serbia
Couch Coach is a second-screen application for basketball fans where they can coach from the couch, propose players and win or lose points.

🇦🇿Azerbaijan
Wexplain is the platform to create a next-gen forum for businesses.

🇬🇪Georgia
Lingwing.com is an online platform for mastering foreign languages offering a unique set of tasks and learning experiences.

🇰🇿Kazakhstan
Biometric is an AI solution that helps people get cash loans in ATMs based on facial recognition technology.

🇲🇳Mongolia
iHotel LLC helps hoteliers streamline their hotel bookings and increase profitably.

🇷🇺Russia
StudyFree is an online platform with programs with full funding and simplified admission helper.

🇷🇴Romania
XVision is a radiography analysis application that uses artificial intelligence to generate precise diagnostics of medical images.

🇧🇾Belarus
Skinive is a mobile application that provides personalized advice and prevents dangerous skin diseases.

🇺🇿Uzbekistan
ArzonApteka helps find medication at the lowest price.

🇱🇻Latvia
Jeff is a personal loan advisor that analyses people’s phone metadata, contact information, geolocation, behavioural patterns & third party data and matches them with lenders.

🇦🇲Armenia
Velvioo offers micro-mobility solutions in cities and allows cities and entrepreneurs to launch their micro-mobility services.

🇺🇦Ukraine
Skyworker.ai is a platform that helps tech companies hire employees 3х faster and 2x cheaper by building their own tech communities online.

🇨🇿Czech Republic
[the winner would be chosen on the 3rd of November]

Who Else Will Be at the Summit?

This year, we aim at bringing as many international experts as possible to make valuable connections and synergies happen.

Espree Devora, known as “the Girl Who Gets it Done”, will visit Kazakhstan for the first time to give her keynote speech at the Summit. She travels from the US to share her expertise in interactive content and social media. Espree worked with global brands such as Disney, CBS, International Association of Skateboard Companies, USC Executive MBA, Georgetown MBA and many more. Also, she co-produced the panel “WHERE’S WALDO? Finding Social Influencers & Decreasing Your Costs” which brought over 11,500 viewers in under an hour via live stream, making it the highest viewed independent panel at the time.

Also, Jonas Schorr, Co-Founder of Urban Impact from Germany, Ramil Mukhoryapov, Co-founder of ChocoFamily from Kazakhstan, and Darya Yegorina, Founder and CEO, CleverBooks from Ireland, will give their speeches at the Summit. Stay tuned to get to know the full lineup of the speakers.

What’s New on the Agenda?

The main focus of this year’s Summit would be such topics as Smart Cities, EdTech and FinTech, three major trends in Kazakhstan today. Also, the Seedstars Summit CEE will become a meeting point for the Kazakh government representatives and international investors to shed light on the innovation agenda and investment opportunities in the region at the private Investment Forum. Well-known investors such as Nurbek Rayev, Whitehill, Amirkhan Omarov, BeInTech Company, Arsalan Alfred Ni, AV Ventures, and Olena Boytsun, Luminate are coming to the Summit to connect with the most talented founders.

Moreover, our keynote speaker, Espree Devora, will make a live podcast on stage for women in tech, which is aimed at discussing female entrepreneurship and opportunities for women in CEE & Central Asia.

If you are interested in partnering with us, please drop us a line at ceesummit[at]seedstars.com. To get more updates about the event, speakers and agenda, please subscribe to our monthly newsletter.