Astana Hub CEO Magzhan Madiyev
Kazakhstan is not a country most Southeast Asian founders think about when mapping expansion routes. But Magzhan Madiyev, CEO of Astana Hub, wants to change that fast. In seven years, the organisation has helped transform a country with virtually no venture culture into one where 2,200 companies generate US$2 billion annually, tech exports have grown twentyfold to US$1.14 billion, and the nation’s first AI unicorn, Higgsfield, is now valued at over US$3 billion.
The engine behind this shift is not government largesse; it is a calculated infrastructure of talent pipelines, global accelerators, and regulatory architecture built to attract serious founders and investors.
With Astana Hub opening a presence in Kuala Lumpur, partnerships deepening with Temasek and Quest Ventures, and interest growing from Singaporean investors, Central Eurasia’s most ambitious tech bet is increasingly looking in Southeast Asia’s direction. Here is what Madiyev had to say.
Below are edited excerpts:
Building a startup ecosystem from scratch in an emerging market is notoriously difficult. What was the single biggest structural barrier Kazakhstan had to overcome?
When Astana Hub was conceived, Kazakhstan’s venture market was virtually non-existent. There was no venture culture, no capital, no critical mass of entrepreneurs, and no founder community. The ecosystem was dominated by companies chasing government contracts or running small e-commerce operations.
We had to fight on multiple fronts simultaneously: changing the mindset of specialists, creating innovation-friendly legislation, and overcoming government bureaucracy. None of it was quick.
The results speak for themselves: Almaty has entered the global TOP10 Rising Star ecosystems according to Dealroom’s 2026 index. Astana Hub now hosts over 2,200 companies generating roughly US$2 billion annually, and Kazakhstan’s tech exports surpassed US$1.14 billion in 2025.
Tax incentives can create artificial ecosystems that collapse once the support dries up. How are you ensuring startups are genuinely market-ready?
Every successful tech ecosystem, be it Silicon Valley, Israel, or Singapore, has had government backing at some point. The question is how you deploy it.
We did not ask the state to pour billions into the industry. We asked only for tax incentives and introduced a 1 per cent revenue contribution from participants to reinvest back into the ecosystem. That, combined with full infrastructure, such as education, acceleration, regional access points, and pathways to Silicon Valley, meant all parties were satisfied without creating dangerous dependency.
The incentives will continue, but they will increasingly push participants to build globally competitive products. If we do not develop our own champions, our economy simply becomes a market for international vendors who are often not even fully taxed here.
How many startups have completed your programmes, and what does the success rate actually look like?
Astana Hub is not a single accelerator; it is an ecosystem of more than 50 programmes serving audiences from school students to institutional investors. Metrics vary accordingly.
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For startup-specific programmes, around 40 per cent of graduates continue building and scaling after completion. Across the broader ecosystem, participant companies have collectively attracted more than US$945 million in investment and generated US$4.9 billion in cumulative revenue over seven years, with a growing footprint in Central Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and North America.
What does the alem.ai Center offer that a startup could not get from Singapore, Dubai, or London?
The alem.ai centre is a vertically integrated AI ecosystem under one roof, something we believe is unique globally. It runs a continuous talent pipeline from children aged 12, through adult re-skilling, to dedicated founder tracks and Big Tech lab placements, all in one building.
That building is also an iconic structure in Central Asia, a deliberate signal from the country’s leadership about where Kazakhstan is placing its long-term bet. In August, we will host part of the International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence, welcoming national teams from over 60 countries.
Are graduates staying in Kazakhstan or leaving for higher-paying markets?
We do not frame this as brain drain; the world is becoming borderless, and what matters is building a strong community. We actively help founders go abroad to attract investment and launch products in the US, the UAE, and China. Most of them still build their teams and R&D centres back in Kazakhstan.
The most powerful argument for staying is Higgsfield, Kazakhstan’s first AI unicorn, now valued at over US$3 billion, built in Almaty with a team of 300 engineers whose average age is 25. You do not need to leave to build something world-class.
Which international partners have delivered real outcomes, not just signed MOUs?
Several partnerships have moved well beyond paper.
With Google, we launched the Silkway Accelerator — seven batches in, with graduates now carrying a combined valuation exceeding US$500 million.
With OpenAI and Stanford, we ran the AI Leaders programme across nine countries, reaching 800-plus executives.
With Telegram, we are launching the AI Olympiad and ICPC Bootcamp, and the company is opening an AI Lab at alem.ai.
With Draper University and Alchemist Accelerator, Tim Draper has personally invested US$2 million into Kazakhstani startups.
With Apple, a training centre is operating within the ecosystem.
Is there a genuine pipeline of Southeast Asian investors and startups looking at Kazakhstan?
Yes, though the potential has not been fully realised yet. We are opening a presence in Kuala Lumpur, working with Temasek and Quest Ventures, and seeing growing interest from Singaporean investors.
The roadblock is not a lack of opportunity, but a lack of awareness. Southeast Asia is very familiar with its own corridor; Central Eurasia remains undiscovered despite its talent base and fast-growing digital economy. That is precisely what we are working to fix.
Kazakhstan borders both Russia and China. How do you navigate that geopolitically when attracting Western partners?
Kazakhstan is a neutral country by design and we have turned that into a strategic advantage. After 2022, more than 500 global tech companies relocated here from Russia, bringing significant developer talent. From China, we adopt hardware and industrial technology. From the US, we attract capital and infrastructure, including NVIDIA chips. Our most active international hub is in Silicon Valley, where resident companies have attracted over US$300 million in investment.
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It is a puzzle only a country with Kazakhstan’s geography, neutrality, and foreign policy could assemble.
Venture capital in Central Asia is thin. Are there any homegrown VC funds of meaningful scale?
Kazakhstan leads the venture market across Central Asia and the CIS. The recently established fund of funds, Alem Capital Management, has a first fund of US$100 million, 70 per cent from private capital, with a target of attracting US$1 billion in venture investment over five years. Active local investors include Freedom Holding, MOST Ventures, Big Sky, Astana Hub Ventures, MA7 Ventures, and the Silkroad Angels Club.
What sectors are producing Kazakhstan’s most promising startups, and is it market demand or government money driving them?
AI, edutech, and fintech, and they are driven by talent, not government priorities. That distinction matters. Startups chasing government contracts stay domestic. Kazakhstan’s market is simply not large enough to produce valuations above US$100 million on its own. Unicorns are built for global markets. Higgsfield proves that.
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