Baiterek Holding fosters collaboration with American business
The subsidiary company of Baiterek National Management Holding JSC – QazTech Ventures JSC – starts attracting venture investments to Kazakhstan by signing a preliminary agreement on creating a joint fund with the American venture investment fund, Strategy2050.kz refers to the press service of the Holding.
The signing ceremony between QazTech Ventures and the V Global Fund was held in New York as part of the working visit of Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to the United States. The event was also attended by Chairman of the Board of Baiterek Holding Aidar Arifkhanov.
The V Global Fund is a venture capital investment fund formed by one of the leading US venture management companies “500 Startups”. Among the projects that passed the accelerator are Intercom, Sunrise, Sendgrid, 9Gag, as well as the largest Asian taxi service GrabTaxi. QazTech Ventures plans to invest $10 million in this fund, of which at least $ 2million will be invested in Kazakh startups.
The fund will have a capitalization of $150 million. The main investments of the fund will be directed to the most successful startups that have previously received money from the regional or global “500 Startups” funds. It is assumed that the priority sectors for investment will be IT projects, e-commerce, fin-tech, SAS, mining and metallurgical complex, agricultural sector, logistics and others.
“Creation of the joint fund and cooperation with “500 Startups” can become an important catalyst for the development of venture capital in Kazakhstan, as it will integrate into the global ecosystem and will help scale up domestic startups in the world market and attract foreign investment in the country”, Chairman of the Board of QazTech Ventures JSC Zhandos Shaimardanov said.
“500 Startups” is one of the leading US venture capital management companies established in 2010 in Silicon Valley (San Francisco, USA). Over the nine years of operation, the company has created 19 funds, of which 4 are global, investing in startup projects around the world, and 15 thematic, focused on individual regions of the world. So, the thematic funds of “500 Startups” invest in Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, Israel, the Middle East, Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, Canada and other countries.
In addition, Aidar Arifkhanov took part in a round table with the representatives of American business. The meeting was attended by the leadership of such large companies as Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, Valmont Industries, John Deere, CITI Group, Mastercard, Amazon WebServices, Cisco, 500 Startups and others.
