Kazakhstan and Singapore established joint venture fund

Nur-Sultan witnessed the signing of a corresponding agreement providing for the participation of the Holding's subsidiary “QazTech Ventures” JSC in Singapore Venture Fund “Quest Ventures Asia Fund II” (QVAF II) with a total value of $ 50 million. QazTech Ventures with a capital of $ 10 million will enter this fund as an anchor investor. According to the terms of the agreement, the jointly created fund will consider and finance promising startup projects in Kazakhstan and Central Asia in the next three years.

One of the anchor investors of the established fund is Pavilion Capital, a subsidiary of Temasek, Singapore's leading financial development institution. Pavilion Capital is a private equity and venture capital investment company providing strategic support to fast-growing projects in the USA and Asia. For the first time in the history of Kazakhstan, Temasek will invest in Kazakh projects.

Also, the agreement provides a three-year acceleration program that will be carried out in startup projects called “Kazakhstan Digital Accelerator” with a representative office in Nur-Sultan. This program will contribute to the development and promotion of startup projects and the digital ecosystem in Kazakhstan. Thanks to the acceleration program, startup projects will be able to gain knowledge from leading international experts, test the product in real conditions and attract investment, which in turn will contribute to the development and scaling of the project, both on the local and foreign markets.

The Singapore Quest Ventures foundation team, together with QazTech Ventures, will participate in the selection of startup projects, conduct workshops, consultations, individual meetings and help establish networking. Representatives of QVAF II note that every mentor from Quest Ventures is an experienced entrepreneur.

“Collaboration with the leading Singapore fund and the opening of a joint acceleration program is an important step in building the country's venture ecosystem and bringing domestic startups to the global market. Today, the venture market in Southeast Asia has high potential and is developing at a rapid pace. We expect that in the near future projects funded by this Fund will be able to be competitive both in Kazakhstan and abroad, in particular in Southeast Asia”, Chairman of the Board of Directors of QazTech Ventures JSC, Managing Director of "Baiterek" Holding Adil Nurgozhin said.

It is worth noting that QazTech Ventures, as part of its activities, continues to attract foreign venture funds to finance Kazakhstan’s startup projects. So in December 2019, QazTech Ventures, with the participation of Prime Minister Askar Mamin, signed an agreement on participation in the V Global Fund 500 Startups (USA).