From Ashgabat to Dubai: how the Turkmen startup KinesteX raised more than $1 million in investment

Nikita Starov, Dubai city, CEO and co‑founder 

How it all began

I am the founder of the startup KinesteX. We launched it three years ago with the idea of giving everyone a personal trainer powered by artificial intelligence, always at hand—right on their phone.

You can open the app at any time, start a workout, and the trainer will monitor your form, point out mistakes and correct movements, motivate you, joke around, count calories and reps—all while supporting you.

The idea came during COVID-19, during the global lockdown. I vividly remember reading news reports that, due to a sedentary lifestyle and remote work, almost 70% of people would develop back and other body problems by 2027. Back then, going to the gym or even just going for a walk was out of the question. That is when we decided to create a trainer that would help you exercise without leaving your home.

The Team

I have two wonderful co-founders: Perman, CPO, and Vladimir, CTO. Perman is based in Turkmenistan, and Vladimir and I work in Dubai.

We all met by chance in Turkmenistan. I met Perman early on, and Vladimir joined us three or four months later. I was shocked by their innovative perspective on the world, how they tackled challenges, and how creatively they solved them. That is when we decided to team up and co-found a startup.

The first two years were incredibly challenging because we had no experience in technology. We had never built a tech company before, so we were learning as we went, figuring out how everything worked. During that time, we tried five different business models — all of them failed. We tried new things over and over again until, a little over a year ago, we finally found the one that worked. And then everything took off.

Our business model is that we packaged our AI trainer into an SDK and began integrating it into other applications using the White Label model.

Target Audience

Currently, we have 111 registered partner companies, 27 of which are paying clients. We operate in the B2B segment and are present in 16 countries, although our headquarters are in Dubai.

Currently, we are focused on three niches:

1. B2C Consumer Health — health apps that reach end users directly.

2. Corporate Wellness — solutions for companies that help improve employee health and activity.

3. Insurance companies and their wellness apps, where technology is integrated to enhance the value of services.

We are actively developing in these three areas and have already achieved excellent results.

Incubation Programs

We have not gone through traditional acceleration or incubation programs, but we received significant support from Startup Academy in Turkmenistan. We also became part of the Dubai incubator In5Tech, which has provided us with significant support.

During this process, we raised a total of $1.1 million in investment from 14 different investors: 12 business angels, one family office, and a recently announced investment from Aloqa Ventures from Uzbekistan.

About the challenges

In fact, there were many challenges along the way — there always are.

The biggest challenge for an early-stage startup is staying focused. When you are creating a technology, it is easy to start looking for applications in several directions at once. New ideas and use cases constantly emerge, and you want to try everything: "Let's do this, let's do that." As a result, we often spread ourselves too thin—focusing on two or three products at once, and we weren't successful in any of them. The turning point was choosing one business model, one niche, and one product, and sticking with it until the end. From that moment on, everything changed dramatically for us.

The second challenge was that we were first-time founders. We didn't yet have a name or a personal brand; few people knew or trusted us. So we literally had to break through a wall of mistrust. One rule helps here: just keep working and actively use your contacts. In fact, each of us has many more useful connections than we think. One investor who backs us can introduce us to dozens of others — and this only works through personal connections.

The third, perhaps most universal, challenge for any startup is product-market fit. Most teams never achieve this. The hardest part is finding a product that truly benefits people, one they want to come back to, and one they're willing to pay for. We've experienced this challenge ourselves and are confident that almost every founder faces it.

Achievements

Our most important achievement is our team. Today, we have just over 20 members, and they are incredibly strong specialists from five countries. The majority of our team is based in Turkmenistan, but we are also based in Dubai, with members from Minsk and Germany.

Our second major achievement is our advisory team, comprised of incredible people who have built large companies or achieved significant success in business and society. For example, one of our key investors is the family office of AMKM, owned by a member of the Dubai royal family. They are not only our largest investor to date, but also an incredible source of mental support. I have heard it said that investors often become psychologists for startups, and it is truly true. They help us through difficult times, support and inspire us, and that's incredibly valuable to us.

Another significant achievement is winning the "Best Application of AI in Medicine" award at the AICA, AI in Central Asia forum in Uzbekistan. This award has opened many doors for us.

Furthermore, we have implemented a number of projects in collaboration with the Government of Dubai. We have held events with their participation, using our technology to increase physical activity. We are currently preparing a major joint project with the Government of Dubai.

Future plans 

Our most ambitious plan, which we are actively implementing, is to go beyond simply providing companies or individuals with individual tools to stay active, and instead offer our core product—a fully-fledged personal trainer powered by artificial intelligence.

We have already made a huge leap forward: it is currently in beta testing, and the results are impressive. It works like this: anyone logs into the app, takes a short quiz—answers two or three questions and completes a light physical assessment. Based on this, the system determines their current status and automatically creates a personalized training or rehabilitation plan for the next three weeks.

Every three weeks, a follow-up assessment is conducted to track progress: whether your condition has improved or worsened. This fully-fledged trainer, who knows everything about you, tailors your program to your goals, provides training, tracks your progress, and helps you achieve results.

And most importantly, this product is created for every person.