Google for Startups has expanded the coverage region of the Silkway Accelerator, adding Georgia.

Kazakhstan is the only country in Central Asia where an accelerator has been launched in partnership with the global company Google for Startups. Given the effectiveness and high performance of the two cohorts of the joint Silkway Accelerator program last year, Google for Startups decided to continue its exclusive partnership with Astana Hub in 2023.

In 2022, Astana Hub became the first partner of the Google for Startups program in Central Asia. The first cohort of the joint Silkway Accelerator program started in July, and the second cohort launched in September last year.

In total, last year 567 applications were submitted for participation in the program from technology projects. 30 of them successfully passed the selection process, and 25 increased their revenues and entered new markets during the program.

The information and navigation system Citix entered the markets of Turkey and the UAE. The founders of the startup zypl.ai expanded sales into two new markets and increased their valuation from $6 million to $10 million.

The project CTOgram reached 230,000 active car owners and more than 2,000 repair shops.

The company Fibo.cloud increased its monthly revenue 22 times, the educational platform Metatesk grew from $4,000 to $18,000, and sales of the neobank Planet9 increased from $0 to $70,000.  

Zan.bar entered the European markets and integrated its product with 12 banks in the United Kingdom.

Magzhan Madiev, CEO of Astana Hub

Thanks to the collaboration with Google for Startups, 25 of the best startups from Central Asian countries, Azerbaijan, and Mongolia entered the global market, demonstrating rapid growth during the accelerator. The monthly revenue of all companies increased on average by more than two times. The results of the two cohorts indicate the effectiveness of the program, so our cooperation with Google for Startups has received a quite logical continuation. We have already started accepting applications for the third cohort, and the news this year is that Google for Startups has expanded the program's coverage region by adding Georgia — startups from this country can now also participate in our accelerator.

The third cohort of Silkway Accelerator will start in March 2023. Training will also be conducted free of charge in an offline format in Astana and will last for three months. Applications from IT startups at the Product/Market Fit and Scale stages from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Georgia are accepted until February 17 via this link.

Participants will gain access to masterclasses and mentoring from top Google experts, experienced trackers, and Astana Hub mentors, as well as PR support. At the end of the third cohort, a Demo Day will be organized where startup projects will present their ideas to local and foreign investors.