Kazakh EdTech startup invested $200,000 in a robotics and programming project

Kazakh EdTech startup Shanyraq Study acquired a stake in the Rolab project for $200,000 and is launching its STEAM program to the mass market. The robotics and programming course, which is currently taken by students from Haileybury Astana, Nurorda, RFMS, and NIS, will become available to parents directly for the first time.

Shanyraq Study provides online education for students in grades two through nine, as well as conversational Kazakh language courses. Over the past year, more than 10,000 students have used the platform. The new direction will allow the company to expand its product line, reduce business seasonality, and enter the rapidly growing STEAM education market.

Adilkhan Rakhimbekov, co-founder of Shanyraq Study

Rolab develops STEAM education in four areas: programming, robotics, engineering thinking, and scientific projects. The technological foundation of the program is the CYBERPACK.AI platform, through which students gain access to lessons, assignments, and educational materials.

In 2025, the CYBERPACK.AI platform attracted $300,000 in investments at a valuation of $2 million as part of a Pre-Seed round. At the Astana Hub Battle, the project also received a personal prize of $25,000 from Telegram founder Pavel Durov. Sabirzhan Mustafin, founder of Rolab and CYBERPACK.AI, became the first and so far only Kazakh entrepreneur whose project received personal investments from Durov.

Before the deal, Rolab primarily operated in the B2B and B2G segments, collaborating directly with schools. After integrating with Shanyraq Study, the project will maintain its existing partnerships with educational institutions while simultaneously gaining access to the B2C market. Parents will now be able to purchase courses directly through the educational platform.

For Shanyraq Study, the deal provided an opportunity to quickly enter the STEAM education segment without incurring costs for developing its own methodology and technological infrastructure. Additionally, the new direction allows the company to offset the seasonal decline in demand for exam preparation courses and increase the duration of student engagement with the platform.

The program is built using the same methodology employed in partner schools. It includes access to the educational platform, curator support, a set of electronics, a 3D printer, and the completion of independent engineering and scientific projects.

The founders of Shanyraq Study, Adilkhan Rakhimbekov, Azat Zhasulan, and Askhat Usmanov, believe that bringing STEAM education to the mass market will help reduce the educational gap between regions and the country's largest cities. According to them, schoolchildren from any corner of Kazakhstan will be able to receive knowledge using the same curriculum, work with the same equipment, and learn from the same curators as students at the country's leading private schools.