Market Opinion: Where to Look if You Want to Start a Startup in 2025

Kanat Keldibekov, CEO ApartX

I wouldn't say that any markets are undervalued — they are all under observation and closely monitored. However, we can highlight those that currently look particularly promising.

The first is energy. Energy consumption is growing rapidly, and the development of artificial intelligence is directly linked to the availability of capacity. At the moment, one of the key problems in AI is the lack of energy. Therefore, breakthroughs are needed in:

— production of cheap, environmentally friendly energy without a carbon footprint
— storage technologies — batteries that charge quickly, hold a charge for a long time, and allow for efficient energy transmission.

The next promising market is services for the elderly. If we look at developed countries — North America, Europe, China — there is a rapid aging of the population. The number of elderly people is growing, while infrastructure and services for them are still underdeveloped. This creates huge growth potential:

— daily assistance services
— specialized gadgets
— robotics that will compensate for the shortage of human resources and help the elderly with household tasks.

China is already actively investing in robotics for this very reason.

I'm not including space and AI — they are already in the spotlight. These two, however, are not yet obvious but are promising.

Aydana Aytuarova, CEO Porte Tech

Everything depends heavily on the field you work in. But if we're talking about retail or FinTech — I would definitely study the African market.

I am more focused on Travel Tech, and we are often advised to expand into Europe. However, this market is already overheated, unlike the MENA region, which is growing rapidly, has fewer legal restrictions, and is more tolerant of product errors.

Daniil Abdyldayev, Investment Director at Accelerate Prosperity

Beyond trends, there will always be demand for startups with sustainable business models.

As for directions, we live in an era of tectonic shifts. If Silicon Valley began with semiconductors in the 1960s, we have since experienced several such shifts: from semiconductors to systems in the 70s, from systems to networks in the 80s, from networks to the internet in the 90s, from the internet first to applications in the 2000s, and from them to mobile applications in the 2010s. And currently, we are experiencing another shift — the transition to AI, which opens up many opportunities, including for our region.

One promising yet currently undervalued direction I consider to be FemTech. It is enough to recall the history of the second Belarusian unicorn — Flo. Unfortunately, startups founded by women still receive less investment. According to IFC data, on emerging markets, only 11% of seed funding goes to teams with female founders — despite the fact that such companies often show better results.

We are glad that this direction is developing in the Kyrgyz Republic — and we are proud of startups like NB Fit, Yessa, and Mama Space.