From Ashgabat to Dubai: How the Turkmen startup KinesteX received over $1 million in investments

Nikita Starov, City — Dubai, CEO and Co-founder

How It All Started

I am the founder of the startup KinesteX. We launched it three years ago with the idea: to provide every person with a personal AI-powered trainer that is always at hand — right in their phone.

At any moment, you can open the app, start a workout, and the trainer will monitor your technique, point out mistakes and correct movements, motivate you, joke around, count calories and repetitions — fully guiding you through the process.

The idea came during the COVID-19 pandemic, in the period of global lockdown. I clearly remember reading news about how, due to a sedentary lifestyle and remote work, nearly 70% of people could face back and other body problems by 2027. At that time, it was impossible to go to the gym or even just go for a walk. That’s exactly when we decided to create a trainer that would help people exercise without leaving home.

The Team

I have two wonderful co-founders — Permen, CPO, and Vladimir, CTO. Permen is based in Turkmenistan, while Vladimir and I work in Dubai.

We all met by chance in Turkmenistan. I met Permen from the very first days of our collaboration, and Vladimir joined us three to four months later. I was amazed at how brilliantly they viewed the world, how they tackled tasks, and how creatively they solved them. That’s when we decided to join forces and become co-founders of the startup.

The first two years were incredibly challenging because we had no experience in technology. We had never built tech companies before, so we learned on the fly, figuring out how everything worked. During that time, we tried five different business models — all of them failed. We kept trying new things until a little over a year ago, when we finally found the model that actually worked. And then everything took off.

Our business model involves packaging our AI trainer into an SDK and integrating it into other apps using a White Label model.

Target Audience

Today, we have 111 registered partner companies, of which 27 are paying clients. We operate in the B2B segment and are present in 16 countries, although our base is 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 aimed at improving employee health and activity.

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

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

Incubation Programs

We did not go through acceleration or incubation programs in the classic format, but even back in Turkmenistan, we received significant support from Startup Academy. We also became part of an incubator in Dubai — In5Tech, which provides us with substantial support.

Along the way, we managed to attract a total of $1.1 million in investments from 14 different investors: 12 business angels, one family office, and a recently announced investment from Aloqa Ventures in Uzbekistan.

On Challenges

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

The biggest challenge for an early-stage startup is the ability to focus. When creating a technology, it’s easy to start looking for applications in multiple directions at once. New ideas and cases constantly appear, and you want to try everything: “Let’s do this, let’s do that.” As a result, we often spread ourselves thin — attention was divided among two or three products simultaneously, and we didn’t achieve success in any of them. The turning point came when we chose one business model, one niche, and one product, moving forward exclusively in that direction. From that moment on, everything changed dramatically.

The second challenge is that we are first-time founders. We didn’t have a reputation or personal brand yet, and few people knew or trusted us. So we had to literally break through the wall of distrust. One rule helps here: just keep working and actively use your connections. In reality, each of us has far more useful contacts than we think. One investor who backed us can introduce us to dozens of others — and this works only through personal connections.

The third, perhaps the most universal challenge for any startup, is product-market fit. Most teams never reach it. The hardest part is finding a product that truly brings value to people, one they want to return to and are willing to pay for. We also went through this challenge and are confident that almost every founder faces it.

Achievements

Our most important achievement is our team. Today, we have just over 20 people, and these are incredibly strong specialists from five countries. The main part of the team is based in Turkmenistan; we are also based in Dubai, and we have members from Minsk and Germany.

The second important achievement is our advisory team, consisting of amazing people who have built large companies or achieved significant success in business and society. For example, one of our key investors is the AMKM family office, owned by a member of the Dubai royal family. This is not only our largest investor to date but also incredible mental support. I’ve heard the expression that investors often become psychologists for startup founders — and it’s really true. They help get through tough times, support and inspire, and for us, this is very valuable.

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

Additionally, we implemented several projects together with the Dubai government. We held events with their participation, where we used our technology to increase people’s physical activity. Currently, we are preparing one major joint project with the Dubai government.

Plans

Our most ambitious plan, which we are actively implementing, is not just to give companies or individuals separate tools for staying active, but to provide our main product — a full-fledged personal AI trainer.

We’ve already made a huge step forward: at the moment, it is in beta testing, and the results are impressive. The principle of operation is as follows: any person enters the app, takes a short test — answers two or three questions and performs a simple physical test. Based on this, the system determines the current condition and automatically selects a personalized training or rehabilitation plan for the next three weeks.

Every three weeks, a re-check is conducted to track dynamics: has the condition improved or worsened? This way, this full-fledged trainer, who knows everything about you, adjusts the program to your goals, provides workouts, tracks progress, and helps achieve results.

And most importantly — this product is created for every individual.