ProsperPay is a startup that helps people get their salaries at the right time.

Beibut ZhanTurin, 36 years old, city — Almaty, co-founder and CEO of ProsperPay

About Me
I received my bachelor's degree from KIMEP University. After graduation, I worked for a long time in various banks, and then held the position of CEO in an investment company.

The decision to enter the IT sector was made together with my wife. She has long been conducting research on the IT market in Kazakhstan and knows the infrastructure well.
We studied various IT solutions that have gained popularity worldwide and eventually came up with the idea for ProsperPay. I liked that our model has a social component that directly affects people's quality of life.

Next, we began to study how in demand the service could be in Kazakhstan and were surprised by the figures: two-thirds of the population lives "from paycheck to paycheck." 15% constantly use the services of microfinance organizations, drive themselves into high interest rates, and damage their credit history. At the same time, people turn to microloans just to make ends meet until the next payment. We offer an ethical alternative to MFOs, where a person uses their own money without waiting for payday.

Startup Launch
We launched the startup with another university friend, Erik Ashkenov. He was engaged in outsourcing accounting systems and has experience working with 1C and other systems, salary payments, and legal nuances.

After completing the documentation, we started contacting various companies to understand if legal entities were interested in our service. We received great feedback, assembled a minimal team of developers, and began building the MVP. Now we have a team of 10 people responsible for the product, business development, finance, and marketing.

Target Audience
We operate at the intersection of B2B and B2C. Our main target audience is companies with a staff of 500 or more employees, with "white" (official) employment of staff. Among our clients are retail and manufacturing organizations, fitness clubs, and outsourcing companies. We have no restrictions on industries or the number of employees. We work with various accounting systems: 1C, SAP, Colvir, and so on.

For companies, our service can become a tool for retaining employees, a non-material incentive, and a bonus for attracting new workers. We also help automate the process of issuing advances, as unplanned cash disbursements place a heavy burden on accounting and finance.
At the same time, the company does not spend its own money when using ProsperPay — we finance the payments. At the end of the month, the client reimburses us as if they were paying salaries.

Our service is also useful for ordinary employees — line staff with average salaries, because they often face financial difficulties. Now they don't have to worry about high interest rates, unplanned expenses, or credit history, and can use their own money at any time.

Currently, we have more than 10 clients with a total workforce of over 30,000 employees. By the end of the year, we plan to reach 50,000 connected users. We are thinking about expanding into foreign markets, but for now, our main task is to establish ourselves in Kazakhstan and make ProsperPay the standard for receiving salaries.

Acceleration Programs
We participated in the Silkway Accelerator by Astana Hub and Google for Startups, as well as the Investment Readiness Accelerator by MOST Hub. These programs helped in product development and securing initial investments.

In September, we completed an investment round with a valuation of $3,000,000, with investments from Murat Abdrakhmanov and Askar Dostiyarov. Previously, the project was funded by our own resources.

Currently, our company is undergoing a development program at Draper University in the USA, organized by one of the leaders of the global venture capital market, Tim Draper. He invested in early-stage companies such as Tesla, Coinbase, Docusign, and Twitch. Participation in such programs has a huge impact on founders — new ideas and hypotheses emerge, and consciousness begins to work differently.

Challenges
We face difficulties related to clients' fear of transferring data to a third-party service. We use methods certified by PCI DSS and ISO 27001 standards. They ensure the security of transactions, card data, and personal data. The service operation is implemented without direct access to the client company's accounting system. Integration is carried out through a buffer zone. We actively communicate all this to potential partners and constantly improve data handling within the service itself.
It is always difficult to do something new in a conservative market. But we believe that a great product will always find opportunities for implementation.

Achievements
Our main achievement is rapid growth. We grew by 300% over the year and want to maintain this pace in 2024. We actively participate in events and build our own networking community.
We also received our first investments and assembled a great team.

Plans
We are actively working on new features, security, and funding. The main task is to increase the base of active users. To do this, we need to continue systematic work on connecting client companies and offering the best solutions.

We are considering the implementation of new services that will simplify all HR operations within the company.
The plans are grandiose, and we are ready to work hard to achieve them.