"Kazakhstan as a territory for IT growth and development is very interesting to the global community," – Anna Sholina, co-founder of the global Rutech community and organizer of Emerge.

The goal of the Rutech community, which unites experts from 35 countries, is to help Russian-speaking founders from the post-Soviet space enter the global market. The co-founder of Rutech spoke at the webinar “Women in IT. How can women succeed in the world of technology?” as part of the international forum Digital Bridge 2021. The Tech interviewed Anna about the outcomes of the forum and the prospects for Kazakh startups.

In the interview, you will learn about:

• The scale of Digital Bridge 2021;
• The benefit of the forum for Kazakhstan;
• Organizing tech events during the coronavirus pandemic;
• The impact of venture funds on the startup market;
• Kazakhstan as a leader in the IT industry of the region;
• The most interesting solutions from the startup alley (according to Anna).

As an organizer of large international events, how would you assess the scale of “Digital Bridge 2021”?

• “Digital Bridge 2021” is undoubtedly a large forum; thousands of people participated offline, and 4,000 watched online. Of course, this is not on the scale of global events for our region, the New East, which is the post-Soviet space. Nevertheless, there was an excellent lineup of countries and participants, and we see that Kazakhstan as a territory for IT growth and development is very interesting to the global community. Products emerging in Kazakhstan can easily take root in other countries as well.

How useful is this forum?

• The “Digital Bridge” event itself is very beneficial for Kazakhstan. It attracts the attention of the global technology community, potential IT customers in Kazakhstan, and allows showcasing the full scale of the region and the seriousness of intentions in the global market. For Kazakh startups, this is also an excellent opportunity to attract investors' attention.

What are the peculiarities of organizing large conferences (like EMERGE) during the coronavirus pandemic?

• More than 7,000 participants took part in the EMERGE conference online. Of course, it is difficult to hold offline events during a pandemic. Yes, Web Summit gathered 50,000 people from all over the world, but at the same time, the epidemiological situation puts every organizer at risk. Gathering a thousand people in one place in Kazakhstan requires great courage, bravery, and significant effort from the organizers! They are all great.

What are the prospects for the Kazakh startup market now?

• The IT industry in Kazakhstan emerged relatively recently and is actively developing thanks to state support, which is very cool. It is worth noting that a big step in the development of the IT industry was the president's address regarding the third modernization of Kazakhstan and increasing global competitiveness. It is very good that a special economic zone has appeared in Kazakhstan, allowing work under English law. Convertible loans have been legalized, which means that it is beneficial for everyone from the post-Soviet space to open investment funds and companies in Kazakhstan. We can see how rapidly venture capital construction is growing across Kazakhstan, and consequently, the number of technological startups, mainly in the IT sector, is increasing.

Can Kazakhstan become a leader in the IT industry of the region?

• As far as I know, in 2021, the president instructed the government to strengthen these industries, increase the export of Kazakh IT products to $500 million, and prepare 100,000 qualified specialists. Overall, if we look at IT product exports, Astana Hub has launched many accelerators, including SCALERATOR in three directions, including expansion into Russia, neighboring countries, the Baltics, and all post-Soviet space, which we call the New East, rethinking the meaning of the region as a space for development. The second direction: the USA, distant foreign countries, Central Europe. There are currently 60 startups in this project, with at least 20 contracts planned to be signed in a very short acceleration period. What we do: we help IT companies with sales, website creation, packaging, and localization for other markets. We come up with new USPs, structure sales and sales channels, tools, ecosystems, and search for new business models. Even if these sales do not happen during the accelerator, the teams will have a fully packaged or updated product afterward. Their sales will not keep them waiting.

How do venture funds influence the startup market?

• Among venture investments, it is worth noting the existing 500 Global, MOST Ventures, and Tech Ventures. New faces are entering the market, such as YellowRockets. Recently, a new angel club, Tribe VC, was organized, which shows the interest of venture investors and angels. This means that there is a large market potential here. Also, from Russia, there is the investment office team of Sergey Dashkov, Joint Journey VC. They will actively manifest themselves in this market. These are just some of the small stars—indicators of the general mood, growth of investments, and growth in the quantity and quality of technological startup companies.

Thirty young technological companies spoke at the startup alley. Which of the presented IT startup solutions interested you?

• Cerebra is software based on artificial intelligence for automated stroke diagnosis. Cerebra is available as a cloud platform on web and mobile applications.
• Speech Lab is a business automation service based on speech technologies (speech recognition, speech synthesis, voice biometrics, voice assistants). The service provides developers and product teams with access to technologies and the ability to develop ready-made solutions.
• QFit is a per-minute fitness payment service; it allows visiting fitness clubs without buying burdensome memberships. At the same time, fitness clubs receive an additional channel for attracting a hard-to-reach segment of clients who do not buy memberships for various reasons.
• Analytics system "OKO". OKO is a state procurement data analysis system. It allows identifying risks at the planning stage and preventing non-competitive procurements at inflated prices.
• WebTotem is a monitoring and protection system for web resources and entire countries. In Kazakhstan, WebTotem monitors the entire Kaznet (about 150,000 websites) for cyber threats. In Poland, WebTotem is used by the large insurance company PZU for scoring cyber risks of small businesses. Worldwide, more than 10,000 websites use WebTotem for monitoring and protecting their websites.