Jerry Yang, co-founder of "Yahoo!" and investor in Alibaba, has invested in Nace.AI

Nace.AI, one of the most prominent AI startups with roots in Kazakhstan and operating in Silicon Valley, has attracted Jerry Yang, co-founder of Yahoo!, as an investor. For this young technology company, this is not only an important stage of development but also confirmation that solutions created in the region are capable of competing in the global artificial intelligence market.

Dos Bakytzhan, Founder and CEO of Nace.AI  

Jerry Yang made the investment decision during the first meeting with the Nace.AI team.

Our meeting lasted about two hours. For roughly an hour, I talked about the company, our strategy, and why we believe in the chosen technological approach. Jerry turned out to be a very technical person. He asked deep questions about the product, competitors, and the market, striving to understand in detail how our technology works and why we are betting on small specialized AI models instead of giant universal systems.

Jerry Yang was interested in several aspects of the business. In particular, the company's approach to developing its own AI models and its focus on the corporate market.

According to the startup's founder, the team explained to Jerry Yang that they are building a B2B company and creating tools that help organizations analyze their business processes and data in real time. He liked the technology and the team, and the parties quickly found common ground.

As a result of the conversation, Jerry Yang almost immediately expressed his readiness to invest in the company.

According to the CEO of Nace.AI, this was effectively a hard commitment, a firm obligation to invest, already during the first meeting. Jerry Yang directly asked what amount of investment the company needed for the current round. Moreover, he was ready to invest significantly more than the team planned to raise. However, the company took only the amount of funding that was truly needed at this stage, as they wanted to leave room for other investors and avoid excessive dilution of shares.

The company develops AI products for the corporate sector. Nace.AI solutions help automate auditing, financial analysis, compliance, and work with large volumes of corporate data, reducing the amount of manual work and accelerating decision-making. 

About 30 people work at the startup, but the team is currently expanding. Nace.AI offices are already operating in Silicon Valley and Astana. Previously, Nace.AI raised $21.5 million from international investors, and the deal was closed in less than 36 hours. Among the startup's clients are major international companies, including representatives of the "Big Four."