High school students from Karaganda developed an app for diabetics

On April 18, a "Demo Day" for the latest cohort of business programs took place at the IT hub "Terricon Valley." A total of 14 projects participated. Seven were from graduates of the "Incubator," who have taken their first steps in entrepreneurship: an online calculator for estimating renovation costs, Repair hub; a platform connecting IT mentors and beginners, Unilens; a project providing laboratory kits, AqyLab; a project for training business assistants; media production SyrtKoz; a platform for finding clinics and doctors, SaulyQ; and an app for diabetics, DiaBalance. Also presenting were seven graduates from the "Accelerator," where teams are already working on scaling and attracting investment. These include a company optimizing freight transportation, Tasyma; VR equipment rental, VR DELIVERY; a project for digitizing real estate, Matour 3D; a digital menu project, YAEM QR; a robotics club for children, Robotech; a consulting company, Center AT; and a staffing agency, Quiet Step.

The pitches were attended by business angels, entrepreneurs, investors, and mentors who supported the startups throughout the program. Special guests in the audience included super angel and founder of MA7 Ventures, Murat Abdrakhmanov, and CEO of Х Academy, Alexander Sablin. After the presentations, teams received personalized recommendations and feedback from experts on their products, business models, and scaling potential.

As a result of the jury's decision, three "Incubator" graduates received grants of 500,000 tenge for further development: the Aqylab, Unilens, and Diabalance projects. Particular attention was drawn to the team behind the Diabalance app—a solution supporting people with diabetes. Vadim Nazarenko, Amirkhan Sandybaev, and Amirzhan Baykenzhy, high school students at the Nazarbayev Intellectual School, participated in the "Incubator" for the first time. They hoped for success but assessed the competition realistically: they were up against strong teams with more mature experience.