"We hope that our decision will give a new impetus to the development of e-commerce in Kazakhstan," said co-founder of Tastamat, Alisher Kogabaev.

As a resident of the Astana Hub tech park, the Tastamat startup has attracted record-breaking investments for our country – $1.5 million. Tastamat has built its ecosystem from hundreds of terminals, a mobile application, and several partners in the form of major logistics companies and online stores. The Tech had the opportunity to speak with the co-founder of the project, Alisher Kogabaev – director of TOOLPAR LLP (TASTAMAT brand).

What is Tastamat, Alisher Kogabaev explains:

• Tastamat is an automated smart terminal system for contactless pickup of online-purchased goods. The name comes from the Kazakh word "tasta," which means "leave" or "put." We decided to incorporate national flavor into our product this way, to create some distinction from the generic term "Postamat." Over 3 years, more than 200 terminals have been installed in 10 cities in Kazakhstan (Nur-Sultan, Almaty, Shymkent, Karaganda, Pavlodar, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kokshetau, Aktau, Aktobe, Petropavlovsk). The terminals are installed in easily accessible locations for recipients, such as the vestibules of BI Group residential complexes, in the EUROPHARM and BIOSPHERE pharmacy chains, in building entrance shops, etc. To date, more than 250,000 parcels have been issued through the Tastamat terminal network.

What is the benefit of the product for end users?

• First, the recipient can receive their order in a convenient location and at any time convenient for them. This allows them to manage their time as they wish, rather than according to the schedule dictated by the courier. Second, it is safe because, when receiving an order from Tastamat, the recipient does not need to come into contact with anyone. And third, it is cheaper. Delivery to Tastamat saves the time and resources of logistics company couriers.

What is the difference between Tastamat and other postmats and foreign analogs? 

• Unlike other terminals, we do not use a display or other peripheral devices; we only use QR codes for receiving and inserting orders, as well as for accepting online payments for cash-on-delivery orders. In the Tastamat terminal, we use IoT technology connected to our cloud, which allows the terminal to be accessible anywhere. The principle of Tastamat's operation consists of an automated and contactless process for receiving and issuing parcels.

What investments has your startup attracted?

• Since the launch of the project, we have attracted over $800,000 in venture capital from the BeInTech Venture fund. We also participated in the SCALERATOR Acceleration Program for increasing the export of IT services and tech products, organized by the international Astana Hub IT startup tech park.

Tell us the story of Tastamat's creation. How and when did the idea come to you? 

• Four years ago, on December 5, 2017, my friends and I were discussing pressing pain points in various areas of life. We focused on the inconvenience of using courier services in our country. Specifically, the difficulty of receiving online orders. We began to examine the problem from different angles and study the e-commerce market. At that time, the first postmats in Kazakhstan were launched by the national postal service operator JSC "Kazpost." Over 150 terminals were installed across the country. We decided to settle on this solution but make it simpler for the recipient and more accessible for other e-commerce players. We tried to simplify the process as much as possible and optimize the time for order pickup.

What are your relationships with Kazpost? Since they have their own network of postmats launched in 2014, do you compete with them? 

• We have a joint activity agreement with JSC "Kazpost." We are partners with them and do not compete in any way; on the contrary, we have integrated the entire existing Tastamat terminal network into their postal accounting system (PAS). This is one of our main strategic partners. Kazpost customers actively use both the postmat network and the Tastamat network. Together, we are expanding our partner's postmat network and creating favorable conditions for improving the service of JSC "Kazpost."

What difficulties did you face at the beginning? 

• At the beginning of the project, it was difficult to find a breakthrough in the terminal's design and determine the material for its manufacture. First and foremost, it had to be safe and as simple to produce as possible. The first 8-compartment terminal prototype (Tastamat 1.0) was made of chipboard. All compartments were of the same size. The second prototype (Tastamat 2.0) was made from aluminum materials intended for manufacturing display cases. The third prototype (Tastamat 3.0) was made entirely from sheet metal, with an increased number of compartments and three types of compartment sizes for parcels of different dimensions.

• Next, the problem was in writing the software. The priority task was ease of use for end users and potential partners when integrating our systems.

• The third difficulty arose later: attracting investment to the project and assembling a team for its implementation.

Tell us about your team, who is involved in creating the product? 

• I would like to take this opportunity to thank the entire Tastamat team for their invaluable time, patience, and faith in the product. The team consists of 10 people. In our team, there is no concept that one team member is assigned only one function; we work as a single entity, and we are not afraid of the challenges we encounter along the way. Gabiden Shamshimov – Technical Director. Bakhytzhan Aytimbetov – responsible for operations. Sultan Sagatbek – responsible for partner interaction and customer requests. Dana Alisheva – document management. Ardak Aubakirova – accounting. Nagym Amanzholov – terminal functionality support. Timur Abdykadyrov – developer. Zhangeldy – technical support of terminal functionality. Rustam Seksenbayev – courier delivery.

At what stage of development is your startup? 

• At the Maturity stage (maturity stage, transition from startup to business). 2020 and 2021 gave us a good momentum for development. We grew 3-4 times year-over-year. This indicates that customers and sellers have begun to trust automated contactless order pickup terminals more and are actively seeking an alternative to standard "door-to-door" courier delivery.

The TASTAMAT APP is open to everyone who wants to use the company's terminals, including for sending small items without couriers. In theory, how will you deal with parcels containing illegal items that can be sent this way? 

• That is correct. There are no restrictions on downloading and using the TASTAMAT app. It can be used by both legal entities and individuals. This simplifies the work process especially for online stores, logistics companies, and the country's population. We hope that this solution will give a new impetus to the development of e-commerce in Kazakhstan. Sellers do not necessarily need to sign a contract with a courier company, call a courier, and wait for them to arrive and take the order into work. They can themselves insert the order into a terminal convenient for the recipient via this mobile application.

• At the same time, working with the Tastamat terminal is safe. First, we have installed surveillance cameras at each location, which record the insertion of goods. All data is stored in our system. Second, we identify habitual violators who use Tastamat services for purposes other than intended, thereby violating the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan. When downloading the app, user data is saved in the system. The system has AI that identifies such violators based on the frequency of insertions per day, the frequency of compartment selection, the balance top-up amount, etc. Also, in the system, when inserting a parcel with illegal contents, data is saved on whom this parcel was inserted into. And third, upon detection and fixation of such cases, we pass all information to the relevant state authorities for further investigation.

What are your plans for the future? 

• Our plans are ambitious.

1. Development of the network to 1,000 terminals across the entire Republic of Kazakhstan.
2. Expansion into nearby foreign markets (Russia, Uzbekistan) and distant foreign markets (UAE, India).
3. Development of new services to improve the Tastamat work process and new services for redirecting orders at the client's request to any convenient Tastamat, regardless of whether their servicing courier company has an agreement with us or not.
4. To maximize courier delivery to Tastamat within the cities of Nur-Sultan and Almaty to 30 minutes. Currently, we have already launched a joint service with Yandex Delivery to Tastamat. Customers can order this service online at any time through the tastamat.kz website.