Terricon Valley. What opportunities does the IT hub provide to young startups

Diana Salekhova, managing partner at Terricon Valley

About Me

I am the managing partner at Terricon Valley, responsible for developing the startup ecosystem, including acceleration, incubation, and hackathons. I develop methodologies and guide startups toward export markets. My goal is to support startups and help them grow.

About the Hub

Terricon Valley, or "Terrikonka," is one of the first IT hubs in Kazakhstan, founded in 2016–2017. Initially, events were held at the premises of a local IT company in Karaganda, and in 2021, the hub opened its own building.

Our goal is to support startups until they are ready to enter the global market, after which we hand them over to international colleagues for further growth.

The hub runs two main programs: incubation and acceleration. We also organize corporate accelerators, such as Scalerator in partnership with Astana Hub. Hackathons allow teams to create projects from scratch in collaboration with companies, often leading to further cooperation, such as with the pharmacy chain "Sadykhan" in southern Kazakhstan.

Every year, we hold a major IT conference. Our IT conference is an important online event that has brought together specialists from around the world, including those who do not speak Russian.

The recent Big Tech conference featured 12 speakers who discussed topics ranging from the use of AI and VR in projects to compliance and startup development.

The event took place in a business hall and a development hall, where participants could ask questions in real time, enlivening the discussions. Issues of compliance and team building were actively discussed, while VR and AI topics proved to be the most popular, as AI is actively used in modern startups.

About Business Programs

The next incubation programs will start in January, and a demo day will be held in early December, where the progress of teams can be evaluated. In addition to the programs, startup founders and IT specialists can participate in the hub's educational events.

Within the incubation and acceleration programs, each startup is assigned a tracker who helps improve the project and eliminate bottlenecks to increase profitability. Participants also have access to expert consultations.

Our portfolio includes more than 200 experts in various fields. If necessary, startup founders can request a specialist, and if one is not available, we will continue the search. The program includes workshops with specialists from different countries, such as the USA, China, and Kazakhstan, who make significant contributions.

Our programs are structured simply: lead trackers and line trackers work with teams without conflict. Experts join upon request but may provide additional consultations if needed.

We attract experts from various fields, not just IT. For example, we have had art historians, area studies specialists, and architecture experts working with drones. This helps startups expand their capabilities.

Experts are representatives of large companies such as inDrive, Freedom, Playrix, and G5 Games, as well as startup founders and consultants who speak at our events. We attract both Kazakhstani and international experts, which helps participants better understand the global market. Specialists from Russia, France, and Portugal participated in the Scalerator program, whose experience inspires teams toward international development.

We have started investing in startups by offering consulting services based on our experience. If a startup needs investment, we help with contract selection and introduce them to funds, organizing meetings with investors. Recently, for example, Bakht Niyazov visited us, and eight startups presented to him.

We also invest small amounts as a business angel club. Currently, the club has about 10 members. Recently, we invested 25 million tenge in two startups: 22 AI and Renda. We help startups prepare Pitch Decks and provide recommendations for attracting investment.

We plan to develop the club and regularly hold meetings with investors. If you are interested in investment, not necessarily in IT, we would be happy to see everyone in our club.

About the Development of the Startup Ecosystem

Three areas are actively developing in our program. The first is artificial intelligence. Of the 21 projects in the current accelerator stream, five use AI.

The second area is sales startups, which is particularly evident in Karaganda, an industrial center where innovative companies have traditionally been few.

The third area is MedTech startups, which is linked to the Karaganda Medical University, where even professors are creating medical technologies.

These areas look promising. AI is actively used for automation and efficiency improvement, for example, as in INVITRO, where sales results with AI are one and a half to two times higher than with a regular call center. In medicine, the demand for innovation is growing, and we see great prospects.

I will highlight two more successful examples. The first is KZ Transit. Its founder, from Karaganda, created a studio for 3D modeling and printing spare parts for ATMs and other devices, noticing that small parts are difficult to order in Kazakhstan and deliveries take a long time. In 2021, the company was small, but now it serves major banks such as Kaspi and Halyk and is launching new directions, including 3D printing of sculptures and street benches.

The second example is the startup "A-Business." They started with RPA robots and grew into a large company with a wide range of services for automating business processes. Today, they are working on a "smart city" project in collaboration with South Korea and serve large companies and government structures.

Among new startups, Sidekick is interesting; it has completed incubation and entered the accelerator. Sidekick offers an online booking service for masters via Telegram, without installing a separate application. The startup has already achieved success in the Russian market, confirming the prospects of their technology.

Plans

We are creating a platform in the hub that will connect startups with customers. The first event will take place on November 28 at "Terrikonka" in the construction sector, where major suppliers and startups with solutions for the industry will be invited.

We also plan to invest in startups not only after the program ends but also during the process, providing funds for testing their growth.

We aim to expand our activities beyond Karaganda, developing the startup environment throughout Kazakhstan.

We plan to strengthen the "Business Angels" club and attract more investors from traditional business to increase the volume of investment in innovation.

We will also develop corporate accelerators that will help startups enter the market and cooperate with large Kazakhstani companies, including utility services.

In November, we have several interesting events:

— The monthly "Nekonferentsiya," which can be attended both online and offline. To register, simply visit our website.

Lectures on the following topics:

— "Data Literacy: How to Develop Competence in Working with Data"

— "Working with Headphones, Considering Their Growing Use"

— "Online Communication and Effective Interaction Building in a Digital Format."

Follow us on our Instagram pages: Terricon Valley and Terricon Business for new announcements. If you have requests for speakers or topics, write to us on Instagram or in the Telegram chat.