The first WOMEN BACKING WOMEN business breakfast took place in Almaty.

On August 27, 2026, a closed business breakfast and panel discussion titled WOMEN BACKING WOMEN took place at the Most IT Hub in Almaty, dedicated to the development of women's venture investing and support for startups led by women.

The event was organized by the global community of female startup founders — Sisters Female Founders. Co-organizers: Born Nomad incubator and MOST Ventures venture fund, with the support of the general sponsor JSC "Bank CenterCredit". The event brought together over 100 representatives of the investment and innovation ecosystems of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and other countries in the region.

The highlight of the meeting was the first presentation in Central Asia of Sisters Capital — an early-stage venture fund created to invest in technology companies founded by women.

Asel Seitova, organizer of WBW, founder of Sisters Capital VC and Sisters Female Founders
I want to make venture capital more accessible for women: remove the fear of this industry, provide knowledge, and create an environment where it is normal to ask questions, learn, and start with a small step. If we want more women to build global companies, we need to talk not only about founders. We need to create conditions for those who make capital decisions.

The WOMEN BACKING WOMEN initiative aims to change the existing imbalance in access to capital for female startup founders by building an end-to-end ecosystem: from education and community to capital and direct investments.

Aika Alemy, co-organizer, founder of Born Nomad
Today, female founders receive only about 2% of the total volume of global venture capital. At the same time, research shows high financial returns from women-led teams: startups with female co-founders bring 78 cents for every dollar invested, compared to 31 cents for male-led teams.

A key part of the program was a panel discussion moderated by Aika Alemy. Leading experts from the venture market, entrepreneurs, and investors participated in the discussion:

Alim Khamitov, co-organizer of WBW, CEO & Managing Partner of MOST Ventures, co-founder of MOST Holding

Nazerge Kalidolda, investor at the London-based Sturgeon Capital fund and former Google engineer, shared her perspective on how women's participation in investment decision-making changes the focus of evaluating technology projects and approaches to finding promising AI/ML startups.

Ardak Kussainova, CEO & Co-founder of Atarino AI, spoke about her own experience raising capital in Silicon Valley and the barriers faced by female founders when scaling their businesses.

Dana Kunanbaeva, entrepreneur and LP investor, outlined the practical trajectory of transitioning from successful traditional entrepreneurship to business angel investing and investments in venture funds.

The event received a strong response from the entrepreneurial community.

The second part of the event took place in the format of an open microphone and live networking, where participants actively exchanged contacts, discussed potential deals, and shared their impressions of the meeting.

During the business breakfast, the Sisters team announced the development of several initiatives for women in the region.

Among them is the previously announced first fund in Central Asia focused on startups founded by women, an online educational program Women Investors School, a closed Women Investors Club for exchanging investment deals and co-investing, as well as a training and networking program with a trip to Silicon Valley.

The event took place with the partnership of leading business and media communities: She Community, Intellectual Club 418 Kazakhstan, Eligai Business Women's Community, UMAI, as well as publications The Tech, WE Project, and She Innovator Eurasia.