In Kazakhstan, AI startups raised $73 million in a year

Kazakhstan has unveiled its first comprehensive National Report on Artificial Intelligence Development — the Kazakhstan AI Country Report. The document reflects the state of the country’s AI ecosystem, the dynamics of venture investments, infrastructure development, human capital, and industry-specific cases of technology implementation. The official presentation of the report took place at the Astana Hub Event Hall in Astana.

According to the study, an actively developing startup ecosystem in the field of artificial intelligence has formed in Kazakhstan. More than 100 AI startups operate in the country, and the volume of venture investments has grown more than fivefold between 2023 and 2025 — from approximately $14 million to $73 million. As a result, AI projects account for more than half of all venture investments in the country.

The report was prepared by the analytical agency RISE Research in collaboration with Mastercard and Freedom Bank, with the support of the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan and GITEX AI Central Asia & Caucasus. The research is based on in-depth interviews with experts, an analysis of more than 100 startups, and 10 practical cases of AI technology implementation.

The document notes that Kazakhstan is transitioning from digitalization to the large-scale implementation of artificial intelligence as a key driver of economic growth and competitiveness. According to the authors' estimates, AI implementation could provide an additional annual GDP growth of 0.5–2% by increasing productivity in more than half of jobs.

Dmitry Mun, Deputy Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, noted that the country is implementing a comprehensive AI development strategy, including the adoption of specialized legislation, the creation of a National AI Platform, the development of sovereign computing infrastructure, support for Kazakh-language language models, and the launch of the international AI center Alem.ai. By 2030, it is planned to train up to 5 million citizens in basic and advanced AI skills.

Most Kazakhstani AI startups are focused on B2B solutions and operate in both domestic and international markets. The largest number of projects is concentrated in the segments of Enterprise AI, Industry 4.0, MarTech, EdTech, and MedTech. 2025 became a key year for the ecosystem: the first technological "unicorn," Higgsfield AI, emerged, and the largest deals at the Bridge and Series A stages were recorded.

The report also analyzes computing infrastructure and human capital. It notes that the launch of the AI clusters Alem.Cloud and AI-Farabium, with a combined capacity of approximately 3.6 exaflops, reduces constraints on computing resources. According to the authors' estimates, about 2,000 H100/H200 level GPUs are currently in use in the country.

The financial sector, telecommunications, e-government services, retail, and IT lead in the pace of AI implementation. The state also emphasizes the integration of technologies into industry, agriculture, transport, energy, education, and healthcare.

The report highlights the strengths of the market, including government support, investments in computing infrastructure, skills development, and high digital maturity of the economy. Among the challenges are the shortage of high-quality data, uneven access to infrastructure in regions, a lack of specialists, and limited access to venture capital at later stages.

According to Asel Abdrakhmanova, Managing Partner of RISE Research, artificial intelligence is becoming part of Kazakhstan's economic architecture — from startups and business to government policy. The Kazakhstan AI Country Report is intended to serve as a guide for investors, business, and the state in forming long-term AI development strategies and integrating the country into the global technological economy.

Source: Gov.kz