Kazakh Arlan Biotech and Kyrgyz MyStory accepted into the global accelerator StartX
Graduates of Silkway Accelerator, a joint program between Astana Hub and Google for Startups, have successfully passed the selection process and been accepted into the prestigious international acceleration program at Stanford University in the USA.
StartX supports startups in a variety of industries, including technology, biomedicine, energy, education and others. The program accompanies startups at all stages of development, from the idea to successful entry into the market and attracting investment. StartX has grown three decacorns and 16 unicorns, bringing the total valuation of all community members to $26 billion.
The Arlan Biotech team uses advanced artificial intelligence technologies to develop nanobodies, which represents a significant advance for medicine and pharmaceuticals, since these nanobodies have wide application in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. Growing interest from venture capital funds indicates the potential of the project. The startup team aims to become one of the top 5 companies in the world in artificial intelligence in the field of biotechnology in the next three years.
“Being in StartX is the dream of many startups around the world. When I applied to StartX for the first time in November 2022, I was informed that my application was the first from Kazakhstan. But, unfortunately, at that time our product was still raw. Over the course of a year and a half, we did a lot of work: I found a co-founder, went through the accelerator at Astana Hub, finalized the product and started sales. Thanks to these efforts, we managed to pass the selection on the second attempt. Now we are becoming part of one of the most innovative communities in the world - Stanford University. For us, this is a significant indicator of the importance of our work and means that the project is able to successfully compete on the international stage. I would like to note that the main advantage of StartX is the startup community: the people who will surround us, culture, drive, innovation and the desire to change the world. This is very inspiring,” said Bolat Sultankulov, founder and CEO of Arlan Biotech.
Kyrgyz startup MyStory uses artificial intelligence to create personalized books for the exclusive order of each user. Participation in the fourth stream of Silkway Accelerator brought the startup a significant increase in revenue and attracted investments in the amount of $100 thousand. In addition, MyStory became the winner in the Best AI Startup category at Astana Hub Battle 2023 - the largest battle of IT startups in Central Asia, held as part of the Digital Bridge forum.
“We were very happy when our startup was accepted into the StartX program. This is recognition of our work and the potential we see in our project. It is important to note that Astana Hub played an important role in the development of our project,” said Aitemir Mudinov, co-founder of MyStory.
Selection for the StartX summer batch took place through the Visiting Founder program, with the support of Astana Business Campus and Nazarbayev University. Startups that passed the preliminary selection went through several stages of interviews, including a cultural interview and two technical ones (with biological experts and a programming expert). The program provides startups with access to valuable resources, expert mentorship and networking opportunities to expand their business and attract investment.