World Bank approves $75 million Kazakhstan startup financing project

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World Bank Kazakhstan startup financing

Highlights

World Bank approved a $75 million loan for Kazakhstan's ALEM Project to support technology startups and close a $20-25 million annual growth-stage risk capital gap.
The project targets training 28,000 young people in advanced skills, supporting 800 startups, and mobilizing at least $60 million in private capital by December 2031.
It aims to create 10,000 jobs, deploying $20 million through a fund-of-funds, and builds toward Kazakhstan's ICT export goal of $5 billion by 2030.

Project funding and implementation plan

As reported by the World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors has approved a JPY 11,999.7 million loan, equivalent to $75 million, for the Advancing Learning, Entrepreneurship, and Markets for Artificial Intelligence, or ALEM, Project in Kazakhstan.

The program is designed to support the creation, commercialization and scale-up of technology startups. It focuses on four areas seen as critical for expanding promising firms, a larger pool of specialized digital talent, wider access to high-performance computing, stronger robotics prototyping infrastructure and efforts to bridge an estimated $20 million to $25 million annual growth-stage risk capital gap.

The project is expected to equip more than 5,000 learners a year with skills in foundational AI, data science and machine learning. It also includes targeted outreach to women, who account for about one-third of STEM graduates and lead less than 6% of venture-backed startups.

By December 2031, the initiative aims to help 28,000 young people complete advanced skills training, support 800 startups through pre-seed, seed or global acceleration programs, facilitate venture investment in more than 50 businesses and mobilize at least $60 million in private capital. Financing will come through the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, while Kazakhstan's Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development will implement the project with Astana Hub and Alem Capital Management.

Technology sector impact and growth targets

The World Bank says the project is expected to support the creation of 10,000 jobs and build on the earlier Fostering Productive Innovation Project, which backed 162 startups and research teams, generated more than $23 million in first sales and private investment, and created close to 2,000 jobs.

On the financing side, the program will deploy $20 million through a fund-of-funds structure managed by Alem Capital Management, alongside acceleration programs linking Kazakhstani founders to global networks and foreign hubs in key markets.

World Bank Country Manager for Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan Andrei Mikhnev says the initiative is intended to help turn Kazakhstan's digital economy progress into productivity-led growth by supporting entrepreneurs, creating high-skilled jobs and attracting more private investment into the technology sector.

The project aligns with Kazakhstan's National Development Plan 2029 and its AI Development Concept 2024-2029. The World Bank adds that Kazakhstan's information and communication technology exports have risen from $132 million in 2019 to $1.1 billion in 2025, with a national goal of reaching $5 billion by 2030.

Our earlier coverage of Flow Engineering’s $50 million Series B funding round looked at how investors are backing industrial AI tools that tackle complex hardware-design and manufacturing workflows. We noted that the company’s AI agents aim to reduce CAD-to-testing integration bottlenecks for engineering teams, highlighting growing demand for AI that moves beyond software into real-world product development.

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