(original article in Forbes Kazakhstan is available here: :LINK)
Nurlan Smagulov, founder and Chairman of Astana Motors, has invested $3.5 million Automotive Ventures' Mobility Fund II. The goal of this international cooperation is to allow Astana to have a presence in the U.S. market, provide visibility and access into early-stage automotive technology solutions, and explore implementation of these technologies back into the Kazakhstan market.
Automotive Ventures has made 39 investments out of three funds, with an investment thesis that targets Mobility startups at the Seed stage, anywhere globally.
Founder of Automotive Ventures, Steve Greenfield, has extensive experience in the automotive industry and serves on the board of directors of a number of breakthrough startups.
"We met Steve Greenfield in the USA during a business trip in the fall of 2024. In December, he came to Kazakhstan with his colleagues to participate in a corporate automobile forum organized by Astana Group as an expert. His experience cannot be overestimated. Every month, he reviews up to 60 startups in the field of automobile retail. And if Steve invests in a startup, then in 99% of cases it is destined for success. The opportunity to collaborate with him is already a great success for our company and the country as a whole," notes Nurlan Smagulov, founder of Astana Motors.
Nurlan Smagulov also explained that the U.S. automotive technology ecosystem is one of the largest and most developed in the world, attracting the best entrepreneurial and startup talent. According to PitchBook , from April to June 2024, American startups attracted $56 billion, up 57% year over year.
MyVentures' cooperation with Automotive Ventures will help identify potentially successful startups, win a significant share of the U.S. market, and it's expected that successful investments may contribute significant income to the Kazakh business.
About MyVentures
MyVentures is an international venture fund created in 2020 by Nurlan Smagulov and Mycar.kz . It focuses on Kazakhstani and foreign startups in areas such as FinTech, MedTech, e-commerce, and corporate software based on artificial intelligence. Other promising areas are also being considered. The fund provides not only capital, but also comprehensive support for startups at early stages of development. MyVentures' capital is $20 million and is designed for 10 years. The average investment size for each project is from $100 thousand to $2 million. Over the years, the fund has invested in one of the first startups in Kazakhstan in the field of computer vision - Verigram, in the fintech startup Bank4me, in the GoDays project (an AI-based tool that helps predict and prevent employee burnout), and other startups.
