Silkroad Innovation Hub’s Road to Battlefield competition continues
Get the Tech newsletter
Daily tech — startups, AI labs, chips, the launches that shape the next decade. Free.
- Silkroad Innovation Hub's Road to Battlefield competition received 726 applications from 39 countries in its second year, up nearly 50% from 485 applications across 27 countries in 2025, with national rounds running online July 6–20.
- Astana Hub Ventures, IT Park Ventures, and Silkroad Innovation Hub are jointly funding a $100,000 investment prize pool, split $50,000, $30,000, and $20,000 across the top three finalists.
- OpenAI is providing up to $100,000 in API credits split among the top three finalists, while the remaining 19 of the top 22 finalists each receive $10,000 in API credits.
- AI products dominate the applicant pool: 609 of the 726 startups (roughly 84%) are building AI products, a figure Silkroad and Astana Hub CEO Magzhan Madiyev cite as evidence of the region's rapidly maturing innovation ecosystem.
- Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan each placed six startups in the regional final, more than any other country, with the 22 finalists also drawing entrants from Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the U.S., Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Qatar, Japan, and Romania.
- The three winners will advance to TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco from October 13–15 to compete at Startup Battlefield 200, with paid travel and accommodation covered and access to a 1,000-founder network spanning 39 countries.
- The program's 2025 alumni — Polygraf AI (Azerbaijan/U.S.), Surfaice (Kazakhstan/U.S.), and Investbanq (Singapore/U.S.) — already represented the region on the global stage, and this year's cohort includes a 14-year-old founder among 89 applicants under 18.
Why it matters: For Central Eurasian founders, this competition now functions as a structured on-ramp to TechCrunch Disrupt that didn't exist two years ago — the 50% jump in applications to 726 and expansion to 39 countries shows the pipeline is scaling faster than the organizers projected. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan each fielding six finalists, combined with 84% of applicants building AI products, indicates the region is producing globally competitive AI startups at a pace that has caught the attention of OpenAI, Astana Hub, and Freedom Holding as investors.
Ask SkimNews
