Kaspi.kz: The Kazakh Super-App - [Business Breakdowns, EP.204]

Episode Summary

Executive Summary: The episode profiles CASPI, Kazakhstan’s dominant super app, and its co-founder/CEO Mikhail Lomsadze. The conversation traces CASPI’s evolution from a struggling bank into a profitable platform spanning payments, e-commerce, fintech, grocery, travel, and government services, powered by relentless focus on product quality, simplicity, and consumer feedback. It also covers expansion into Turkey and the strategic move to NASDAQ.

Main Topics: CASPI’s origin and evolution (Priority: 5/5): Lomsadze explains how CASPI emerged from a traditional Kazakh bank after the 2007 crisis and was rebuilt into a multi-vertical technology platform. Super app model and product strategy (Priority: 5/5): The company’s core thesis is that one mobile app can serve many life needs if each product is simple, high-quality, and integrated. Kazakhstan as a fertile operating environment (Priority: 4/5): The transcript frames Kazakhstan’s demographics, digitalization, and government support as key enablers of CASPI’s growth. Marketplace, grocery, and fintech flywheel (Priority: 5/5): Payments, marketplace, BNPL, and merchant services reinforce each other and expand wallet share, GMV, and engagement. Culture, execution, and NPS-led management (Priority: 5/5): CASPI’s operating culture is built around consumer feedback, net promoter score, product teams, and ruthless pruning of weak products. Expansion beyond Kazakhstan (Priority: 4/5): The company’s acquisition in Turkey and Nasdaq listing signal ambitions to export its operating model and gain investor visibility.

Key Arguments: CASPI succeeded by prioritizing product quality over short-term financial KPIs; the company’s internal metric is whether products genuinely improve consumer lives. The super app model works in Kazakhstan because a small market leaves no room to hide bad products; quality must be exceptional or users churn permanently. Each vertical reinforces the others: payments drive e-commerce, fintech increases purchasing power, and merchant services expand marketplace activity. Extreme simplification is a key execution advantage: CASPI launches minimal versions first, then adds features over time while maintaining lean operations. CASPI is not trying to compete head-on with retailers; it enables them with logistics, ads, payments, and financing, creating a partner-friendly ecosystem. Government services embedded in the app deepen engagement by making everyday state transactions accessible digitally. Nasdaq listing improved liquidity substantially and aligns CASPI with a U.S. investor base more familiar with super app and marketplace models. International expansion is pursued through acquisitions that match CASPI’s culture and operating discipline, such as Hepsiburada in Turkey.

Data Points: Kazakhstan population: 20 million - Size of the home market CASPI serves Kazakhstan GDP: $260+ billion - Macro backdrop for the country GDP per capita: About $14,000 - Kazakhstan economic context Monthly active users: 13.4 million to 14+ million - CASPI app user base mentioned in intro and interview Daily usage rate: 67% of monthly users - Shows strong engagement Payment volumes: Nearly $80 billion - Annual scale of CASPI payments activity Marketplace GMV: $10 billion - Scale of e-commerce business Financing volumes: $20 billion - Originated through financial services business Profit growth: Bottom line growing at a 20% clip - Intro characterization of profitability Net income target: In excess of $2 billion - Management’s stated expectation for the year Growth rate: About 25% - CEO’s statement about overall growth Cashless transaction penetration in 2016: About 10-15% - Estimated cashless share before digital transformation Current cashless transaction penetration: About 90% - Current state of Kazakhstan’s payments landscape E-grocery market size: $16-17 billion - Lamsadze’s estimate of grocery market opportunity Grocery business margin: About 6-7% net income margin - Profitability achieved in first 12 months Grocery average ticket size: About $30 - Supports weekly-purchase economics Marketplace SKU count: In excess of 8 million SKUs - Breadth of selection on platform Merchant count: Over 7,000 merchants - Core ecosystem participants Cost of risk on BNPL: Less than 2% - Claims strong credit performance BNPL decision speed: 99.9% in a second - Digital underwriting efficiency Travel adoption speed: Two years to become largest travel agency - Speed of vertical expansion Liquidity increase after U.S. listing: Almost 20x - Comparison of Nasdaq vs. London Stock Exchange Turkey market size: 85 million+ people - Rationale for Hepsiburada acquisition Acquisition stake: 65% - CASPI agreed to buy majority interest in Hepsiburada Product teams: About 50 - Organization structure for rapid iteration

Pivotal Quotes: "our mission is to improve people's lives by developing world-class mobile services" — Mikhail Lomsadze: Defines CASPI’s operating philosophy and expansion into new verticals "our mission is to make the users' life easier, not our life easier" — Mikhail Lomsadze: Explains why CASPI pursued a super app instead of multiple standalone products "if the net promoter score is negative...we either have to drastically change or we kill the product" — Mikhail Lomsadze: Illustrates CASPI’s discipline around product quality and pruning weak offerings

Implications: CASPI shows that super apps can win when anchored in consumer trust, seamless integration, and ruthless product discipline. Its model may be exportable to similarly underpenetrated markets, but only if quality and execution stay exceptional.