Freedom Holding relies on super app

Freedom Holding is repositioning itself - and attacking the established digital giants in Kazakhstan head-on. The former brokerage house has become a broad-based fintech company that is building a comprehensive digital ecosystem with its own super app. The mobile platform is intended to offer far more than traditional banking services. It bundles financial services, e-commerce, travel and everyday functions into a single application. The aim is to retain users on the platform in the long term and establish itself as a central digital access point in everyday life. Today, the app has around 5.2 million users - more than a quarter of the population of Kazakhstan. In total, the Group's ecosystem comprises over 11 million customers from the brokerage, banking and insurance sectors. Rapid growth and a clear competitive strategy Growth has been exceptionally fast. After its launch in April 2024, the app initially reached 500,000 users by the end of the year. By January 2025, the number had already reached 1.4 million. Millions more were added over the following months, with the platform exceeding the 5.2 million user mark in April 2026. This pace brings Freedom Holding closer to a dominant market player: Kaspi, the country's leading payment service provider. While Kaspi controlled around 85% of the market for a long time, Freedom now sees its own share at around 15% - at the expense of its established competitor. Company boss Timur Turlov emphasizes that competition is also possible in highly concentrated markets. The decisive factor is not a single function, but the combination of many offers in an integrated platform. Customer loyalty through participation A central element of the strategy is an unusual bonus program. Cashback is not simply paid out, but automatically converted into fractions of Freedom Holding shares. The company refers to this model as "Freedom Currency". Freedom thus pursues a dual approach: users should not only remain customers, but also identify with the company as shareholders. The economic development of the platform is thus directly linked to the interests of the users. At the same time, the company is expanding additional business areas. The travel sector is developing particularly dynamically. Freedom claims to have significantly increased its share of the Kazakh domestic flight market. In terms of technology, the platform relies on direct interfaces to airlines and its own route planning solutions. From financial service provider to digital infrastructure Freedom sees its super app not as a pure transaction tool, but as a comprehensive platform for everyday life. In addition to traditional financial services, the company is increasingly integrating areas such as insurance, ticketing and digital services. In the long term, education, healthcare and urban services are also to be integrated. As a result, the role of the app is shifting: away from the individual product and towards a type of digital infrastructure that connects different areas of life. According to the management, the decisive competitive advantage lies not in individual functions, but in the depth of integration and the ability to involve users in the long term. Artificial intelligence as the next stage of expansion Another focus is on the integration of AI functions. The focus is on a voice-based assistant that can take on numerous tasks - from bank transfers to managing accounts and invoices. The assistant supports commands in Kazakh and Russian and is designed to simplify the operation of the app. Initial usage data shows that basic functions such as money transfers and account balance queries are in particularly high demand. Freedom is also expanding its offering for companies. A separate platform gives small and medium-sized companies access to automation tools and AI applications. This means that the app is increasingly becoming a tool for business processes and not just for private users. Expansion beyond Kazakhstan Kazakhstan serves as a test market for the company's model. The comparatively young and digitally savvy population as well as government digitization initiatives offer favourable conditions for such platforms. Freedom is now planning to expand into other markets. The first steps are being taken in Tajikistan, with other countries such as Georgia and Turkey on the agenda. Expansion into Europe is also being considered. The company is deliberately relying on a ready-made, tried-and-tested system - not a classic start-up model. All services are to be bundled under a single brand. It remains to be seen whether the concept will succeed internationally. What is clear, however, is that Freedom Holding has quickly developed from a specialized broker into a broad-based digital platform provider - and is thus challenging the established market leaders in its home country. The post Freedom Holding relies on super app appeared first on ostwirtschaft.de.