Betting on lifestyle: why the direction has become a priority today using the example of fintech companies

Modern financial organizations have long ceased to be exclusively banking or brokerage services. They consistently develop their ecosystems, providing customers with services from buying tickets to ordering groceries at home. Kazakhstan's Freedom Holding is a prime example of companies actively working in this area. He is known primarily due to the personality of its creator and head Timur Turlov, as well as the Freedom Broker, Freedom Bank, and the Freedom Insurance and Freedom Life insurance companies owned by him. However, Freedom's ecosystem of financial services includes many business areas, including the so-called lifestyle segment, which includes various online services acquired by the holding in recent years. About why the leading financial organizations are betting on this particular area today, see the Izvestia article.

The point of growth

According to the holding's reports for October-December 2024, its revenue jumped by 57% to $655 million. Of these, the brokerage business brought in $213.3 million, the bank earned $206.4 million. The insurance division, represented by Freedom Insurance and Freedom Life, brought in another $197.8 million. Revenue from other segments, which include lifestyle services, jumped 120% year-on-year to $37.7 million.

Commenting on the financial results, Timur Turlov noted the significant business diversification achieved in recent years.

"In the era of globalization, we are creating the Freedom Finance ecosystem as a single platform where various business segments — from banking and insurance services to lifestyle services - interact seamlessly to serve more than 7 million customers," he said.

Revenue distribution was achieved through the acquisition and integration of e-commerce representatives. Some investments were made during the pandemic period and have already paid off, bringing the holding additional revenue and new customers.

In 2021, Freedom Holding acquired Ticketon, one of the largest ticket sales services for cultural events, for $3 million. The company was founded in 2012 and at the time of the sale was one of the TOP40 largest trading platforms in Kazakhstan according to Forbes magazine. A release from Freedom Finance stated that Ticketon was acquired in order to "accelerate growth in the financial technology industry." At the time of the transaction, the service's liabilities exceeded its assets.

In 2023, Freedom Holding bought 100 percent shares in Aviata and Chocotravel air ticket sales services from Choco Holding for $32.3 million. Commenting on the deal, Timur Turlov then publicly confirmed plans to build a full-fledged ecosystem of digital services.

"Thanks to effective communications with existing customers of the services, the holding will be able to achieve significant synergies: attract new customers to the bank's platform, as well as integrate Aviata and Chocotravel with the group's payment system and insurance organizations," the businessman noted.

In the same year, Freedom Holding gained control of the online grocery supermarket Arbuz.kz by buying shares from private investors. Interestingly, Timur Turlov himself became a co-owner of the project back in 2019 as part of an investment round.

Freedom Finance prefers not to share statistics of its online business on an ongoing basis for each of the services, however, it periodically publishes some data. Thus, in the first 9 months of 2024, more than 2.6 million air and railway tickets were sold through Aviata, and the company itself occupied about 10% of the market.

New media

In addition to online commerce, the holding is also interested in the media industry. In 2024, Freedom Media was formed, which was tasked with becoming a key media resource in Kazakhstan. According to the holding, Freedom Media will invest $54 million in the creation of products and content over the next 5 years.

The newly launched media platform is designed to become a gathering point for any type of entertainment content, including TV shows, films, documentaries and other exclusive materials of various genres. In addition to streaming functions, the platform will provide opportunities for downloading video materials for subsequent offline viewing, Freedom Holding explained.

Timur Turlov already has experience in the media business. His broker has been publishing the Financier magazine for more than 10 years, dedicated to investments and current trends in the global economy. Last year, the entrepreneur launched the online educational magazine Qalam, dedicated to the history and culture of Kazakhstan. It also became known that the businessman received a license to launch a local version of the famous international magazine Tatler in the countries of the Turkic world (Kazakhstan, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan), and also financed the creation of the Oninvest media project for investors in the global stock market.

All in one

The lifestyle direction, like other business segments of Freedom Finance, is now actively engaged in mutual integration, creating for the holding's clients a single ecosystem of all necessary services for life in the modern world. An important step in this direction was the launch a year ago of the Freedom SuperApp "superapp", designed to become a single entry point for users from Kazakhstan, as well as a cashback program in which Freedom Bank customers receive free securities of the holding for each purchase on the bank's card. The accrued bonus can be exchanged for currency, transferred to another client, or continued to save, earning on the growth in the value of Freedom shares.

Over the past two years, the lifestyle segment has significantly expanded the customer base of Freedom Finance and organically complemented existing areas, which had a positive impact on the financial results of the holding.