MOST Ventures and Big Sky Capital: Venture Capital Funds and Investors in Kazakhstan

Venture Funds

Tumar Venture Fund

The Tumar Venture Fund is focused on financing startups in their early stages. The organization invests in projects originating from Kazakhstan and teams from other countries that include Kazakh citizens.

The fund’s financial instruments include Convertible loans, Equity, and SAFE. The fund’s investment portfolio covers projects at the pre-seed, seed, Series A, B, and C stages. Investments at the pre-seed and seed stages range from $50,000 to $500,000. Successful investments by the fund include zypl.ai and CodiPlay, a Kazakh EdTech startup.

Falconry Fund

Falconry Fund is a Kazakh venture fund established to invest in technology companies at the early stage. The fund, managed by Falconry Capital, has 18 years of operational experience. The fund’s size is $20 million, with an initial check size of up to $150,000. The total market capitalization of companies in the fund’s portfolio amounts to $3.1 billion.

Falconry VC invests in early-stage projects across various industries, supports them during their growth phase, and plans to exit investments within five years. Successful investments by the fund include SmartSATU, People.ai, Turing, StoreDot, MeiraGTx, GreenBee, Ferro Alloy Resources, and One Vision.

SHANYRAQ.VC

SHANYRAQ.VC is an entrepreneurial investment club that offers funding of $50,000 to $500,000 for internet projects at the pre-seed and Series A stages, helping to accelerate their growth and increase profitability. The club offers its services globally and provides expertise in strategic, product, and marketing development, as well as legal, accounting, and HR consulting.

The average investment check is $150,000. Projects supported by the club include ISTOK HOME, KOW, Let’s Call company, CarFast, Optorocket.kz, Box-Box.kz, Fuchuk, Squares.kz, MEDDATA.AI, Red Art, and Seven Hearts Storie.

Sturgeon Emerging Opportunities II LP

Sturgeon Emerging Opportunities II LP is an early-stage venture fund. The fund’s primary investment sectors are fintech, software, business products, and services. The fund aims to invest in emerging markets. It finances IT projects at the Pre-Seed, Seed, A, and B stages.

MOST VENTURES

MOST VENTURES is a private venture fund in Central Asia that provides financial and non-financial support to technology entrepreneurs. The fund focuses on IT startups building international businesses. It offers funding starting from $20,000 at the Pre-Seed stage and up to $700,000 at the Series A stage.

The fund’s geography covers Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. Successful projects in the fund’s portfolio include СТОgram, Namba One, UvU, DOLON, OneVision, BerryPay, Aident, Adapt, EasyTap, Cerebra, Kwaaka, Clockster, Qtap, BPM Tracker, PLATMA, Porte, UniBlock, and Beksar.

Big Sky Capital

Big Sky Capital directs its investments toward entrepreneurs in developing countries who develop innovative SaaS products for the corporate sector. The company’s core principles are based on the Founder First approach, which emphasizes focusing on the interests of founders when evaluating the potential of projects. Successful investments by the fund include Pippin, CerebraAI, HeRo Study, and Hero’s Journey.

Activat VC

Activat VC has been investing in IT startups since 2014. Activat VC operates on the smart money principle — supporting startups with capital, experience, and partnership connections, while also helping them achieve goals to expand their business and increase capitalization. Activat VC’s investment portfolio includes: BILLZ, I-teka, PLATMA, EasyTap, ApartX, Zypl.AI, Garderob, TassVision, QazTracker, and others.

byb capital

byb-capital is the driving force behind the fund established on the basis of the «Sabi» project, led by Vyacheslav Kim and Kenes Rakishev. The fund invests in startups at the earliest stages — Pre-Seed, Seed, and Pre-Series A — and also focuses on promising projects with a global outlook, such as those from China, India, Southeast Asia, and the USA.

Investors

Kenes Rakishev, linkedin
Kenes Rakishev is a successful entrepreneur, philanthropist, public figure, and international venture investor who supports innovative projects in the mining and metallurgy sectors and cutting-edge technologies. He is the founder of the «Sabi» Charity Fund and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fincraft Resources. He actively participates in the public life of Kazakhstan, financing projects in medicine, education, sports, ecology, and support for young entrepreneurs.

Bakht Niyazov, @nbbreal
Bakht Niyazov is a Kazakh entrepreneur, investor, and financier with extensive experience in the local stock exchange. He is the founder of Real Invest Group brokerage company and later co-founded Falconry — a direct investment fund. He is also one of the founders of the MOST Ventures venture fund and actively participates in the angel investment movement in Kazakhstan.

Murat Abdrakhmanov, @murat.abdrakhmanov
Murat Abdrakhmanov is a venture investor with 30 years of experience. He is focused on human capital and helps entrepreneurs develop large-scale projects. He is the founder of several successful companies and also invests in startups.

Timur Turlov, @timurturlov
Timur Turlov is the founder and majority shareholder of the Freedom Holding Corp. investment group. He holds shares in Chocofamily Holding, Arbuz Group, Naimi.kz, Relog, Cerebra, Citix, and EasyTap.

Alim Khamitov, @alimkhamitov
Alim Khamitov is the head of the MOST Ventures fund. He is a 2022 venture capitalist and the founder of the UMAY business angel club and the MOST Eco System fund.

Adil Nurgozhin, linkedin
Adil Nurgozhin is a Kazakh business angel and Managing Director of Baiterek National Management Holding JSC. He is responsible for the development of innovative projects and information technologies. He is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of QazTech Ventures JSC.

Erlan Iskeshev, linkedin
Erlan Iskeshev is a venture investor and a public figure in Kazakhstan. Currently, he is an independent member of the Board of Directors of TransTeleCom JSC and Chairman of the Board of Directors of ISS Corporation holding company.