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

Venture Funds

Tumar Venture Fund

The venture fund focuses on financing startups in their early stages. The organization invests in projects from Kazakhstan, as well as teams from other countries involving Kazakh citizens.

The fund's financial instruments include Convertible loan, Equity, and SAFE. The fund's investment portfolio includes projects at the pre-seed, seed, round A, B, and C stages, with investments ranging from $50,000 to $500,000 at the pre-seed and seed stages. The maximum target check is 15% of the total fund size at the round A, B, and C stages. Among the fund's successful investments are Zypl.ai and CodiPlay, a Kazakh EdTech startup.

Falconry Fund

A Kazakh venture fund established with the goal of investing in early-stage technology companies. It is managed by Falconry Capital, which has 18 years of successful investment experience in the capital market. The fund size is $20 million. The first check is up to $150,000. The total capitalization of companies in the fund's portfolio is $3.1 billion.

Falconry VC invests in various sectors at early development stages and supports them during the growth phase, exiting projects within five years. The fund's successful investments include SmartSATU, People.ai, Turing, StoreDot, MeiraGTx, GreenBee, Ferro Alloy Resources, and One Vision.

SHANYRAQ.VC

An entrepreneurial investment club providing financing from $50,000 to $500,000 to internet projects at the seed and Series A stages to accelerate their growth and increase profitability. The club offers its services worldwide, possesses expertise in strategic, product, and marketing development, and provides consulting on legal, accounting, and HR issues.

The average investment check is $150,000. Supported projects 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

An early-stage venture fund established in 2023 and managed by Sturgeon Capital. The fund is based in London, UK, and invests in Central and South Asia, excluding India.

Key investment sectors include fintech, software, business products, and services. The fund prefers to invest in emerging markets. The fund finances projects in various IT sectors at the pre-Seed, Seed, A, and B stages.

MOST VENTURES

A private venture fund in Central Asia providing financial and non-financial support to technology entrepreneurs. The fund focuses on IT startups building international businesses. It provides financing from $20,000 at the Pre-Seed stage to $700,000 at the Series A stage.

The fund's geography of interest includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. Some of the fund's successful projects include CTOgram, Namba One, UvU, DOLON, OneVision, BerryPay, Aident, Adapt, EasyTap, Cerebra, Kwaaka, Clockster, Qtap, BPM Tracker, PLATMA, Porte, UniBlock, and Beksar.

Big Sky Capital

The venture fund directs its investments to entrepreneurs from developing countries who develop innovative SaaS products for the corporate sector. The company's core principles are based on the Founder First approach, which implies paying attention to the founders' interests when evaluating the potential of projects. Among the fund's successful investments are Pippin, CerebraAI, HeRo Study, and Hero’s Journey.

Activat VC

The venture company Activat VC has been investing in IT startups since 2014. Activat VC operates on the principle of smart money—investing in the form of capital, expertise, and established partnerships, supporting startups at all stages and achieving the ultimate goal: scaling the business and increasing the capitalization of startups. 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, created based on the successful "Sabi" project launched by Vyacheslav Kim and Kenes Rakishev, experts of the "Create Your Own Business" program. The Fund focuses its energy on investing in startups at the earliest stages, pre-seed, seed, pre-series A, as well as in promising projects with a global vision in China, India, Southeast Asia, and, of course, the USA.

Investors

Kenes Rakishev, linkedin

Kenes Rakishev is a successful entrepreneur, philanthropist, public figure, and international venture investor who actively supports innovative projects and breakthrough technologies in the mining and metallurgy industries. Co-founder of the "Sabi" Charitable Fund. Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fincraft Resources. Actively participates in the public life of Kazakhstan, regularly financing and personally participating in projects aimed at developing medicine, education, sports, supporting ecology, and helping young entrepreneurs.

Bakht Niyazov, @nbbreal

A Kazakh entrepreneur, investor, and financier with extensive experience in the local stock market. He founded Real Invest Group, a brokerage company, and then Falconry, a direct investment fund, focusing on supporting small and medium-sized businesses in their development and expansion. Bakht Niyazov also co-founded the venture fund MOST Ventures with other founders and actively participates in the angel investment movement in Kazakhstan. He is also a member of the Central Asian Angel Investors club, where he invests in promising startups in Central Asia together with local investors.

Murat Abdrakhmanov, @murat.abdrakhmanov

A venture investor with 30 years of experience in the technology business. He is focused on human capital and helps entrepreneurs develop large-scale projects. His portfolio includes 41 projects with over $12 million invested. He is the founder and owner of several successful companies and also actively invests in startups, including Chocofamily, GENESIS, JIJ|, OrionM2M, and others.

Timur Turlov, @timurturlov

Founder and majority shareholder of the Freedom Holding Corp. investment group, which operates in Kazakhstan through JSC "Freedom Finance." He owns 78.99% of JSC "BAST," shares in Chocofamily Holding, Arbuz Group, Naimi.kz, Relog, Cerebra, Citix, and EasyTap.

Alim Khamitov, @alimkhamitov

Alim Khamitov is a venture investor and head of the MOST Ventures funds with a volume of $36 million. Venture Capitalist of the Year 2022 and co-founder of the UMAY Angel Business Club and MOST Eco System.

Adil Nurgozhin, linkedin

A Kazakh business angel, he was appointed Managing Director of JSC "National Management Holding "Baiterek." He is responsible for the development of innovative projects and the implementation of information technologies. Adil is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of JSC QazTech Ventures and a member of the Board of Directors of JSC "Housing Construction Guarantee Fund."

Yerlan Isekeshov, linkedin

A venture investor and state figure of Kazakhstan. Currently, he is an Independent Director, Member of the Board of Directors of JSC "TransTelecom," and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the multi-profile holding company ISS Corporation. He has invested in projects such as Biometric and TypiPay.