London’s Sturgeon Capital launches $35M fund aimed at emerging startups in Central Asia

Mike Butcher@mikebutcher / 9:43 PM GMT+5:30•April 27, 2023

We reported last year on the launch of a $225 million VC platform from the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank, which would also cover Central Asia. In addition, Most VC launched its accelerator out of Almaty, Kazakstan. So it’s clear these regions, for too long considered backwaters, are now finding their feet as a new wave of tech talent comes online, eager to join the tech industry and the startup ecosystem. Indeed, they are following a similar path to the wave of tech VC investment that hit countries like Indonesia, Nigeria and Brazil in the last few years.

Taking advantage of that today is Sturgeon Capital, a London-based VC, which plans to invest in early-stage startups in the emerging markets of Central Asia and South Asia (excluding India).

Sturgeon’s latest VC fund, Sturgeon Emerging Opportunities II (SEO II), will deploy its $35m fund, building on its previous fund (SEO I), a 2020 vintage fund that has made 18 investments focused at Seed up till Series A. SEO II will continue to invest in FinTech, B2B Software and Marketplace business models.