SparkLabs And Mirae Asset Back Central Asian Startups
SparkLabs Mirae Silk Road Fund I LP will back Series A and later Central Asian startups, with a focus on AI-native companies.
SparkLabs Group, Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Qazaqstan Investment Corporation and IT Park Ventures have signed a term sheet to establish SparkLabs Mirae Silk Road Fund I LP. The new venture capital fund will be managed by Mirae Asset Venture Investment and SparkLabs Group. QIC and IT Park Ventures will serve as anchor investors, with the fund targeting Series A and later-stage Central Asian startups. The agreement was signed in Seoul during the state visits of the Presidents of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to Korea and the first Central Asia Republic of Korea Summit.
Capital For Regional Scale
The fund will invest in businesses with proven models that are ready to expand beyond Central Asia. It is sector-agnostic, while placing particular focus on AI-native companies where artificial intelligence is core to both the product and business model.
The partners are pairing investment capital with access to SparkLabs and Mirae Asset’s global networks, alongside hands-on support for portfolio companies expanding into South Korea, the United States and the MENA region.
Aslan Sultanov, Co-founder and General Partner at SparkLabs Mirae Silk Road, explained:
“Higgsfield becoming Kazakhstan's first unicorn was a turning point. It showed that a world-class AI company can be built in Central Asia. And it won't be the last with more than half of the region's population is under 30, growing up digital and our governments actively investing in AI. Yet the region is still largely overlooked by international investors, and that's the opportunity this fund is built for,”
Partners Build Investment Platform
SparkLabs Group is a network of startup accelerators and venture capital funds that has invested in more than 600 startups across six continents since December 2013. Its portfolio includes OpenAI, SpaceX, Vectara, Kneron, Anthropic, Nex Team, Kraken, GenG, Lyft and MetAI.
Mirae Asset Venture Investment is the venture capital arm of Mirae Asset Financial Group, which has more than US$845 billion in assets under management and operates across 18 markets. Its investment platform covers ETFs, alternative investments and traditional strategies.
Mirae, QIC, SparkLabs signing.
Qazaqstan Investment Corporation is Kazakhstan’s national fund of funds and part of Baiterek National Managing Holding. It participates in 19 funds with combined capitalisation of US$2.8 billion, investing alongside international and private partners to attract long-term capital into Kazakhstan.
IT Park Ventures is the venture capital arm of IT Park Uzbekistan, the country’s state technology park. It invests in startups from Uzbekistan and Central Asia, co-invests with international funds and connects regional founders with global capital and markets.
Expanding The Regional Pipeline
The new fund brings together institutional investors and venture capital managers around later-stage Central Asian companies seeking international scale. It arrives as regional activity gains attention, following the reopening of Balaji Srinivasan’s Network School in Kazakhstan and Telegram’s launch of an AI lab and first regional office in the country.
With anchor backing from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan’s investment institutions, SparkLabs Mirae Silk Road Fund I LP is positioned to support a new cohort of businesses seeking to build from Central Asia into global markets.
