1. The non-obvious capital corridor
Most discussions of “emerging” tech capital still treat Central Asia as an afterthought, somewhere between energy headlines and geopolitics.
But on the ground, the region has quietly shifted from “talent-rich, capital-poor” to a space where founders are defaulting to global from day one, and syndicates are wiring money into US-facing companies with real velocity.
In this episode of Emerging Forward, I sat down with Almaz Edilbaev, co-founder of chANGELS, an angel syndicate from Kyrgyz Republic backing Central Eurasia founders building global businesses; COO & co-founder of DataCall AI (backed by 500 Global), a Chicago-based healthcare AI startup automating phone operations like benefit verification and prior auth for clinics. Originally from the Kyrgyz Republic, he has 13+ years in VC/accelerators across Central Asia, Russia and the US; including Investment Lead at Accelerate Prosperity (AKDN), Strategy & Corporate Development at Kyo Health.
He’s seen Central Asian founders go from niche outliers in Silicon Valley to a growing wave backed by over a hundred funds and syndicates spanning Europe, Eastern Europe, and the region itself.
2. From five funds to ~100: Central Asia grows up
A decade ago, Almaz estimates there were roughly five to ten venture funds or angel syndicates actively investing in Central Asian startups.
Today, that number is closer to one hundred, with European and Eastern European funds opening local branches and a new Kazakhstani fund-of-funds targeting around $1 billion AUM and already deploying into the regional fund managers.
This isn’t just about deal count; it’s about where founders physically build.
There is still a visible hub of Central Asian and broader Russian-speaking founders in Silicon Valley, but Almaz is now seeing teams successfully raise and scale from places like Texas (Austin), Chicago, and other US cities between the coasts when they have a strong product, big vision, and traction.
The old rule of “you must be in the Bay Area to raise”, is weakening when the fundamentals are there.
3. The “default to global” mindset
For Central Asian founders, building globally isn’t an aspirational tagline; it’s the default operating system.
The region’s domestic markets are perceived as small and many of the obvious “winner-takes-all” marketplace niches are already occupied, so founders start with an assumption that their product and capital stack need to be global from day one.
Almaz points to Higgsfield AI (a unicorn valued above $1 billion) as a concrete example: it has a world-class team, but the majority of engineering, product, and even sales is still based in Central Asia while serving global B2B customers.
The lesson isn’t that geography doesn’t matter; it’s that talent density plus cost arbitrage in Central Asia lets founders build serious products locally, then prove traction and reach global markets without fully uprooting their teams.
The typical pattern he sees:
Raise an initial pre-seed/seed round from Central Asian investors and funds (often in the $200–800K at $2-5M cap).
Use that capital to build product and traction across Central Eurasia + MENA (Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Caucasus, Turkey, sometimes Mongolia plus Gulf markets).
Only then, once there is regional conviction, start networking into US investors for larger rounds where Bay Area valuations (e.g., $2M at $10–20M caps) come into play.
Valuation expectations are not uniform across geographies, and founders who ignore that delta often stumble in the next round.
4. Different geographies, different GTM games
One of the most tactical parts of the conversation was Almaz’s comparison of B2B GTM in Central Asia vs the US.
In Central Asia and broader Central Eurasia, he sees shorter sales cycles, easier access to decision-makers via warm connections, and markets that are far less crowded, which makes it comparatively easier to close B2B deals.
By contrast, the US healthcare and B2B landscape he now operates in is:
Incredibly competitive, with many vendors vying for the same decision-makers.
Slower to move, with long procurement and compliance processes even after you’ve finally reached the right person.
The implication is straightforward but often ignored: you cannot copy-paste your Central Asia GTM motion into the US.
Founders need to treat regional expansion less like “turning on another geography” and more like switching games entirely, with different timelines, sales structures, and proof points.
5. How syndicates are unlocking smaller checks into US-facing teams
chANGELS (Almaz’s angel syndicate) didn’t appear because the region needed another logo; it emerged from a very specific gap.
On one side, they were seeing Central Eurasian founders building credible US-facing companies including teams physically based in the US.
On the other side, they saw angels in their home ecosystem who wanted exposure to these deals but couldn’t comfortably write $25K+ checks as solo investors.
The solution was to build infrastructure:
Use SPVs to pool smaller checks into one vehicle.
Standardize around Delaware / C-Corp structures and SAFEs at early stages, so they’re compatible with US cap tables.
Leverage platforms like Sydecar and Uniborn to make SPV creation, investor onboarding, and tracking from first check to exit dramatically simpler than even five years ago.
Almaz believes their syndicate was the first of its kind in Kyrgyzstan, in a region where only a handful of syndicates in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan existed previously.
The edge they’re leaning into is not just capital, but pattern recognition across the region’s founders, they track who is doing what, when a team is ready for the next stage, and where a small but coordinated pool of checks can change the trajectory.
6. What this means for founders and LPs
For Central Asian and Central Eurasian founders:
Assume global by default, but don’t skip the step of proving conviction locally and regionally before chasing US rounds.
Be deliberate about valuation expectations by geography; a “fair” pre-seed cap in Bishkek won’t map directly to the Bay Area.
Treat US GTM as a different discipline, not an extension of what’s working in Almaty or Tbilisi.
For angels and LPs watching the region:
The opportunity is increasingly in syndicate-led exposure to US-facing founders with Central Asian talent bases, not just local-only plays.
Infrastructure for SPVs, SAFEs, and cross-border compliance is now mature enough that ticket sizes and geography are no longer the real constraint.
The constraint is access to the right networks and emerging fund managers, which is precisely where vehicles like chANGELS and new regional fund-of-funds are positioning themselves.
As Almaz put it toward the end, Central Asia is only going to get more important, with more talent from the region building large, global stories, and he wants to be part of that compounding curve.
7. Listen to the full conversation
We cover much more in the episode, including:
Why Central Asian founders can increasingly raise from outside Silicon Valley if their product and traction are strong.
How accelerators like 500 Global (Georgia), Plug and Play (Uzbekistan, Armenia), and Google for Startups (Astana) have upgraded founder “literacy” around fundraising and GTM.
Why the “talent is distributed, capital is not” cliché is slowly being rebalanced in the region.
→ Listen to the episode with Almaz Edilbaev
If you’re a founder or investor navigating the Europe-emerging markets corridor and want to unpack how this plays out in your specific context, hit reply or reach out.
I’d love to hear what you’re seeing on the ground.
