SparkLabs Group, Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Kazakhstan’s Qazaqstan Investment Corporation (QIC) and Uzbekistan’s IT Park Ventures have signed a term sheet for a new venture capital fund aimed at Series A and later-stage start-ups across Central Asia.
The SparkLabs Mirae Silk Road Fund I LP will invest across sectors, with a particular focus on AI-native companies that have proven business models and are ready to expand internationally. Portfolio businesses will be supported in entering South Korea, the United States and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
Mirae Asset Venture Investment and SparkLabs will manage the fund. QIC and IT Park Ventures are expected to participate as anchor investors, although IT Park Ventures’ involvement as an anchor limited partner will be staged and remains subject to legal, regulatory and corporate approvals.
The agreement was signed in Seoul during state visits by the presidents of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to South Korea and the first Central Asia Republic of Korea Summit. It followed a week in which South Korea and Kazakhstan agreed commercial deals worth $18.95 billion.
The fund’s initial capital has separately been set at $2 million, with the potential to grow to $10 million. Its investment mandate is sector agnostic, but AI-native businesses – companies in which artificial intelligence is central to the product and business model – will be a priority.
QIC is Kazakhstan’s national fund of funds under Baiterek National Managing Holding. It currently invests in 19 funds with combined capitalisation of $2.8 billion, working alongside private and international partners to bring long-term investment into the country.
IT Park Ventures is the venture investment arm of Uzbekistan’s state technology park. It backs companies from Uzbekistan and other Central Asian markets and works with international funds.
SparkLabs Mirae Silk Road co-founder and General Partner Aslan Sultanov cited Higgsfield as an example of the region’s potential to produce globally successful technology companies.
Higgsfield became Kazakhstan’s first technology unicorn after exceeding a $1 billion valuation in 2025. The AI video generation company was founded by Yerzat Dulat and Alex Mashrabov, a former head of generative AI at Snap.
Sultanov said more than half of Central Asia’s population is under 30. Governments in the region are investing in AI, but international venture funding remains limited compared with more established technology markets.
SparkLabs has invested in more than 600 start-ups across six continents since 2013. Mirae Asset Venture Investment is part of Mirae Asset Financial Group, which manages more than $845 billion in assets across 18 markets.
The fund’s launch comes as venture firms allocate more money to businesses combining AI with emerging technologies. In June, Framework Ventures launched a $400 million fund covering crypto, AI, robotics and energy, with about half deployed at that time. A month later, Paradigm raised $1.2 billion for its fourth fund, retaining crypto while expanding into AI, robotics and other emerging technologies.
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan expand technology sectors
Kazakhstan has also been developing its digital asset industry. Balaji Srinivasan, former Coinbase chief technology officer and former Andreessen Horowitz general partner, reopened Network School in the country in August. The community for founders and digital nomads focuses on entrepreneurship, AI and start-up development.
Telegram opened its first regional office in Kazakhstan and launched an AI laboratory there. In September, Kazakhstan announced plans for a National Cryptocurrency Analytics Center on the National Bank’s SupTech platform. It is intended to track fiat and crypto transactions, wallets and customer information, and provide verification tools to banks, law enforcement agencies and licensed digital asset providers.
Authorities approved a strategic crypto mining framework in July. Qualifying large-scale miners can receive regulated access to electricity in return for contributing some mined digital assets to a state-backed reserve, provided they meet infrastructure and operational requirements. Kazakhstan has also said seized digital assets could help fund a national crypto reserve, alongside foreign currency and gold.
Uzbekistan established a regulated crypto mining zone in Karakalpakstan this year. Approved companies can use grid electricity, renewable energy and hydrogen, receive tax incentives through 2035, and must keep proceeds from mined crypto within Uzbekistan’s banking system.
The Beshkala Mining Valley framework covers licensed operations across Karakalpakstan. Miners may sell digital assets through foreign platforms under national regulations and use excess heat from mining facilities for greenhouse farming.
Plans linked to the Silk Road fund include opening a SparkLabs office at IT Park in Tashkent. The office will support investment activity and help portfolio companies expand internationally.
Galaxy Research said crypto and blockchain start-ups raised $5.683 billion in 384 deals in the second quarter of 2026, with later-stage companies receiving 78% of deployed capital. Investment in the first half of 2026 totalled $10.018 billion across 744 transactions, while US-headquartered companies received 73.5% of capital invested in the second quarter.
