On Monday 23rd September 2024, an important and exciting new development in the region’s innovation ecosystem took place with the official launch event of the Turkic & Eurasian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (TEVCA). TEVCA seeks to be the ‘Voice of Private Capital and Startups’ in the region, serving the region’s entrepreneurial and investment community. Co-founding members from across the region include SABAH.fund and Caucasus Ventures (representing Azerbaijan), 500 Global In Eurasia (representing Georgia), MOST Ventures and White Hill Capital (representing Kazakhstan), Accelerate Prosperity and AdVentures (representing Kyrgyzstan), Exponential Zaisan Partners and KITE Mongolia (representing Mongolia), 212 and The New Rising (representing Türkiye), Sturgeon Capital (pan-regional but HQ-ed in the UK), AloqaVentures and UzVc representing Uzbekistan, as well as IT Parks from across the region. 

TEVCA is designed to act as a forum for knowledge exchange, networking, policy advocacy, and sustainable best practices across ecosystems that make up the strategic ‘Silk Road’ between East and West. The core pillars that TEVCA focuses on are our community networking, ideas and dealflow exchange, policy recommendations and advocacy, and education, training, and enhancement. 

The main goal for TEVCA is to be a strategic umbrella supporting venture capital and private equity by identifying challenges, developing solutions to improve the innovation landscape, raising awareness, and making the region one of the world's most competitive and attractive investment and business-building destinations. As a platform for the regular exchange of experiences and ideas among the venture community, the Association serves as both a unified voice of the regional investment community and an advocate for venture-backed companies, as well as corporates and other key players. 

The event presented the mission and vision of TEVCA, as well as its benefits for the region, and was opened by Abbas Kazmi and Rahim Bayramli, Co-Founding Partners at SABAH.fund the fund. This was followed by contributions from Robin Butler, Partner at Sturgeon Capital, Alim Khamitov, Managing Partner at MOST Ventures, Günce Önür, General Partner at The New Rising, Pedro Vieira, Partner at 500 Global in Eurasia, Ali Karabey, Founding Partner at 212, Bolormaa Luvsandorj, Founder at KITE Mongolia, Nihat Majidov, Director-General at the High Technologies Park in Baku, Aijan Alisherova, TA Lead at Accelerate Prosperity, Aslan Sultanov, Founding Partner at White Hill Capital and Zaynab Atabaeva, Chief Manager at IT PARK Uzbekistan. Yasin Jalilov, Deputy Executive Director of the Azerbaijan Investment Company also joined the event and spoke about his interest in the Association and its exciting potential. 

Participants highlighted the importance of more collaboration to drive positive change in the region's innovation sphere, venture capital, and startup ecosystems. Particular attention was paid to the potential for co-investment and joint exchange of deal flow, which will benefit both startups and investors. The importance of ESG and keeping up to speed with the latest global standards was also discussed particularly in the run-up to COP29, where sustainability and environmental issues will come to the fore.

A significant part of the event was the discussion of a proposal to create a regional Fund of Funds across countries that make up the region, which will increase the amount of available funding in the ecosystem and support VCs and startups. TEVCA is determined to place the region as one of the top-performing markets globally for venture capital, private equity, and startups, transforming our economies and societies through innovative technologies, developing human capital, boosting job creation, and driving growth.