NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

By Mike Butcher

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, Kazakhstan. 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.