Gobi Partners Brings Chinese VC Playbook to Central Asia

Gobi Partners, an Asia-focused venture capital firm managing more than $2 billion in assets across 18 locations, is scouting Central Asia as its next expansion market — with Kazakhstan as its intended connector between East Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

The firm's co-founder and chairman, Thomas G. Tao, laid out the strategy during the Kazakhstan-China & Hong Kong Innovation Bridge, an event organized by Khan Tengri Innovation Hub. Gobi, founded in Shanghai in 2002, will celebrate its 25th anniversary next year. It has backed more than 400 startups and recorded 76 exits to date.

From consumer apps to DeepTech

Tao says the Chinese venture market has shifted decisively over two decades. "Today, we are clearly seeing a move away from consumer applications, including areas such as bike-sharing, toward DeepTech innovation," he said. "This is also where Gobi has particular expertise and where we see significant opportunities."

DeepTech investing requires university ties. Gobi runs a dedicated vehicle, the Gobi United Fund, working with two of Hong Kong's leading universities — the University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology — and is preparing to onboard two more. The Hong Kong Investment Corporation is a strategic partner in the fund.

Tao flagged three sectors where Gobi's portfolio already operates, each with a case for Kazakhstan.

The first is SpaceTech and remote sensing. Portfolio company Stellaris, spun out of HKUST, developed technology for detecting carbon dioxide and methane emissions from space. Its remote sensing system was installed on Tiangong, China's space station. The founder previously worked at NASA before returning to Hong Kong — an example of what Tao calls reverse brain drain.

The second is construction technology and digital twins. Tao points to the scale of construction in Astana as an argument for digitizing blueprints. "Government officials need immediate access to accurate information," he said. Gobi brought Izbeam, a company in this field, on the delegation; Izbeam has completed thousands of projects worldwide.

The third is smart cities. Astana has grown from around 200,000 people to approximately 1.6 million, and Tao witnessed its traffic congestion firsthand during the visit. Portfolio company RushOwl, started in Singapore and now operating in Malaysia and India with plans to enter Brunei, builds an intelligent operating system for buses — optimizing routes, school pickups and employee commuting for companies with thousands of daily commuters. "We are now looking at whether there could be opportunities for the company in Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan," Tao said.

Betting on the future of the Silk Road

Tao draws a distinction between tourists and investors in Kazakhstan. "When tourists come here, they often want to learn about the history of the Silk Road. When venture capitalists come here, we are looking at the future of the Silk Road," he said. "We want to invest in that future."

What excites him is demographics: a young, highly educated, mobile-first and increasingly AI-native population. Entrepreneurs here, he argues, can build for the global market rather than just Kazakhstan's 20 million people or Central Asia's roughly 80 million. He compares the region to China's Greater Bay Area, which has about 85 million people.

Tao cites Higgsfield as proof of what the region can produce. The startup connected effectively with Silicon Valley; Gobi wants to find a company that could build a similar bridge to Asia. He also notes the historical symmetry: Kazakhstan moved its capital from Almaty to Astana in 1997, the year of Hong Kong's handover, and in 2013 President Xi Jinping chose Kazakhstan to announce the Belt and Road Initiative.

The barrier is perception

Gobi's expansion path has moved from Northeast Asia to Southeast Asia — where it runs seven offices across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam — then to Pakistan, the Middle East, which the firm calls West Asia, and now Central Asia. Its stated goal is connecting all five regions' entrepreneurs, technologies and capital.

The main obstacle to Chinese investment in Central Asia, Tao says, is not structural. "I think the main barrier is perception and a lack of information." For decades, Chinese attention focused on the West — families sent children to study in the United States or Britain — while neighboring regions went overlooked. Geopolitics is now changing that calculus, he believes.

Kazakhstan's appeal, in Tao's framing, mirrors Hong Kong's: both can serve as connectors between markets. Kazakhstan offers access to the Russian-speaking market, a natural link to China, ties to the United States and global markets, and a Muslim population that opens a potential route into the global digital Muslim economy of around two billion people.

Smart logistics stands out as a near-term opportunity, given the country's position between East Asia and Europe within the Belt and Road ecosystem. Gobi's delegation — organized with the South China Morning Post and other partners — signals that the firm intends to keep building that path before others see it.