{"id":136295,"date":"2026-01-29T13:56:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T13:56:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/136295\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T13:56:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T13:56:06","slug":"big-sky-capital-is-the-bridge-between-fort-lauderdale-and-central-asia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/136295\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Sky Capital is the bridge between Fort Lauderdale and Central Asia"},"content":{"rendered":"

A venture fund anchored in Central Asia and Southeast Asia is not where you\u2019d expect to find a base in Fort Lauderdale. But that is exactly how Big Sky Capital<\/a> was built.<\/p>\n

At first glance, the geographic footprint might not be the most obvious. But to Jahn Karsybaev, it was exactly the point.<\/p>\n

\u201cBig Sky Capital was intentionally built as a cross-border fund from day one,\u201d Karsybaev [pictured above} told Refresh Miami. \u201cI\u2019m based in Fort Lauderdale because South Florida sits at the intersection of capital, immigration, and global business. That perspective mirrors our founder base.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearly all of Big Sky\u2019s founders are immigrants or first-generation operators building global companies, whether they are based in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Singapore, Malaysia, or the United States. What unites them is not location but ambition, and a lack of early institutional access.<\/p>\n

What Karsybaev did not expect was how much South Florida would shape the firm itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat South Florida gave us \u2013\u00a0unexpectedly \u2013\u00a0was depth,\u201d he said. \u201cBeyond the headlines about Miami tech, we found a strong base of senior operators from companies like Google, Ultimate Software (UKG), Airbnb, BHG Financial, and seasoned partners from top law firms who deeply understand enterprise scale, compliance, and go-to-market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those people and organizations pushed Big Sky to behave like a more institutional investor from the start, with an early focus on governance, compliance, and enterprise sales motion. That pressure helped shape how hands-on the firm became with its portfolio as companies expanded into the U.S.<\/p>\n

Through its Fund I, a $20 million vehicle, Big Sky deployed capital across 30 companies, most of them outside the United States. But about one-third of the portfolio became U.S.-based anyway.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat wasn\u2019t an original target but an organic outcome of backing ambitious, globally minded founders,\u201d Karsybaev said.<\/p>\n

With Fund II, now a $50 million vehicle, Big Sky made that shift official.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not adding South Florida. We\u2019re formalizing what Fund I already showed us,\u201d he said. \u201cThe quality of companies here\u00a0\u2013\u00a0especially in fintech, healthcare, and enterprise infrastructure \u2013\u00a0has reached a level where it fits our core thesis.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new fund also came with a major signal of credibility. The national Funds of Funds of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan joined as anchor LPs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat gave us huge validation,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re shifting upmarket toward Series A enterprise AI and B2B SaaS, where South Florida founders are increasingly competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before becoming a venture investor, Karsybaev spent years inside large enterprises, holding senior technology roles at companies including Citrix, Ultimate Software, and SABIC, a global Fortune 500 industrial group. He later became Head of IT and PMO at Envision Healthcare, working on large-scale systems and operational transformation. He also built and exited two companies of his own.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been on both sides of the table,\u201d he said. \u201cI know what it feels like to build with limited capital, sell into enterprises, and make decisions when the stakes are real.\u201d<\/p>\n

That operating background still shapes how Big Sky invests.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are highest-conviction investors when we stay close to the founders,\u201d Karsybaev said. \u201cWe invest best when we back underrepresented, immigrant, and diverse founders who are building enterprise-grade products but lack early institutional access.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking across South Florida, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia, he sees more similarities than outsiders might expect.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe strongest similarity is ambition,\u201d he said. \u201cFounders in both regions are capital-efficient, resilient, and globally oriented from day one.\u201d<\/p>\n

The difference is access.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Central and Southeast Asia, founders often have world-class technical talent but limited exposure to U.S. capital markets and enterprise buyers,\u201d he said. \u201cIn South Florida, access is improving rapidly, but competition for capital is higher and expectations are more institutional earlier.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a firm that started with its eyes fixed on Central Asia, Fort Lauderdale has become proof that the next generation of global venture firms may not look like Sand Hill Road at all.<\/p>\n

READ MORE IN REFRESH MIAMI:<\/p>\n

\"Riley<\/a> <\/p>\n

I am a Miami-based technology researcher and writer with a passion for sharing stories about the South Florida tech ecosystem. I particularly enjoy learning about GovTech startups, cutting-edge applications of artificial intelligence, and innovators that leverage technology to transform society for the better. Always open for pitches via Twitter @rileywk or www.RileyKaminer.com.<\/p>\n

\"Riley<\/a>Latest posts by Riley Kaminer (see all<\/a>) \t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A venture fund anchored in Central Asia and Southeast Asia is not where you\u2019d expect to find a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136296,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":{"0":"post-136295","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-lauderdale","8":"tag-fort-lauderdale","9":"tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","10":"tag-fort-lauderdale-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}