About us
Sturgeon is a leading frontier markets investment boutique. Sturgeon focuses on technology-enabled businesses that offer products or services which solve unserved, acute pain points for very large addressable markets. We partner with founders to build a more efficient, financially inclusive world.
When we invest, we put our global and local experience to work, helping portfolio companies maximise impact and financial returns.
Seeking investment?Senior investment team
Kiyan Zandiyeh
Chief Investment Officer
Kiyan is a pioneer of frontier markets VC investing. He has worked with many Founders such that their companies are today the leaders in their respective verticals.
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Rustam Mursalimov
Partner
Rustam has over 10 years of experience investing in Global Emerging Markets. Before Sturgeon, he worked as a lead portfolio manager at Gazprombank AM in Moscow. Prior to this, he co-managed more than US$1bn across Russia, Turkey, CIS and Emerging Asia.
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Robin Butler
Partner
Before Sturgeon Robin worked as an analyst at Arjan Capital, a frontier M&A boutique. Throughout his career, he has worked closely with early-stage digital startups. Robin has also spearheaded the integration of Sturgeon’s impact framework.
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Alex Branton
Partner
Alex has 10 years of investment industry experience both as an LP and a GP and brings with him an international network of strategic partners that adds significant value to our portfolio companies.
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Alijon Ravshanov
Partner
Alijon has 20 years of investment experience, with a proven record of success in frontier investing. He deployed over $200m as CEO of UzOman, working closely with the portfolio companies to support our ambitious growth targets.
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Senior advisor
Clemente Cappello
Chairman
Clemente established Sturgeon to tap into Central Asia: a vast area of enormous potential and extreme complexity. Despite having now stepped away from direct frontier investing he remains an invaluable advisor to the team in his role as Chairman.
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An Unparralled Local Network
Sturgeon has an extensive network of corporate partners, financial co-investors, technical experts and operational leaders.
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Are you a founder looking to accelerate the growth of your frontier business?
Please get in touch if you are a founder of a ‘frontier’ business with the following characteristics:
1) You offer a product or service which solves an unserved, acute pain point in a frontier economy
2) You provide a solution for a large addressable market
3) You have a track record of successful implementation
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