White Hill Capital to finance two categories of startups in Azerbaijan

The venture fund White Hill Capital will finance two categories of startups in Azerbaijan, Aslan Sultanov, Managing Partner of White Hill Capital, told journalists on the sidelines of the INMerge Innovation Summit 2025 held in Baku, Report informs.

Sultanov explained that White Hill Capital is a $50 million Central Asian fund specializing in scaling startups from Central Asia into the Middle East and North Africa: "Today, we finalized a joint investment vehicle project with Azerbaijan's Innovation and Digital Development Agency (IDDA). The agency will contribute a certain amount, and for every 1 dollar invested, we will add two more. Through this vehicle, we will fund two categories of startups."

Sultanov noted that the first category includes startups primarily based in Azerbaijan: "These companies aim to expand first into Central Asia, and later into the UAE, Qatar, and other countries. The second category includes any companies seeking to enter the Azerbaijani market, establish operations, hire staff, and pay taxes. We believe this vehicle will create a successful roadmap for Azerbaijani startups looking to scale."

He added that companies exiting their home markets early tend to gain capitalization advantages: "We plan to do the same. We'll scout projects, evaluate them, and hopefully invest. In fact, today we announced investments in two companies-Clopos and Receptor. Each will receive approximately $150,000. We'll support their expansion beyond Azerbaijan and help them join our acceleration program in Dubai."

During the summit, a Founding Agreement was signed between IDDA and White Hill Capital to establish a new venture financing company in Azerbaijan. White Hill Capital is a regional venture fund founded in Kazakhstan in 2021, primarily investing in startups from Central Eurasian countries.