Experts say that new venture funds and business angel clubs are being actively created in the country.
In 2024, the volume of venture deals in Central Asia amounted to $95 million, or 7% more than last year. This was reported in a joint study by RISE Research, KPMG, EA Group Holding, BGlobal Ventures, MA7 Ventures and dealroom.co funds.
38 deals were concluded in the venture market of Uzbekistan. Their total volume reached $17.5 million, showing a 2.7-fold increase. At the same time, the figure does not take into account the $52 million investment round of Uzum, although the group became the first “unicorn” in the country.
“This [growth in the venture sector] is due to the increased activity of public and private funds and a significant increase in the share of angel investments. Angel clubs are being established in the country, and investors are increasingly willing to consider not only traditional investments, but also investments in startups,” said Yerke Asemova from KPMG.
The average size of venture deals in Uzbekistan has more than doubled in a year to $460,000. Experts believe that this indicates a shift to larger investments. Most of the rounds, as in previous years, fall on the early stages of projects (pre-seed and seed), but the largest deals are with startups at the growth stage.
The greatest activity in terms of the number of deals was recorded in the areas of fintech, educational technologies (EdTech) and artificial intelligence. On the other hand, fintech and medical technologies (HealthTech) attracted the largest investments.
Experts also note that the growing number of venture funds in Uzbekistan indicates a growing interest in the startup ecosystem. Five new funds have been launched since the beginning of this year, which, they note, expands the opportunities for startups to raise capital.
In January of this year, seven state-owned banks established the $40 million United Ventures fund, with Azizbek Kurbonov, the former co-founder of Sugurta Bozor, as its head. In addition, Uzsanoatqurilishbank opened its own venture company SQB Ventures, and Aloqabank previously decided to establish a new legal entity, Aloqa Ventures-2.
Earlier, on March 19, at a meeting of the president with representatives of small and medium-sized businesses, it was noted that in five years, 53 startup projects worth $145 million have been implemented in Uzbekistan with the participation of venture funds, and the opening of venture companies and the formation of funds by state banks are a great opportunity for entrepreneurs starting a business.
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