A Startup Garage venture studio case
When BITO joined Startup Garage, it wasn’t a fully formed success story. It was a promising idea with early traction, operating in a fragmented SME market that desperately needed better tools.
Ten months later, BITO closed a Bridge Round at a $10M valuation, welcomed MOST Ventures as an investor, and enabled Startup Garage’s first partial exit. This is the story of how that happened — and why it matters.
The starting point: A real problem, not a pitch deck
Uzbekistan’s SME ecosystem is large, fast-growing, and under-digitized. Most businesses were operating with: disconnected accounting tools, manual inventory tracking, informal HR processes, and limited visibility into cash flow and performance.
BITO’s founding thesis was simple but ambitious: What if SMEs could run their entire business on one operating system?
Not another single-feature SaaS — but an integrated digital ecosystem combining: ERP, FinTech, AI-driven analytics. All in one platform.
Why Startup Garage backed BITO early
At Startup Garage, we don’t invest in ideas alone — we back execution capacity.
BITO stood out for three reasons:
- Founder clarity
Founder Uchqun Tulaev had a deep understanding of SME pain points and a long-term product vision. - Market pull
Early customers weren’t “testing” BITO — they were actively using it. - Platform ambition
BITO wasn’t building features. It was building infrastructure for SMEs.
BITO joined Startup Garage not as a passive portfolio company, but as a venture studio-backed build.
What changed in 10 Months
The next 10 months were execution-heavy and outcome-driven.
Growth metrics
- Revenue grew nearly 3×
- The platform scaled to 2,000+ B2B clients
- $300,000 raised from local venture funds, Aloqaventures, IT Park Ventures
- Product expanded into a full SME operating system
Product expansion
BITO evolved into a unified platform covering: Sales & invoicing, Finance & accounting, Inventory management, HR & payroll, Payments & installment plans, Analytics & reporting. This wasn’t growth for growth’s sake — it was systematized scaling.
The Bridge round & partial exit
The Bridge Round, led by MOST Ventures, was more than a capital event.
It represented: Cross-border investor validation, Institutional confidence in an Uzbekistan-built SaaS company, A partial exit for early stakeholders, including Startup Garage.
For Startup Garage, this marked a milestone:
Our first realized exit — proof that the venture studio model works in Central Asia.
Why this case matters
This case is bigger than one startup. It proves that:, Venture studios can create repeatable outcomes, not just demo days, Local founders can build globally investable SaaS, Uzbekistan’s startup ecosystem is entering a new maturity phase
For Startup Garage, BITO is a proof of concept. Our long-term goal is clear: By 2030, enable at least 100 portfolio exits — building real companies, not just raising rounds.
What “Winning” looked like
We didn’t win because of hype. We won because of: focus on fundamentals, disciplined execution, real customers, and aligned incentives between founders and studio. BITO didn’t chase valuation — valuation followed execution.
What’s next
BITO’s journey is just beginning.
And for Startup Garage, this is only the first chapter of a much larger story:
building companies that scale,
generate liquidity,
and reshape the regional economy.
One company at a time.
One exit at a time.
Mukhammad Khalil
Founder of Startup Garage
