The 5th Central Eurasian Venture Forum (CEVF 2026) recently concluded in Tashkent, gathering approximately 800 investors, entrepreneurs, venture fund managers, and tech company representatives from Central Asia, Europe, the US, Southeast Asia, and the MENA region.
Hosting the event in Uzbekistan for the first time highlights the steady expansion of the country’s tech ecosystem. Organized by MOST Holding and IT Park Uzbekistan with backing from the Ministry of Digital Technologies, the forum featured attendance by Sherzod Shermatov, the Minister of Digital Technologies. Partners for the event included Astana Hub, EBRD, IFC, UK International Development, Air Astana, Yandex Cloud, VISA, UZVC, Accelerate Prosperity, IT Park Ventures, and KPMG.
Here is a breakdown of the primary announcements and outcomes from the forum.
1. Record regional growth: VC market report
The third annual “Startups and Venture Capital in Central Asia 2026” report by RISE Research was presented, analyzing data from over 200 startups and 40 investors.
Key data points:
- Overall funding: Regional venture investments reached a record $320 million in 2025.
- Mega-deals: Higgsfield ($130 million) and Uzum ($65.5 million) made up 61% of the total volume.
- Organic market: Excluding those two massive deals, the adjusted regional market still showed solid growth, reaching $124.5 million (a 31% increase from 2024).
- Uzbekistan: Local venture funding grew 11.3 times compared to 2022, hitting $33.8 million ($99.3 million if including Uzum). Seven new venture funds were established in the country last year, mostly focusing on pre-seed and seed stages.
- Kazakhstan: VC investments nearly tripled to $209 million. AI is a major driver, attracting nearly half of all investments.
“The region has demonstrated a high conversion rate of ideas into funded startups — 18.5% of 2,000 projects over the past three years received investment, comparable to leading European hubs.”
— Ainur Zhanturina, Founder of RISE Research
2. The 5th CEVF Awards
The forum recognized leading players across the Central Eurasian startup ecosystem.
The 2026 Winners:
- Best Tech Media: Pivot (Uzbekistan)
- Best Venture Fund: AloqaVentures
- Deal of the Year: Datatruck ($12M Series A led by Avenue Growth Partners)
- Best Corporate Open Innovation Strategy: Freedom Holding
- Best Ecosystem Player: Startup Garage (Uzbekistan)
- Best Tech Influencer: Umed Rakhimov (Vazifa, Stanbase, Tajikistan)
- ESG Leader: School21
- Best Startup Support Program: Red Team Accelerator (Kazakhstan)
- Breakthrough of the Year & Fastest-Growing Startup: MoonAI (Kazakhstan)
- Most Active Business Angel: Dana Kunanbayeva
3. EBRD Star venture program
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) revealed the 13 finalists for its first Central Asian cohort, designed to support high-potential startups with business diagnostics, mentorship, and investment prep.
Notably, seven of the selected startups are based in Uzbekistan: Hyper App, IMAN, OSNOVA, Robosell, Tezbor, UYSOT, and Verifix.
4. Strategic memos and agreements
Companies under MOST Holding solidified several international partnerships:
- MOST Investments & 1MoreThing (Saudi Arabia): To support the scaling of AI-driven B2B startups and share capital/talent.
- MOST Ventures & FAO Partners: To bridge the startup ecosystems of Korea and Central Asia.
- MOST Ventures & Accelerate Prosperity (AKDN): To build an “investment lift” structure for early-stage regional startups.
- United Ventures (Uzbekistan) & MOST Holding: A joint effort to co-invest, exchange knowledge, and launch a business angel school.
5. Pitch Competitions and Accelerators
MOST Investable Battle
Supported by VISA, this pitch competition featured a prize pool of up to $75,000.
- Top 3 Teams: Cerberus, Tezbor, and Bigmart. These startups received automatic entry into the IRA Tashkent program.
- Cloud Grant: ORDO was awarded a $12,000 Yandex Cloud grant.
- Media Placements: Awarded to Robosell and Nedvighka.kz.
IRA Tashkent (Batch 2)
The forum also marked the launch of the second cohort of the Investment Readiness Accelerator (IRA) Tashkent — a 12-week program by MOST C-Space Hub, MOST Business Intelligence, and SQB Ventures. Aimed at pre-seed and seed startups, the program focuses on measurable fundamentals: revenue growth, structuring deals, and closing funding rounds.
“The market needs startups that think like businesses — those who understand numbers, customers, know how to sell, and structure deals effectively.”
— Dias Kozhataev, CEO of MOST Business Intelligence
