Uzum, Uzbekistan’s leading IT holding company, has raised $70 million in funding from Chinese tech giant Tencent, U.S.-based VR Capital, and FinSight Ventures. This latest investment round increased the company’s valuation from $1.1 billion to $1.5 billion, firmly establishing Uzum as the first unicorn startup in the country.
According to the company’s press service, the new funds will be directed towards developing its fintech segment, expanding its e-commerce product lines, and strengthening its overall infrastructure.
Richard Deitz, founder and president of VR Capital, explained their investment decision by highlighting Uzum’s combination of a proven business model and first-mover advantage in a rapidly developing market. Aleksey Garyunov, managing partner at FinSight Ventures, noted Uzum’s leadership in Uzbekistan’s digital economy and emphasized the platform’s significant potential to launch new services for both users and businesses.
Jasur Jumayev, CEO and founder of Uzum, stated that in just two years, the company has built Uzbekistan’s largest digital ecosystem. Today, over 17 million people across the country use Uzum’s services every month. The ecosystem includes Uzum Market (the country’s largest marketplace), the Uzum Tezkor delivery service, Uzum Bank (a digital bank), the BNPL service Uzum Nasiya, Kapitalbank (one of the nation’s top banks), and other digital solutions for both consumers and enterprises.
The idea to create Uzum as an IT holding company was announced in March 2023 by Jasur Jumayev and Boris Dobrodeev (former head of VK and Mail.ru Group). Dobrodeev later exited the project to focus on his ventures in Russia.
In 2023, Uzum aimed to raise $300 million. By March 2024, the company had attracted over $50 million in equity and more than $50 million in debt financing. FinSight Ventures led the round, with participation from India’s Xanara Investment Management and several top Uzum executives. The debt funding came mainly from private investors in the UAE and was used to support the company’s growing BNPL operations.
At that time, investors acquired less than a 5% stake in the company, and Uzum’s valuation exceeded $1.1 billion. Today, with a $1.5 billion valuation, Uzum not only represents a major milestone for Uzbekistan’s startup ecosystem but also stands as one of the most prominent tech players in Central Asia.
