▼ Summary
– Uzbekistan’s fintech startup Uzum has reached a $2.3 billion valuation after a $131.5 million investment led by Omani sovereign wealth funds, a significant increase from seven months prior.
– Founded in 2022, Uzum has grown into a leading digital ecosystem combining e-commerce, payments, and consumer lending, reaching about half of Uzbekistan’s adult population.
– The company reported strong 2025 financials with $691 million in revenue and $176 million in net income, with its fintech operations being the primary source of profitability.
– Uzum is investing heavily in logistics infrastructure, including warehouses and pickup points, and has expanded its marketplace to include cross-border commerce from international merchants.
– The startup plans to use the new funding to expand its fintech infrastructure and is targeting a potential IPO in the second half of 2026 or early 2027.
In a remarkable demonstration of growth, Uzbekistan’s digital ecosystem leader, Uzum, has achieved a valuation of $2.3 billion. This figure represents a substantial 53% increase from its valuation just seven months prior, underscoring intense investor confidence in Central Asia’s burgeoning digital marketplace. The fresh capital injection of $131.5 million was spearheaded by Omani sovereign wealth funds, with continued backing from established investors like Tencent, VR Capital, and FinSight Ventures. The funding structure includes $81.5 million in equity and $50 million in convertible notes linked to the company’s next financing round. This strategic move supports Uzum’s roadmap toward a potential pre-IPO raise of $250 to $300 million, targeted for late 2026 or early 2027.
This milestone solidifies Uzum’s position after it first became Uzbekistan’s inaugural unicorn in March 2024. The company’s rapid ascent is fueled by the nation’s unique economic landscape, characterized by a young, tech-savvy population, widespread smartphone use, and significant room for growth in online retail and banking. Founded in 2022, Uzum has successfully woven together e-commerce, payments, and consumer lending into a single, cohesive digital platform.
The ecosystem began with its Uzum Market e-commerce arm and has since expanded into comprehensive financial services through Uzum Bank and its consumer lending platform, Uzum Nasiya. It also runs a rapid food delivery service, Uzum Tezkor. This integrated approach has driven impressive adoption. The platform now reaches approximately 20 million users, which is more than half of Uzbekistan’s adult population. It connects over 17,000 local sellers, and in 2025, the ecosystem processed around $11 billion in payment volume. Annual transacting users grew to 4.6 million, up from 3 million the previous year.
According to CEO Djasur Djumaev, Uzbekistan is poised for a retail transformation that bypasses traditional development stages. He suggests the market will leapfrog conventional brick-and-mortar expansion, moving directly from informal bazaars to a digital commerce-dominated model.
Fintech services are the core driver of Uzum’s profitability. The company’s overall revenue climbed to $691 million in 2025, with net income rising to $176 million. The e-commerce marketplace itself reached EBITDA profitability after only three years. The digital bank is a powerhouse, serving about 5 million customers and having issued 4.1 million debit cards in 2025 alone, roughly half of all cards issued in the country that year. Its unsecured loan book has grown to $400 million, with total finance volume reaching $1.2 billion. The company anticipates adding another 5 million banking customers in the near future.
To sustain this expansion, Uzum is making significant investments in physical infrastructure. The company has introduced cross-border commerce, adding nearly 200 million SKUs from international markets like Turkey and China, alongside 1.5 million products from local sellers available for next-day delivery. It operates a network of 1,500 pickup points, with plans to expand to 3,000 by 2026. Warehouse capacity is also scaling aggressively, from 125,000 square meters today to a planned 500,000 square meters across four new logistics centers.
Chief Strategy Officer Nikolay Seleznev emphasized that building this logistics backbone internally has been critical for success in a market with limited third-party fulfillment options. The new funding will further develop fintech infrastructure, including ATMs, payment systems, and point-of-sale technology, to create a fully integrated digital banking platform.
Looking ahead, Uzum is firmly on a path to a public listing, likely within the next three years. The company is evaluating several international exchanges, including those in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, to attract global investors. With a current workforce of 12,500 people, Uzum continues to drive the digitization of commerce and finance across Uzbekistan.
(Source: TechCrunch)