Photo: sqbconsulting.uz
Uzbekistan-based IT holding Uzum, which attained unicorn status in March 2024, has raised $70 million in a new investment round. As a result of the deal, the company’s valuation rose from $1.1 billion to $1.5 billion, according to Uzum’s press service.
The main investors in the round were Chinese tech giant Tencent and U.S.-based VR Capital, with participation from FinSight Ventures. This marks Tencent’s first technology investment in a company from Uzbekistan, the press service noted.
The funds will be used to develop Uzum’s fintech branch, expand its e-commerce product line, and further strengthen the infrastructure of its digital ecosystem.
Richard Deitz, founder and president of VR Capital, said the investment decision was based on Uzum’s combination of a proven business model and first-mover advantage in an emerging market. FinSight Ventures managing partner Alexey Garyunov highlighted Uzum’s leadership in Uzbekistan’s digital economy and its strong potential for launching new services.
Uzum CEO and founder Jasur Jumaev noted that in just two years, the company has built the country’s largest digital ecosystem. More than 17 million residents of Uzbekistan use Uzum’s services each month. The ecosystem includes the country’s leading online marketplace Uzum Market, delivery service Uzum Tezkor, digital bank Uzum Bank, BNPL service Uzum Nasiya, as well as one of the nation’s major banks — Kapitalbank — and other B2C and B2B solutions.
Uzum was co-founded by Jumaev and Russian businessman Boris Dobrodeev, formerly head of VK and Mail.ru Group. In March 2023, they announced the creation of the IT holding, though Dobrodeev later left the project to return to work in Russia. A year later, the Uzum ecosystem attracted $100 million in foreign investment, making it Uzbekistan’s first-ever “unicorn” — a tech company with a valuation exceeding $1 billion.
