Uzbekistan’s first unicorn, Uzum, leaps to a $1.5B valuation

At a time when the world feels increasingly divided between the East and the West, Uzbekistan has introduced as a rare medium of land as a unicorn of the Central Asian nation, VineA new fund-led-based fund-based fund-based fund-based fund has collected $ 65.5 million in the US-based Danaghat Capital participation in China’s tensent and New York- and London-based VR Capital.

The All-Equity Round brings about $ 1.5 billion to $ 1.5 billion in the Taskan-Sadar Office Startup-it was announced when it announced it was announced that it was announced about $ 1.16 billion to about 30% jump from First hit Unicorn status In March last year.

Founded in 2022, Uzum started with an e-commerce marketplace called Uzum Market in Uzbekistan, and shortly after its success, the startup was associated with a debit card and later expanded its Express Food Delivery Service, Uzum Tejkor.

Uzum currently has been proud of about half of the monthly active user-active user-Uzbekistan’s adult population, or about two-thirds of all smartphone users in the country-and 1 16,6 merchants. In the first half of the 2025, the startup has increased by about 1.5 times over the years, recorded $ 250 million in Gross Merchandise Man (GMV).

Its Digital Banking Arm, Uzum Bank, launched a co-branded visa debit card with pre-authorized credit limit in August last year. This product has already issued 2 million cards and is on its way to over 5 million by the end of the year. Meanwhile, Uzum’s unsafe NDING Business has hit $ 200 million in the valuable volume in Q1, which has increased 3.4 times from the same period last year. Startup Post 150 million dollars of net income in 2024 -50% jumped year after year.

With a portfolio extending e-trade, fintech and digital banking, a startup of just three years old has been able to scale it quickly-and has caught the attention of global investors like tensent?

Jasur Jazumayev, the founder and CEO of Uzum, blamed success in the combination of deep local knowledge and disciplinary assets. He believes that the country’s culture, consumer behavior and business environment – and the global organizations that have developed the technical and operational skills – are important for creating a business that can scale up quickly and durable.

The startup was made to shut down his business in Uzbekistan from his digital and physical infrastructure scratch. It includes determining a logistic capacity that has increased by more than 112,000 square meters, which has storage capacity 1.1 million square feet, allowing more than 200,000 orders per day.

The startup has also set up more than 1,500 pickup points in 450 cities, cities, settlements and villages in the country to enable the next day’s distribution. These pickup points allow the issuance of the Uzum Bank card to issue and distribute.

“Betting on local skills and infrastructure in the Frontier Market gives you an advantage of performing and scaleing your business very quickly,” Jumayev tells TechCrunch in an exclusive interview.

Initially, a full-operator was operated in the model to enable e-commerce distribution. Through these new models, it has expanded to include the perfect-seller and delivery by seller options with the target of 20-30% delivery routing. These new delivery models will help Uzum expand its stock-test units, which are currently available for its next day’s distribution service, more than 1.5 million, more than 600,000 SQ at the time of its last fund in March 2024.

Asked about what the tension was brought to his cap-table this time, Uzum’s main strategy and business development officer Nicole told Celezenv TechCrunch that the strongest growth metrics had agreed to come to the board after several fourths of discussion of Chinese investor.

Uzum launched a deposit product in September and plans to enhance its fintech business by introducing a long -term (more than 12 months) credit facilities for its B2C customers. The startup is planned to expand its merchant base and to help new merchants with its QR code payment system, to help new merchants, expand its visa debit card program and support the country’s small and medium enterprises.

Similarly, startups are planning to introduce new products to add value addition services to his e-trade business, including a person who helps earn advertising income. It is working towards further scaling with AI, with credit scoring, fraud protection, and growing embedded throughout personalized user experiences.

Furthermore, Uzum plans to open its e-commerce marketplace for international merchants, starting with China and Turkey in September.

“We hope that these countries will come from 10 to 15% of the cross-cord activity,” said Celeznev.

In the startup its pickup points, as well as technology, engineering and product teams covers all its business vertical, there are more than 12,000 people among his staff.

Like its other business, which is profitable and there are multiple ways to earn continuous income over time, Uzum plans to be public in the middle term. However, before that, it aims to increase a series B Round $ 250 – $ 300 million in the first half of 2026.

It was said that the startup has collected $ 137 million in Equity with the latest round so far.