Uzbekistan’s first unicorn, Uzum, has raised $65.5 million in a new funding round, bringing its valuation to $1.5 billion. The round was led by China’s Tencent, VR Capital from the US and UK, and US-based FinSight Capital.
Founded in 2022, Uzum entered the Uzbek market with its e-commerce platform, Uzum Market. Shortly after, it expanded into fintech by offering a debit card and later launched a fast food delivery service called Uzum Tezkor.
Uzum currently has 17 million monthly active users, roughly half of Uzbekistan’s adult population and about two-thirds of the country’s smartphone users. In the first half of 2025, the startup’s gross merchandise value (GMV) reached $250 million, a 1.5x increase year-over-year.
Uzum Bank, its financial arm, launched a co-branded Visa debit card last August, with 2 million cards already issued and expected to reach 5 million by year-end. The company’s loan portfolio hit $200 million in Q1 2025, growing 3.4 times compared to the same period last year. In 2024, Uzum reported a net income of $150 million, a 50% year-over-year increase.
CEO Djasur Djumaev attributes the success to combining local market knowledge with international technical and managerial expertise.
Uzum has built a logistics infrastructure from scratch, including 112,000 square meters of warehouse space and a capacity to process over 200,000 orders per day. The company operates more than 1,500 pickup and card distribution points nationwide.
Initially relying on an operator-based delivery model, Uzum now also enables sellers to manage deliveries, aiming for 20-30% of shipments through these new methods. The company currently offers over 1.5 million SKUs, up from 600,000 in March 2024.
Tencent’s participation in the recent funding round was secured due to Uzum’s strong growth metrics. The startup plans to launch deposit and long-term credit products in September 2025, expand its merchant base, improve QR code payments, and develop products supporting SMEs.
Additionally, Uzum aims to boost cross-border e-commerce with merchants from China and Turkey, expecting 10-15% of total trade from these countries.
With over 12,000 employees across tech, operations, and logistics, Uzum plans to go public but first intends to raise $250-300 million in a Series B round in early 2026.
Uzum stands out as a fast-growing, internationally backed startup in Central Asia’s emerging tech ecosystem.
