Uzum’s Blazing Ascent: Uzbekistan Valuation Explodes 50% to $2.3 Billion in Seven Months

Uzum, an Uzbekistan-based financial technology company, has attained a valuation of $2.3 billion. This represents an increase of approximately 53% compared to just seven months prior, as investors progressively back the nation’s burgeoning digital economy.

This appraisal originates from a capital injection totaling $131.5 million. State-owned investment funds from Oman spearheaded this funding, with current backers like Tencent, VR Capital, and FinSight Ventures also participating. This particular funding tranche consists of $81.5 million in share capital and $50 million in convertible debt, which is linked to Uzum’s subsequent financing round. The venture is aiming for a prospective pre-listing capital accumulation ranging from $250 million to $300 million in either the latter half of 2026 or early 2027.

During August, Uzum secured $65.5 million, valuing it at $1.5 billion. The company had previously emerged as the nation’s inaugural unicorn – a venture exceeding a billion-dollar assessment – in March 2024.

This recent capital influx coincides with Uzbekistan, Central Asia’s most densely populated nation, appearing as one of the region’s most rapidly expanding digital economies. This growth is fueled by a youthful populace, swift mobile device uptake, and the limited reach of online retail and banking services.

Established in 2022, Uzum rapidly developed into Uzbekistan’s foremost “digital ecosystem,” a term it uses to characterize its operations, by integrating electronic commerce, transaction processing, and personal credit.

Constructing Uzbekistan’s Online Framework

Uzum commenced its operations with an online trading platform, Uzum Market, and has since branched into monetary offerings via its electronic banking division, Uzum Bank, and personal credit facility, Uzum Nasiya. Additionally, the venture manages an express meal dispatch service, Uzum Tezkor, as a component of its plan to establish a unified framework encompassing commerce, transaction processing, and financial services.

During its prior financing cycle in August 2025, Uzum disclosed having over 17 million active users each month on its platform. Currently, the ecosystem serves approximately 20 million users, which constitutes more than half of Uzbekistan’s grown-up populace. Its marketplace links over 17,000 domestic vendors. Furthermore, services throughout the ecosystem handled roughly $11 billion in transaction value during 2025. The count of yearly active customers increased to around 4.6 million in 2025, up from about 3 million the preceding year.

Djasur Djumaev, the Chief Executive Officer, stated that Uzbekistan’s commerce industry could develop uniquely compared to numerous other economies. Electronic commerce, he noted, would assume a pivotal function in this transformation.

“Earlier, we’ve indicated that electronic commerce is set to transition into retail,” Djumaev conveyed to TechCrunch. He added, “It will bypass the conventional commerce stage in the nation, transitioning straight from open-air markets and unofficial dealings directly into online trading.”

Financial Technology Propelling Gainfulness

Uzum’s monetary results have improved in tandem with its growing framework. The venture disclosed income of $691 million in 2025, an increase from $505 million the previous year; concurrently, pure profit climbed to $176 million from $150 million. Its electronic commerce marketplace produced $500 million in total sales volume and achieved EBITDA-based earnings after three years of activity, according to the firm.

Nikolay Seleznev, Uzum’s head of strategy and market growth, mentioned that the venture’s financial technology activities continue to be the main contributor to gainfulness within the framework.

Uzum’s digital bank presently caters to approximately 5 million customers and released 4.1 million debit cards in 2025, representing about half of all cards issued in Uzbekistan that year. The venture’s uncollateralized lending portfolio has expanded to $400 million, while the overall credit amount – the sum of loans granted through its platform – hit $1.2 billion in 2025. Furthermore, the firm anticipates bringing in another 5 million financial clients in the forthcoming year as it broadens its credit and transaction offerings.

Uzum has concurrently been enlarging its trading platform past local vendors by launching international trade. This endeavor enables Uzbek buyers to purchase goods straight from global traders. The venture reported that this initiative included nearly 200 million inventory items (SKUs) from nations such as Turkey and China. In addition to global stock, the platform collaborates with homegrown vendors, offering approximately 1.5 million products ready for dispatch the following day.

In order to sustain this expansion, Uzum has been allocating substantial capital into supply chain and tangible facilities throughout Uzbekistan. The venture presently manages approximately 1,500 collection locations across the country and intends to broaden this system to around 3,000 sites by 2026. Moreover, the firm operates roughly 125,000 square meters of storage area today and plans to extend that to about 500,000 square meters by utilizing four distribution hubs, which it is presently constructing as an element of a more extensive logistics development.

Seleznev conveyed to TechCrunch that establishing supply chain facilities has been crucial for expanding electronic commerce within Uzbekistan, given that external logistics firms are still scarce there.

“One must personally fund foundational systems to fulfill and alter client perceptions,” he remarked.

Uzum intends to deploy the recent capital to broaden its financial technology framework and enhance its service portfolio, spanning both trade and monetary solutions. The venture plans to allocate funds for more ATMs, transaction processing facilities, and checkout terminals as it strives to create a completely unified electronic financial platform.

Seleznev stated that Uzum intends to launch an IPO over the coming years, probably within a three-year timeframe, although the precise schedule remains undetermined. The venture has been investigating several prospective stock markets, such as bourses in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, as it prepares itself for international backers.

Uzum presently engages approximately 12,500 personnel as it persists in enlarging its trade, financial technology, and supply chain activities throughout the nation.