Uzum Becomes Uzbekistan’s First Unicorn with a $1.5 Billion Valuation

In a time marked by tensions between East and West, Uzbekistan emerges as a unique middle ground. The homegrown unicorn, Uzum, has successfully raised $65.5 million in a funding round co-led by China’s Tencent and VR Capital from New York and London, with additional investment from U.S.-based FinSight Capital.

This all-equity round boosts the Tashkent-based startup’s post-money valuation to approximately $1.5 billion — a nearly 30% increase from its $1.16 billion valuation achieved when it attained unicorn status in March last year.

Established in 2022, Uzum began its venture in Uzbekistan with an e-commerce platform called Uzum Market. Following its early success, the startup combined fintech solutions with a debit card and later launched its express food delivery service, Uzum Tezkor.

Currently, Uzum boasts over 17 million monthly active users, representing almost half of Uzbekistan’s adult population and about two-thirds of the country’s smartphone users. The startup collaborates with 16,000 merchants and reported a gross merchandise value (GMV) of $250 million in the first half of 2025, reflecting a nearly 1.5 times year-over-year increase.

The digital banking branch, Uzum Bank, introduced a co-branded Visa debit card with pre-approved credit limits in August of last year. So far, it has issued 2 million cards, with a target of surpassing 5 million by year-end. Additionally, Uzum’s unsecured lending division achieved $200 million in financed volume in Q1, marking a 3.4-fold growth compared to the same quarter last year. The startup also reported a net income of $150 million in 2024 — a 50% increase year-over-year.

With its diversified portfolio in e-commerce, fintech, and digital banking, how has this startup, which is barely three years old, managed to scale rapidly and attract the attention of global investors like Tencent?

According to Uzum founder and CEO Djasur Djumaev, this success is attributed to a combination of deep local insight and disciplined execution. He emphasizes that understanding the cultural, consumer, and business landscapes of the nation, along with the technical expertise of global firms, has been crucial in developing a rapidly scalable and sustainable business model.

The startup has built its digital and physical infrastructure from scratch to launch its operations in Uzbekistan. This includes developing logistics capabilities that now exceed 112,000 square meters, with a storage capacity of 1.1 million square feet, allowing for the processing of over 200,000 orders daily.

Furthermore, Uzum has established over 1,500 pickup points across 450 cities, towns, settlements, and villages in the nation to facilitate next-day deliveries. These points also serve for the issuance and distribution of Uzum Bank cards.

“Utilizing local expertise and infrastructure in emerging markets provides a competitive advantage to rapidly grow and scale your business,” Djumaev stated in a TechCrunch interview.

Initially, Uzum operated on a fulfilled-by-operator model for e-commerce logistics. It has since expanded to include fulfillment-by-seller and delivery-by-seller methods, targeting to route 20–30% of deliveries through these new systems. These models will also support the growth of Uzum’s stock-keeping units, which now exceed 1.5 million available for next-day delivery, rising from over 600,000 during its last funding round in March 2024.

When asked about Tencent’s participation, Uzum’s chief strategy and business development officer, Nikolay Seleznev, shared with TechCrunch that the startup’s impressive growth metrics convinced the Chinese investor to join after several quarters of discussions.

To further enhance its fintech operations, Uzum plans to introduce a deposit product in September and roll out a long-term credit solution for its B2C clientele. The startup also aims to expand its merchant network and support both existing and new merchants through its QR code payment processing system, while enhancing its Visa debit card program and developing innovative solutions for small and medium enterprises in the country.

Moreover, Uzum plans to enrich its e-commerce platform with new value-added services that will also generate advertising revenue. The company is also working to improve its financial infrastructure by integrating AI into credit scoring, fraud detection, and personalized user experiences.

Additionally, Uzum intends to open its e-commerce platform to international merchants, starting with those from China and Turkey in September.

“We expect that 10 to 15% of cross-border activity will originate from these nations,” Seleznev indicated.

The startup employs over 12,000 individuals, including blue-collar staff at its pickup points and technology, engineering, and product teams across various business sectors.

Similar to other successful companies in this field, which have multiple revenue streams, Uzum aims to go public in the medium term. Before that, it plans to raise a Series B round of $250–$300 million in the first half of 2026.

To date, the startup has secured $137 million in equity, inclusive of this latest funding round.