Uzbekistan fintech company Uzum has reached a valuation of $2.3 billion. This marks an increase of approximately 53% from just seven months ago, as investors place growing bets on the country’s emerging digital economy.
The valuation comes from a $131.5 million investment led by sovereign wealth funds from Oman. Existing investors, including Tencent, VR Capital, and FinSight Ventures, also participated. This funding round includes $81.5 million in equity and $50 million in convertible financing tied to Uzum’s next funding round. The startup is targeting a potential pre-IPO raise of $250 million to $300 million in the second half of 2026 or early 2027.
In August 2025, Uzum raised $65.5 million at a $1.5 billion valuation. It had first become the country’s unicorn, a startup surpassing a billion-dollar valuation, in March 2024.
This fresh investment arrives as Uzbekistan, Central Asia’s most populous country, emerges as one of the region’s fastest-growing digital economies. This growth is driven by a young population, rapid smartphone adoption, and low penetration of online retail and banking services.
Founded in 2022, Uzum quickly grew into what it describes as Uzbekistan’s leading digital ecosystem, combining e-commerce, payments, and consumer lending.
Uzum began with an e-commerce marketplace called Uzum Market. It has since expanded into financial services through its digital banking arm, Uzum Bank, and a consumer lending platform called Uzum Nasiya. The startup also operates an express food delivery service, Uzum Tezkor, as part of its strategy to build an integrated ecosystem spanning commerce, payments, and banking.
At the time of its previous funding round in August 2025, Uzum reported more than 17 million monthly active users. Today, the ecosystem reaches about 20 million users, which is more than half of Uzbekistan’s adult population. Its marketplace connects over 17,000 local sellers, and services across the ecosystem processed around $11 billion in payment volume in 2025. The number of annual transacting users rose to about 4.6 million in 2025 from around 3 million a year earlier.
Chief executive Djasur Djumaev said Uzbekistan’s retail sector could evolve differently from many other markets, with e-commerce playing a central role. He stated that e-commerce will leapfrog the traditional retail phase in the country, moving from bazaars and informal trade directly into digital commerce.
Uzum’s financial performance has grown alongside its expanding ecosystem. The startup reported revenue of $691 million in 2025, up from $505 million a year earlier, while net income rose to $176 million from $150 million. Its e-commerce marketplace generated $500 million in gross merchandise value and reached EBITDA profitability after three years of operation.
Nikolay Seleznev, Uzum’s chief strategy and business development officer, said the startup’s fintech operations remain the primary source of profitability within the ecosystem.
Uzum’s digital bank currently serves around 5 million customers and issued 4.1 million debit cards in 2025, accounting for about half of all cards issued in Uzbekistan that year. The startup’s unsecured loan book has grown to $400 million, while total finance volume reached $1.2 billion in 2025. The company expects to add another 5 million banking customers over the coming year as it expands lending and payment services.
Uzum has also been expanding its marketplace beyond domestic sellers by introducing cross-border commerce. This allows Uzbek consumers to order products directly from international merchants. The initiative added nearly 200 million stock-keeping units from markets including Turkey and China. Alongside international inventory, the platform works with local sellers providing around 1.5 million products available for next-day delivery.
To support its growth, Uzum has been investing heavily in logistics and physical infrastructure across Uzbekistan. The startup currently operates about 1,500 pickup points nationwide and plans to expand the network to around 3,000 locations by 2026. It operates around 125,000 square meters of warehouse capacity today and plans to expand that to about 500,000 square meters using four logistics centers it is currently building.
Seleznev stated that building logistics infrastructure has been essential for scaling e-commerce in Uzbekistan, where third-party fulfillment providers remain limited.
Uzum plans to use the new funding to expand its fintech infrastructure and deepen its product offerings across both commerce and financial services. This includes investing in additional ATMs, payment acceptance infrastructure, and point-of-sale systems as it works toward building a fully integrated digital banking platform.
Seleznev said Uzum aims to go public within the next few years, likely within three years, though the exact timeline is not yet decided. The startup has been exploring several potential listing venues, including exchanges in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, as it positions itself for global investors.
Uzum currently employs around 12,500 people as it continues expanding its commerce, fintech, and logistics operations across Uzbekistan.