Uzum’s Valuation Jumps to $2.3 Billion as It Scales Uzbekistan’s Digital Finance and Commerce Ecosystem

New updates have been reported about Uzum.

Uzum has lifted its valuation to $2.3 billion after securing a $131.5 million round led by Omani sovereign wealth funds, with existing backers including Tencent participating. The financing includes $81.5 million in equity and $50 million in convertible instruments linked to its next raise, positioning the Uzbekistan-based fintech and e-commerce group for a targeted $250 million to $300 million pre-IPO round in late 2026 or early 2027.

The company’s valuation is now roughly 53% higher than seven months ago, building on its March 2024 unicorn milestone and an August funding at $1.5 billion. Founded in 2022, Uzum has grown into Uzbekistan’s leading digital ecosystem by combining its Uzum Market marketplace, Uzum Bank digital bank, and Uzum Nasiya consumer lending platform, supported by food delivery service Uzum Tezkor.

Uzum’s platform now reaches about 20 million users, more than half of the country’s adult population, up from 17 million monthly active users reported at its previous round. Its marketplace connects over 17,000 local merchants, and the broader ecosystem processed around $11 billion in payment volume in 2025, as annual transacting users increased to 4.6 million from about 3 million a year earlier.

Revenue climbed to $691 million in 2025 from $505 million in 2024, while net income rose to $176 million from $150 million, with the marketplace achieving EBITDA profitability after three years of operation. Management expects e-commerce to “leapfrog” traditional brick-and-mortar retail in Uzbekistan, moving the country directly from bazaars and informal trade into digital commerce.

Fintech remains Uzum’s profit engine, as Uzum Bank served roughly 5 million customers in 2025 and issued 4.1 million debit cards, representing about half of all cards issued nationwide that year. The unsecured loan book reached $400 million and total credit volume on the platform hit $1.2 billion, with the company targeting an additional 5 million banking customers over the next year as it expands lending and payment services.

To deepen its offer, Uzum has opened cross-border commerce, allowing Uzbek shoppers to purchase from overseas sellers, adding nearly 200 million SKUs from markets such as Turkey and China. That inventory complements around 1.5 million locally supplied products available for next-day delivery, strengthening Uzum’s value proposition in a market with low online retail penetration.

The group is simultaneously investing in logistics and physical infrastructure, operating about 1,500 pickup points with plans to double that to roughly 3,000 by 2026. Warehouse capacity of about 125,000 square meters is set to expand to approximately 500,000 square meters through four new logistics hubs, a build-out deemed critical given the lack of mature third-party fulfillment providers in Uzbekistan.

Uzum intends to use the latest capital injection to scale its fintech infrastructure, including additional ATMs, payment acceptance solutions, and point-of-sale terminals to support a fully integrated digital banking platform. The company, which employs roughly 12,500 people, is evaluating listing venues in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, and aims to go public within about three years as it seeks greater access to global capital and investors focused on emerging digital economies.