The media has hailed Uzum as Uzbekistan’s first tech ‘unicorn’ – a pre-IPO company with a valuation of over $1billion.
Uzum is Uzbekistan’s largest digital platform, providing a wide range of services, including e-commerce, express delivery, banking, fintech, and business development. Its ecosystem serves nearly a third of the nation’s population every month.
It has recently secured funding of USD 114 million, elevating its valuation to USD 1.16 billion. The bulk of this capital was put up by a Californian company, FinSight Ventures.
According to The Times of Central Asia, under the structure of the deal, the equity capital investment amounted to more than $50 million, and another $50 million was raised earlier in the form of loans.
The key metrics of Uzum according to an article written by Yasmeeta Oon for Digital Market Reports, published on 2 April 2024:
With more than 60% of the population under 30, Uzbekistan has a wide consumer base for digital engagement.
“Since its marketplace launch in October 2022, Uzum has experienced rapid growth, garnering over 8 million monthly active users and forging partnerships with over 9,000 merchants. Offering an extensive selection of over 600,000 stock-keeping units (SKUs), Uzum has surpassed the scale of traditional markets, rivaling the largest street bazaars in the country. Its venture into fintech with a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) scheme has further solidified its position, with nearly half of its transactions utilizing this service,” says Yasmeeta Oon in her article.
She adds that the recent Series A funding round, comprising equity and debt, has injected Uzum with substantial capital to bolster its fintech endeavors and expand its e-commerce capabilities. Plans are underway to introduce new products, scale up unsecured lending, and enhance IT and logistics infrastructure, aiming for a significant surge in gross merchandise value (GMV) and a twofold increase in its credit portfolio.
• Introduction of new products and services
• Scaling up unsecured lending
• Enhancing IT and logistics infrastructure
“Uzum, founded by Jasur Jumaev, the co-founder of KupiKupon, and Boris Dobrodeyev, the former CEO of the Russian social network VKontakte, provides e-commerce services and banking projects for individuals and small and medium-sized businesses through a superapp. The investors will hold stakes of less than 5% apiece,” says an article published by The Times of Central Asia on 27 March 2024.
The founders plan to raise USD 300 million in two phases. The first phase has been achieved successfully with the acquisition of USD 100 million of the capital.
Jumaev says that for the second phase, there are already interests from the Middle East, the UK, and the USA.
The Times of Central Asia says that the company has aggressive plans: to launch Uzbekistan’s largest logistics complex for e-commerce, which will increase its turnover by 2.5 times and expand the area of warehouses to 500,000 square meters, and an increase in the number of order delivery points. By the end of 2023, Uzum had 10 million monthly users, and its e-commerce revenue exceeded $150 million.
The next step for the first Uzbek tech unicorn will be an IPO, which is scheduled for 2026. According to Jumaev, the company is “considering all possibilities for optimal capital raising. One of the scenarios is to enter the Tashkent Stock Exchange and/or the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange with parallel placements on Western markets.”
FinSight Ventures believes that Uzum is a national leader in key business verticals such as fintech and e-commerce, which in the future will allow it to follow the example of Kaspi.kz, from neighboring Kazakhstan, and become the standalone leader of Uzbekistan’s tech market.
According to the international auditing company KPMG, Uzbekistan is showing very strong economic growth: the country’s GDP growth for 2023 was 6%, and by 2030, under the strategy “Uzbekistan-2030,” overall GDP may reach $160 billion. Uzbekistan’s e-commerce is the fastest growing in Central Asia, forecasted to reach $1.8-$2.2 billion by 2027.
That potential is attracting major online retail players to the country: the Russian company Wildberries has been operating in Uzbekistan since 2022, and Ozon, also of Russia, entered Uzbekistan in November 2023. In this context, burgeoning national champion Uzum has a solid chance at becoming the largest retailer in the country as early as next year.
According to Daryo.uz, Uzum is already among the 10 most valuable brands of Uzbekistan:
The Uzbek marketplace Uzum Market, the backbone of the Uzum ecosystem, was created on a platform built under the license of KazanExpress, and the project was implemented by the team of the Kazan marketplace.
In 2021, Uzbek businessmen came to Kazan to learn from the experience of their Tatarstan colleagues, and then decided to involve the KazanExpress team in launching this project, recalled Ilshat Khametov, Deputy Director of KazanExpress, who later became managing director of Uzum Market, says a report published by Business Online.
“As far as I know, then KazanExpress sold them an exclusive perpetual license for the platform on which the company’s e-commerce system was built. Then Khametov became the head of Uzum Market, and Linar Khusnullin became the managing partner,” says a BUSINESS Online source familiar with the situation.
In addition to Uzum Market, there are several other elements in the Uzum ecosystem:
Uzum Tezkor – Fast delivery from cafes, restaurants and groceries in Tashkent
Uzum Nasiya – Installation service without hidden fees, penalties and fines
Uzum Business – Business development app
Uzum Bank – A user-friendly Digital Bank and #1 P2P service
Uzum website
https://uzum.com/
The Uzum Team
Djasur Djumaev – CEO and founder of the Uzum ecosystem
Serial technology entrepreneur from Tashkent, venture and angel investor. Earlier Djasur was a founder of a group of tech companies specializing in developing software solutions for telecom operators and digital service providers in international markets.
Nikita Gulyaev – CFO
Nikita started his career in Big4 companies (PWC and EY) and has over ten years of experience as a CFO in various financial sector companies.
His previous roles covered traditional CFO portfolios (finance, management reporting, treasury, data, accounting, taxes) and business development functions (foreign exchange operations, brokerage services, leasing business, M&A deals).
Leonid Chernyy – CDO
Leonid has extensive experience in the largest technology companies in Eastern Europe in the field of big data analytics and machine learning.
He is a two-time CDO Award winner, a member of the World AI&Data Challenge expert jury, a member of the expert council of the Big Data Association, and the head of the advisory board of the Big Data and Analytics educational program at the Higher School of Management of St. Petersburg State University.
Roman Lavrentyev – COO
Roman was responsible for launching and developing businesses, as well as managing product development, in several companies operating in Russian and international markets.
He held CEO and CPO positions at the IT company Sifox, was responsible for product development at PimPay, managed the commercial department of the fintech startup Arenza, and co-founded the cloud logistics service Logarifma.
Sergey Salikov – Head of the Legal Department
More than 12 years of experience in the field of investment transaction support, creation of investment funds and holding structures in various jurisdictions.
Previously, Sergey headed the legal department of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, the department of legal support of M&A transactions in Gazprombank, and also worked in international legal and consulting companies.
Nikolay Seleznev – Chief Strategy and Business Development Officer
Nikolay worked for Global Markets (Raiffeisenbank, Alfa-Bank, JP Morgan) and developed strategies for optimizing product portfolios and entering new markets (Arthur D. Little). He also led special projects and M&A transactions (Eurasian Resources Group).
E-commerce
Ilshat Khametov – Managing Director of Uzum Market
With over 20 years of experience in retail, Ilshat was a regional director of a major electronic retail chains in Russia.
At KazanExpress, he was the deputy CEO, managing the operational block, HR, and construction department.
Dmitry Benzoruk – Managing Director of Uzum Tezkor
Dmitry has multiple years of experience in FoodTech and FMCG in the largest Russian and international companies.
From 2020 to 2022 he led the e-grocery division at Delivery Club and earlier was responsible for business development at Yandex, Mars, and Danone.
Fintech and Banking
Alexander Filippovich – Chairman of the Board of JS “Uzum Bank”
With twenty years of successful experience in the banking sector, Alexander previously held leadership positions in the largest banks in the Republic of Belarus, where he was responsible for business development and cooperation with international partners and shareholders. /// nCa, 3 May 2024