Land of Startups: What ICTWeek Uzbekistan Revealed About Central Asia's Tech Rise

Uzbekistan, Uzbekistan, September 29th, 2026, FinanceWire

Why tech giants like Amazon, Apple, NVIDIA, Meta, Oracle, Coursera, Huawei, ZTE, and Alibaba are entering the Uzbek digital market and showcasing themselves at the region's biggest tech event — ICTWeek Uzbekistan 2026.

UZBEKISTAN, September 29, 2026 (EZ Newswire) -- This year, ICTWeek Uzbekistan, under the theme "Land of Startups," brought together more than 30,000 visitors, thousands of startups, hundreds of VCs and investors, and more than 3,000 international guests, including speakers, experts, and partners.

During the event, the government presented data showing a startup ecosystem worth $4.3 billion, 300,000 IT specialists, and an incentive regime built to attract foreign founders and funds.

The Ministry of Digital Technologies opened its pitch with this valuation. According to dealroom.co data presented by the ministry, the ecosystem was worth just $790 million in 2022.

The same source ranks Uzbekistan No. 1 in the world for growth in venture capital investment, with an increase of 544.5%. Most U.S. investors have paid little attention to Central Asia. The ministry's message to them was direct: a country of 39.5 million people has built the perfect infrastructure for venture capital. 

A Valuation Curve Investors Can Read

The growth has been steady, not a one-year spike. Dealroom.co puts the ecosystem at $1.2 billion in 2023, $1.7 billion in 2024, and $3.9 billion in 2025. Uzbek startups have raised more than $400 million since 2020. More than 20 venture funds now operate in the country, with over $200 million in combined capital.

Two companies reached unicorn status in the past two years, according to the ministry's dealroom.co figures: Uzum and TBC Bank. Their success shows investors that startups in this market can reach scale.

Independent rankings reflect this too. StartupBlink's Global Startup Ecosystem Index Report moved Uzbekistan from 115th place in 2022 to 79th in 2026, a 36-place gain. It also called Uzbekistan the world's fastest-growing startup ecosystem and the No. 1 startup hub in Central Asia, and named it Country of the Year. Startup Genome separately named Tashkent the Startup Capital of Central Asia for 2026.

At the city level, StartupBlink ranks Tashkent 229th worldwide, ahead of Almaty (291st) and Astana (332nd) in neighboring Kazakhstan. Samarkand (814th) and Fergana (863rd) also make the global list, which suggests activity is spreading beyond the capital.

Where the Deals Are

Startup Genome names three sectors driving Tashkent's ecosystem: fintech and e-commerce, artificial intelligence and logistics, and education technology. U.S. funds already know these categories well, so newcomers face a shorter learning curve.

Top accelerators are feeding the pipeline. According to the ministry, two Uzbek startups have gone through Y Combinator, more than 100 through Plug and Play, 10 through Alchemist, and five through 500 Global. Foreign investors can therefore start with companies that have already been vetted by an outside program.

The state is also funding the earliest stage. A $50 million Digital Startups program supports new ventures. Three national competitions offer $11 million in combined prizes across 110 winners: the President Tech Award ($5 million), the President AI Award ($1 million) and Land of Startups ($5 million).

The next major project is the Future Technologies Valley, a $200 million initiative developed with the Asian Development Bank. It aims to produce 500 new startups with a combined valuation of $100 million. The valley will have computing power of 200 GPUs, six laboratories, and 3,000 high-tech jobs.

Talent and Compute at Scale

A fast-growing workforce sits behind the deal flow. Uzbekistan now has 300,000 IT specialists, up from 64,300 in 2017. University enrollment rose from 297,700 students to 1.9 million over the same period.

National training programs are adding more. One Million Uzbek Coders, a government initiative that teaches programming skills, has reached 1.7 million young people. The Five Million AI Leaders program has covered 1.3 million. Uzbekistan ranked first in Coursera's Global Skills Report 2024 and received an Outstanding Achievement Award in 2025. At the 2026 International Olympiad in Informatics, hosted in Tashkent, the national team won one silver and three bronze medals.

The compute is arriving too. The first NVIDIA B200-based supercomputer went live in July 2025 with 64 petaflops (FP4). A much larger system is coming online in two phases: the first (2,304 petaflops) launched in March 2026, and the second (4,608 petaflops) is due in December 2026. Twenty universities now host AI laboratories.

Green AI data center projects involving DATAVOLT and LinkWise are valued at $7 billion. On the Oxford Insights Government AI Readiness Index, Uzbekistan climbed 25 places, from 87th to 62nd.

The Pitch to American Capital

For U.S. investors, the most telling figure may be where Uzbek tech revenue already goes. North America buys 54% of the exports from the companies IT Park companies — the government-backed technology park whose resident companies receive the country's tech incentives. Resident companies' exports grew from $600,000 in 2017 to more than $1.1 billion. 

IT Park now has more than 4,000 resident companies, up from 147 in 2017. Foreign firms account for more than 1,170 of them; in 2017 there were four. Residents employ more than 56,000 people, and IT Park runs international offices in the U.S., Germany, South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and China.

The incentive package is aimed squarely at foreign founders. Residents pay zero percent in taxes. The IT Visa, a residence permit for tech professionals, is valid for up to three years. The “Zero Risk” program offers free office space for the same period, equipment, and compensation of up to 15% of salaries.

Enterprise Uzbekistan adds legal safeguards Western investors will recognize: a framework based on English common law, investment protection, free movement of capital, and a regulatory sandbox. 

Investors and founders can explore IT Park residency, the IT Visa, and the Digital Startups program directly through IT Park Uzbekistan.  

In just a few years, Uzbekistan has grown from a relatively small startup ecosystem into a market that is increasingly visible on the global tech map. Rising investment has gone hand in hand with the growth of venture funds, international accelerator programs, IT education, and computing infrastructure. ICTWeek Uzbekistan 2026 showed that the country's next stage will depend less on the number of new startups and more on their ability to expand into international markets and attract global capital.

Uzbekistan now has more than 2,000 active startups, and the number keeps growing. Their profiles are available at startupbase.uz/en.

For more details, visit www.outsource.gov.uz/en.

Media Contact

press@digital.uz

SOURCE: IT Park Uzbekistan