A Startup Day forum featuring 30 startups and leading investors held in Ferghana

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — Ferghana State University hosted the “Startup Day – Ferghana” forum, organized with the support of the Ministry of Digital Technologies, IT Park, IT Park Ventures, SQB Ventures, and the Ferghana regional administration.

The event aimed to support young entrepreneurs in the region, foster the development of an innovation ecosystem, and create opportunities for engagement with investors.

More than 300 participants attended the forum, including 30 startup teams and eight investors. The initiative received backing from the country’s leading venture funds: SQB Ventures, AloqaVentures, UzVC, IT Park Ventures, and United Ventures. The key highlight was the “Startup Battle” competition, in which all 30 teams took part. Following the preliminary round, 15 projects advanced to the final and presented their ideas to investors and representatives of venture funds.

Based on the results of the competition, the startups “Enola” and “DentalSoft” received investment offers from IT Park Ventures, reflecting the dynamic growth of Ferghana’s startup ecosystem and the rising interest of young people in technological initiatives.

Speakers at the opening ceremony included Deputy Governor of Ferghana Region Sherzod Polvonov, IT Park Deputy Director General for Startup Development Elyor Maksudov, and KPI.COM founder Muzaffar Karabayev.

They emphasized the importance of supporting innovation, advancing modern technologies, and helping local initiatives reach the international level.

The forum featured mentoring sessions, investor meetings, and educational events focused on experience sharing to strengthen the business competencies of young entrepreneurs.

Among the participating startups, particular attention was drawn to projects with strong social and technological potential: BrailleRecognition — an AI application that converts Braille text into readable format; Shifonoma — a hospital management system with an intuitive interface; Qattabor — a local navigation and business promotion platform; and Tahlilchi AI — a tool for demand forecasting and inventory optimization for retail and e-commerce.

The “Enola” startup presented an AI platform for comprehensive IELTS preparation, offering personalized recommendations and error analysis across all four exam modules.

The organizers announced plans to hold such events on a regular basis to strengthen startup culture among young people and create new investment opportunities in the region.