CEVF 2026 in Tashkent: Results of the Region's Premier Venture Forum

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — 

The fifth Central Eurasian Venture Forum, CEVF 2026, has concluded in Tashkent, marking the first time the event has been held in Uzbekistan.

The forum brought together approximately 800 participants — investors, entrepreneurs, venture fund representatives, and technology company executives from Central Asia, Europe, the United States, Southeast Asia, and the MENA region. Uzbekistan's Minister of Digital Technologies Sherzod Shermatov attended the opening ceremony. The event was organized by MOST Holding and IT Park Uzbekistan with support from the country's Ministry of Digital Technologies.

Record Growth in the Venture Market

The analytical centerpiece of the forum was the presentation of the third annual report "Startups and Venture Capital in Central Asia 2026," prepared by RISE Research on the basis of data from more than 200 startups and over 40 investors and industry experts.

Total venture investment in the region reached a record US$320 million in 2025, driven largely by two mega-rounds: Kazakhstan's Higgsfield raised US$130 million in a Series A round, becoming Central Asia's first unicorn, while Uzbekistan's Uzum closed a US$65.5 million round. Together, these two deals accounted for 61 percent of the total market volume. The adjusted figure, excluding these transactions, stood at US$124.5 million — up 31 percent year-on-year, pointing to sustained organic growth.

"The emergence of the region's first unicorn and Uzum's record round send a powerful signal of Central Asia's growing recognition on the global stage. Over the past three years, 18.5 percent of the 2,000 projects reviewed have secured investment — a rate comparable to leading European hubs," said Ainur Zhanturina, founder of RISE Research. She nevertheless flagged a persistent structural gap: the density of funded startups stands at just 4.6 per million residents.

In Kazakhstan, venture investment nearly tripled to US$209 million, with the country's combined startup portfolio valuation exceeding US$2.16 billion. Artificial intelligence emerged as the dominant sector, attracting nearly half of all investment. In Uzbekistan, total funding reached US$33.8 million — 11.3 times the 2022 figure. Including the Uzum round, the combined market is valued at US$99.3 million. Seven new venture funds were registered in the country during 2025, signaling the formation of a mature institutional foundation.

CEVF Awards

The fifth anniversary CEVF Awards ceremony took place on the final day of the forum. Category winners were as follows: Freedom Holding took the award for best corporate open innovation strategy; Startup Garage was named the best ecosystem player; Uzbekistan's Pivot portal won best technology media outlet; Tajik entrepreneur Umed Rakhimov was recognized as the best technology influencer; digital technology school School21 received the ESG leadership award; AloqaVentures was named the best venture fund; and Red Team Accelerator won the best startup support program.

Kazakhstani AI startup MoonAI, valued at US$5 million, was named both startup of the year and the fastest-growing startup. Dana Kunanbayeva of LP MA7 Ventures and Most Accelerator Fund was recognized as the most active business angel. The deal of the year went to Datatruck's US$12 million Series A round, led by Avenue Growth Partners.

"Over its five-year history, the CEVF Awards have become a vital instrument for recognizing the market's best players and inspiring the community to reach new heights," said Azamat Karamatov, CEO of IT Park Uzbekistan.

EBRD Star Venture Program

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development announced at the forum the 13 finalists of the first Central Asian cohort of its Star Venture program. Seven of them represent Uzbekistan: Hyper App, IMAN, OSNOVA, Robosell, Tezbor, UYSOT, and Verifix. Participants will gain access to business diagnostics, mentoring, expert consulting, and support in entering new markets.

"The fact that more than half of the regional cohort's finalists are Uzbek startups speaks volumes about the strength of local founders," said Andi Aranitasi, EBRD Country Director for Uzbekistan.

International Partnerships

The forum served as the venue for the signing of four cooperation agreements. MOST Investments and Saudi platform 1MoreThing agreed to jointly support AI-focused B2B startups with reciprocal market access across the MENA region and Central Asia. MOST Ventures and South Korea's FAO Partners formalized their intention to build a bilateral bridge between the startup ecosystems of both regions. A strategic alliance with the global Accelerate Prosperity initiative (AKDN) aims to create a structured investment pipeline for early-stage projects. Finally, MOST Holding and Uzbekistan's United Ventures agreed on joint investment activity and the launch of a business angel school.

"Central Asia today is a high-upside window of opportunity. Our goal is to build an investment pipeline where investors enter early and exit with multiples," said Alim Khamitov, CEO of MOST Ventures.

Startup Competition and the IRA Accelerator

The MOST Investable Battle startup competition, held at the forum with support from Visa, featured a prize pool of up to US$75,000. The three winning teams — Cerberus, Tezbor, and Bigmart — received invitations to the second cohort of the IRA Tashkent acceleration program, which offers eight weeks of intensive investment readiness preparation and access to a network of venture funds. Startup ORDO additionally received a US$12,000 cloud resource grant from Yandex Cloud.

The forum also saw the announcement of the second batch of the Investment Readiness Accelerator Tashkent — a joint initiative by MOST C-Space Hub, MOST Business Intelligence, and SQB Ventures running for 12 weeks with pre-seed and seed-stage startups. The first cohort, which launched in February 2026, concluded its Demo Day at the forum itself. Alumni of the equivalent program in Kazakhstan have collectively raised more than US$8 million in investment.

Over five years, CEVF has brought together more than 5,000 participants from 50 countries, showcased over 400 startups, and served as the platform for deals totaling more than US$34 million