General information

Population

35.6M

Online population

29.5M

Currency

UZS

Market overview

Population - 35.6M

At the start of 2024, 50.6% of Uzbekistan’s population lived in urban centres, while 49.4% lived in rural areas.

Internet penetration - 83.3%

There were 29.5M internet users in Uzbekistan at the start of 2024.

FinTech Outlook: Trends, Insight & Technology

The report, titled ’FinTech Market Uzbekistan’ and released in December 2023, provides an analysis of the Uzbekistan FinTech market, offering insights into the trends, challenges, regulatory environment, key ecosystem players and emerging FinTech startups.

The Mastercard report identifies several critical trends driving the growth of FinTech in Uzbekistan. It notes that the government is actively promoting financial inclusion and working on establishing a conducive foundation for FinTech to strive. Recent developments in this regard include a banking reform strategy for 2020-2025 which has spurred the entry of foreign entities and prompted local banks to diversify their loan and deposit portfolios, and develop newl products, deposits, loans and other commission-based products to attract new customers and enhance experiences.

The rise of FinTech in Uzbekistan has also been fueled by increased investment in the country’s startup ecosystem. From 2022 to 2023, venture capital (VC) funding in domestic startups totaled $7.1M, with 61% of that amount going towards FinTech companies.

According to the report, notable FinTech rounds secured during that period include a $3M round raised by banking infrastructure provider Iman, $650K secured by Billz, a startup that provides easy-to-use tools for retail management; and $250K secured by Zypl.ai, a credit scoring startup.

The FinTech sector in Uzbekistan is poised for exponential growth, with projections indicating a doubling of cash payments and transfers by 2027. A study conducted by KPMG Caucasus and Central Asia revealed significant advancements in non-cash payments, underlining the country's evolving FinTech landscape.

<aside> 🌅 **Uzum** Uzum is a digital services ecosystem to facilitate business growth, online shopping, convenient payments, and help with other day-to-day household tasks. Uzum is the first company from Uzbekistan, joined The Crunchbase Unicorn Board in 2024.

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Banks

As for 2024, there are 10 banks with state ownership and 35 other banks.