Uzum co-founder Nikolay Seleznev said on Tuesday that Tencent’s investment in August bolstered the company’s plans to go public in 2027, with a potential listing in Hong Kong, London, Abu Dhabi or Nasdaq in the US.
The Tencent-led funding lifted Uzum’s valuation to US$1.5 billion, while opening the door for the Chinese technology giant to enter Central Asia’s digital economy, according to Seleznev.
That followed the start-up’s ascent to unicorn status in 2024, when it raised US$114 million from a combination of Series A equity funding and debt financing.
Founded in 2022, Uzum operates e-commerce, fintech and banking services for individuals as well as small and medium-sized businesses in Uzbekistan, a landlocked country in Central Asia that forms part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative trade network.
“With Tencent leading our most recent financing round, I realised there is a very big potential in Southeast Asia and its investor base in general,” Seleznev said. “We see a huge opportunity there. Also, the information technology and fintech market potential of Uzbekistan is now being recognised by some of the world’s largest tech companies.”
He said it was too early to determine how much Uzum expected to raise in its pre-IPO funding in 2026.
