CEVF 2026 in Tashkent: How the Main Venture Forum of the Region Was Remembered

The opening of the forum was attended by Sherzod Shermatov, Minister of Digital Technologies of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The organizers are MOST Holding and IT Park Uzbekistan, with the support of the Ministry of Digital Technologies of the Republic of Uzbekistan. For over 15 years, MOST Holding has been developing the entrepreneurial environment in Central Asia, uniting venture, FinTech, and educational initiatives.

Forum partners include Astana Hub, UK International Development, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), IFC, Air Astana, Yandex Cloud, VISA, UZVC, Accelerate Prosperity, IT Park Ventures, and KPMG.

Rich Forum Program

The CEVF 2026 program was extensive and included:

— presentation of the report “Startups and Venture Capital in Central Asia 2026”
— the CEVF Awards ceremony honoring the best participants of the Central Asian venture ecosystem
— presentation of the finalists of the first Central Asian cohort of the EBRD’s Star Venture program
— signing of three memorandums and one agreement with international players in the venture market
— launch of the Investment Readiness Accelerator Tashkent acceleration program.

Report “Startups and Venture Capital in Central Asia 2026”

Forum participants were presented with the third annual report “Startups and Venture Capital in Central Asia 2026,” prepared by the research company RISE Research. The study involved more than 200 startups and over 40 venture investors and market experts.

The report shows record growth in venture investments in the region:

— total funding volume in 2025 reached $320 million
— two largest deals — $130 million in startup Higgsfield and $65.5 million in Uzum — accounted for 61% of the total volume.

Excluding these deals, the adjusted market volume is $124.5 million, which is 31% higher than in 2024, demonstrating steady organic growth.

At the same time, the number of funded startups remains small — only 4.6 funded startups per million people, indicating the need to develop the project pipeline.

In Kazakhstan, venture investments nearly tripled, reaching $209 million in 2025. Higgsfield raised $130 million in a Series A round — a historic event for the country. The total valuation of Kazakh venture startups exceeded $2.16 billion.

AI startups attracted nearly half of all investments. In Uzbekistan, venture funding volume reached $33.8 million — 11.3 times more than in 2022. Including Uzum’s large round, the total market is valued at $99.3 million. Most deals are at the early Pre-Seed and Seed stages. Meanwhile, 85% of investments are provided by local investors — through funds and state structures.

In 2025, seven new venture funds appeared in the country, indicating an expansion of the institutional base and growth of local capital.

CEVF AWARDS

On the final day of CEVF 2026, the fifth anniversary CEVF Awards ceremony took place, honoring the best representatives of the startup ecosystem, venture market, and technology business of Central Eurasia.

This year, the winners were:

— Best Corporate Strategy for Open Innovation — Freedom Holding, an international financial group engaged in brokerage, banking, dealing, and depositary activities, and securities management
— Best Ecosystem Player — Startup Garage, an incubation program for developing technology startups at the international technology park Astana Hub
— Best Technology Influencer — Umid Rahimov, founder of Stanbase
— ESG Leader — School21, a digital technology school in Samarkand and Tashkent
— Best Venture Fund — AloqaVentures, a corporate venture fund created by Aloqabank
— Best Startup Support Program — Red Team Accelerator
— Startup of the Year and Fastest Growing Startup — MoonAI, a Kazakh AI startup valued at $5 million
— Most Active Business Angel — Dana Kunanbaeva, partner at Ventures and Most Accelerator Fund LP MA7
— Deal of the Year — Datatruck, a $12 million Series A round led by Avenue Growth Partners.

The selection process involved submitting applications, internal expert evaluation, and online voting on the forum website, making the process more transparent and increasing community engagement.

EBRD Star Venture

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development presented 13 finalists from the first Central Asian cohort of the Star Venture program, aimed at supporting innovative, high-potential startups.

The program includes seven startups from Uzbekistan: Hyper App, IMAN, OSNOVA, Robosell, Tezbor, UYSOT, and Verifix.

The teams will receive business diagnostics, mentoring, and consulting from leading experts, as well as assistance in entering new markets and raising investments.

Signing of Documents

Companies within MOST Holding signed several important documents at the forum:

— a memorandum of cooperation between MOST Investments and the venture platform 1MoreThing. 

The goal of the cooperation is to support the creation, development, and scaling of AI-oriented B2B startups, as well as to form a long-term platform for exchanging innovations, talent, and capital. The partnership will cover all stages of the project lifecycle: from idea generation and startup launch to entering international markets and attracting investments. 1More Thing will provide access to the markets of Saudi Arabia and MENA, while MOST Investments will provide access to the Central Asian startup ecosystem and regional contacts.

— a memorandum of understanding between MOST Ventures and FAO Partners, aimed at developing bilateral cooperation between the startup ecosystems of Korea and Central Asia. 

The partnership will allow Korean companies to enter Central Asian markets, while regional startups will gain structured access to the Korean market, its partner ecosystem, and opportunities for international growth.

— an agreement on a strategic alliance between the MOST Ventures venture fund and the global initiative Accelerate Prosperity. 

The goal of the partnership is to develop the Central Asian startup ecosystem, expand opportunities for entrepreneurs, and create a full-fledged “investment elevator” for early-stage startups. The parties will jointly form a pipeline of promising projects, support their acceleration and preparation for raising venture capital.

— a memorandum of cooperation and partnership between United Ventures LLC and MOST Holding. 

Key areas of cooperation include joint investments in Central Asian startups with a focus on Uzbekistan, launching and developing a business angel school, exchanging expertise, and implementing joint projects. 

MOST Investable Battle — Startup Competition with a Prize Pool of up to $75,000

Within the framework of the Central Eurasian Venture Forum, with the support of VISA, the annual MOST Investable Battle competition took place — a unique opportunity for startups to present their projects to investors and venture funds in the region.

Winners automatically advance to the second cohort of the Investment Readiness Accelerator Tashkent acceleration program and receive development opportunities for their startups worth up to $25,000:

— participation in an 8-week intensive IRA program
— preparation of the startup for raising investments
— access to a network of investors and venture funds
— mentoring from experts and entrepreneurs
— potential opportunity to receive soft commitments even before Demo Day.

This year, startups with a ready MVP, team, and initial results participated in the competition.

The top three teams — Cerberus, Tezbor, and Bigmart — received invitations to the second cohort of the Investment Readiness Accelerator Tashkent program from MOST C-SPACE HUB and SQB VC.

Nedvizhka.kz received exclusive placement on thetech.kz.

Ivan Kopytov from Yandex Cloud personally supported the ORDO startup with a grant for cloud resources worth $12,000.

Launch of Investment Readiness Accelerator Tashkent One of the key events of CEVF was the agreement on the launch of the second batch of the international acceleration program Investment Readiness Accelerator Tashkent — a joint project of MOST C-Space Hub, MOST Business Intelligence, and SQB Ventures. The program is designed for 12 weeks for startups at the Pre-Seed and Seed stages and is focused on specific results — growth of key business metrics, preparation of teams for investment rounds, formation of scaling strategies, and creation of quality deal flow.

Up to 20 startups are selected in each season, and the finale will be a Demo Day with the participation of investors, funds, and corporate partners. Among the successful graduates of a similar program in Kazakhstan are projects that raised over $8 million in investments.

The first cohort of the program started in February 2026, and within the framework of the forum, a closed Demo Day pitch took place, where participating teams presented their projects to investors, investment funds, and corporate partners. CEVF 2026 continues the traditions of the leading platform of the Central Asian venture market, uniting more than 50 venture funds, hundreds of business angels, and hundreds of startups. The forum contributes to the development of the region’s innovative economy, strengthens the investment climate, and opens new opportunities for international cooperation and business scaling.