How the startup GEOMOTIVE from Uzbekistan is changing the outdoor advertising market

Botir Arifdjanov, City — London, CEO GEOMOTIVE, LinkedIn

How It All Started

I am a serial entrepreneur, and before GEOMOTIVE, all my projects were in the B2C sector. Every time we launched outdoor advertising for our products, I had the same conflict with the marketing team: why are we doing this? What is the effectiveness? How can we measure it?

The answers were always vague: “Everyone does it,” “Competitors are also hanging there,” “There’s no other way.” One of the most absurd arguments was “this is the best place left.” This always irritated me because I was used to data, numbers, funnels, and return on investment, while outdoor advertising was a black box.

The idea for GEOMOTIVE was born from this long-standing frustration. When I met my partner Alexey Khainovsky — who has extensive experience in AdTech and analytics — we realized that we could and should create a product that:
- makes outdoor advertising transparent
- shows results and return on investment
- allows launching and managing campaigns as conveniently as in digital.

Thus, GEOMOTIVE was born — a B2B marketplace and analytics platform that is changing the outdoor advertising market, starting with DOOH, and in the future, in other channels: Connected TV, Digital, in-app.

Startup Launch

Since Alexey and I are both from Uzbekistan, we decided to start there, in test mode. We invested our own funds, without external investors, and began by creating a minimum viable product.

Once the MVP was ready, I maximized my entrepreneurial experience and personal network — arranging meetings, showing companies how I would use this tool if I were in their place. Often, sales went literally “by word of mouth” — through trust and personal understanding of the client’s pain.

Gradually, we began to go beyond personal connections — we entered the market: advertising agencies, structure owners, major players in outdoor advertising. Already within a few months, we started seeing our first large clients in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.

From the very beginning, we understood that this was a global product and wanted to scale it further. Therefore, when the regional model was confirmed, we moved HQ to London, and GEOMOTIVE became a British company.

As for the team — Alexey brought in guys with experience in AdTech and DevOps. On the business side, we began hiring by location — in the countries where we launched. Thus, we formed a decentralized but highly coordinated team.

Target Audience

GEOMOTIVE is not one, but two complementary products, each solving a specific task in the outdoor advertising ecosystem:

1. METER — analytics platform: DMP + geo-analytics
METER is a Data Management Platform, DMP, which:
- analyzes audience behavior and movement in real-time
- takes into account demographics, interests, income, and geoprofiling
- helps plan effective marketing campaigns by regions, cities, and even individual streets.

Who uses METER:
1. Brand marketers, to understand where their advertising actually works.
2. Agencies, to justify location choices for campaigns and prove effectiveness to clients.
3. Screen owners, to argue the price for placement and improve their advertising grid.

2. DSP Marketplace — advertising placement platform
DSP, Demand Side Platform — is the “second step” after analytics. It allows:
- launching outdoor advertising just like digital banners — by time, geography, audience
- receiving real-time data and optimizing the campaign on the fly.
To make it work, we aggregate advertising surfaces — and essentially, also perform the function of a Supply Side Platform.

Who uses DSP:
1. Large brands, who want transparency and control.
2. Small and medium businesses, who gain access to outdoor advertising without intermediaries.
3. Agencies, who save time and receive full analytics.

Today, more than 106,000 advertising surfaces are available for analytics, more than 3,000 screens are connected to the platform through a partner network, and more than 600 digital screens are managed directly through our DSP.

Clients include both local and international agencies, large networks, brands, and surface owners in regions from Central Asia to MENA and the UK.

Incubation Programs

We did not participate in classic accelerators or incubators, such as Y Combinator or 500 Global. Instead, from the very beginning, we self-funded GEOMOTIVE, investing our own funds and building a minimum viable product, which we tested in Uzbekistan.

Although we did not go through accelerator programs, we actively participated in international startup events to build reputation and enter new markets:

1. In 2024, GEOMOTIVE represented Uzbekistan at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco — one of the world’s largest startup forums. This became confirmation of the global potential of our product and opened doors for further contacts.
2. In spring 2025, we also participated in a major event in Saudi Arabia — LEAP 2025, which became part of our strategy to enter the MENA market.
3. Immediately after that, we participated in Web Summit Qatar, where we continued to build our Middle Eastern network.
4. This year, as part of Astana Hub and IT Park Uzbekistan, GEOMOTIVE represents Uzbekistan at London Tech Week 2025 with its own booth.

For us, participation in such forums is not only PR, but also a path to building strategic relationships with agencies, brands, and surface owners in the region.

After the bootstrap stage, we attracted an angel investor — an entrepreneur from Cyprus with experience in successful exits. Then came the Pre-seed round, in which our first institutional investor joined us — Aloqa Ventures.

At the current stage, we are in active negotiations with several funds for the next round and hope to share good news soon. For now, all official deals are under NDA, and we do not disclose details until they are fully closed.

Difficulties

Although the advertising industry seems dynamic, in reality, it is quite closed and conservative. Entering it is not through the front door. Often, you have to find “back doors”: through personal connections, through unconventional approaches, through proving the benefit in each specific case.

At the start, we were not always welcomed with open arms. This was especially true for advertising agencies, who feared that we were coming to take their place. But after a series of meetings, we showed that we are not competing with them, but acting as a support tool: helping agencies justify proposals to brands, providing data for tenders and media planning.

After that, the attitude changed — from caution to respect and partnership.

Case: Integration of Screens in Uzbekistan

When we began aggregating screens in Uzbekistan, structure owners began to refuse for various excuses: “The screens are outdated,” “There is no technical possibility to connect,” “It is too expensive.”

We responded by creating the GEOMOTIVE Box — a compact device that connects to any screen and allows remote content management and launching advertising through our platform.

But this did not solve everything: owners did not want to buy equipment. Then we offered long-term installment plans. But this created a burden on our budget.

Ultimately, our developers found a technologically elegant solution: we began integrating directly with the boards that are already inside most screens. Just reflash — and the screen already works with our platform. Without additional devices.

Conclusion

When you enter the B2B market — especially in traditional, grassroots industries — you will encounter excuses, skepticism, and rejections. But this is not a dead end. It is an invitation to be resourceful, flexible, and economically rational.

Problems are entry points if you have the desire to dig in, adapt, and offer solutions that are beneficial to both sides.

Achievements

GEOMOTIVE is a startup that literally burst onto the outdoor advertising and geo-analytics market. 

1. In a short time, we took leading positions in Central Asia and began rapid expansion into Turkey, MENA, and the Asian region.
2. What started as a single platform is now divided into two independent products — METER and DSP Marketplace, each with its own team, strategy, and even corporate structure.
3. Sales are actively conducted through the office in Turkey, and we are preparing to enter Dubai and Saudi Arabia.
4. Our technologies have already attracted the attention of international brands, who are ready to use our data to make decisions in dozens of countries for launching outdoor advertising.
5. We have learned to aggregate and analyze data remotely, without physical presence in the country. For example, we can assess the advertising market in Jordan, identify effective locations, and connect local operators — without visiting the site. This became possible thanks to the flexible architecture of the platform and strong analytics.
6. The most valuable achievement is the team, which: believes in the product, deeply understands the industry, works with full dedication, and quickly adapts to the challenges of new markets.

Plans

Our main focus is the Middle East. We are actively developing our presence in several countries in the region, as well as strengthening our positions in Turkey, taking our first steps in Eastern Europe, and building channels for launching in South Asia — including Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, and a number of other countries.

In 2025, we continue to strengthen both of our key products:

METER:
- expanding the depth and accuracy of geo-analytics
- adding new metrics and visualizations for clients.

DSP Marketplace:
- adding omnichannel targeting, which will allow our clients to launch outdoor advertising, retarget the same audience on social networks, and manage the entire funnel from one window.

We are already testing the first prototype of a product that will allow placing advertising on OTT platforms, Smart TVs, and other connected TV channels. The first launches are taking place in pilot mode, and by the end of the year, we plan a large-scale rollout in several countries.