How the startup Didox changed the document management market in Uzbekistan

Askar Ismailov, city — Tashkent, founder of Didox, LinkedIn

How It All Began

In April 2017, I needed a large sum of money for a project. I asked the accounting department to prepare the funds for payment, but I received a response that such an amount was not available. This surprised me greatly, as, knowing the volume of our sales, I was confident that the required sum should have been there.

When I started investigating the issue, it turned out that most of our revenue was tied up in accounts receivable. The reason was that, on average, it took about three weeks from the issuance of an invoice to its receipt and payment by the client. All invoices had to be printed, signed, prepared for the courier, a list of delivery addresses compiled, and physically handed over to the client.

At that time, I set myself the goal of transitioning client document flow to an electronic format. After studying the legislation, I realized this was possible and initiated the corresponding project.

Startup Launch

Initially, I did not intend to create a product; I simply needed to solve my own problem. Therefore, I started looking for an existing solution, wanting to buy software or a company that already had expertise in this area.

For about two months, I tried to find a suitable option, but, as it seemed to me at the time, I failed to reach an agreement. Then I assembled a new team to implement the project, and within three months we began sending invoices to clients in electronic format.

Realizing that we had created a truly useful tool, in January 2018 we launched its commercial version and named it Didox — from Digital Documents. Early users connected cautiously but quickly understood: it was convenient, fast, and allowed saving money, time, and nerves.

Target Audience

Didox proved useful to everyone dealing with invoices, acts, and contracts: accountants, salespeople, logistics specialists, procurement officers, and finance professionals. We solved a problem that many suspected but no one knew how to approach.

Today, the average daily audience of Didox consists of 62,000 users, and the average monthly audience is around 220,000. On average, more than four million documents are processed through the system each month.

At first glance, it might seem that 2020 was our "golden time." Starting from that year, electronic invoicing became mandatory in Uzbekistan. It seemed like ideal conditions for us: the market grew, and demand became mass.

But in reality, everything turned out to be much more complicated.

As soon as the new regulation came into force, more than 20 competitors appeared. Many rushed into the market, seeing it as a quick opportunity to make money. We found ourselves in a situation where the market we had created began to become overcrowded with competitors.

We had to urgently restructure our business model, abandon paid access, focus on additional services, strengthen support, and work on speed, reliability, and infrastructure scaling. We literally relaunched Didox, now as an ecosystem.

This was a real stress test. But it was then that we realized Didox is not just a "convenient tool," but a way of thinking, a way of working differently.

Incubation Programs

Didox is a fully independent project that did not go through incubators or accelerators. However, thanks to steady growth and impressive metrics, in 2023 it attracted the attention of the venture fund Aloqa Ventures, which invested $175,000 in the company.

Achievements

Today, more than 80% of enterprises in Uzbekistan use Didox. The platform has become synonymous with electronic document flow. When someone says, "Send it via Didox," it's like saying, "Order a taxi via Yandex/Uber." Didox has become a household name. For me, that is the main achievement.

Plans

Currently, we are actively developing new services within Didox that help companies efficiently solve daily tasks in a single-window format. Among them: a factoring platform, a tender platform, a banking products platform, analytics, and services for logistics and HR.

Our goal is to create a single window for solving key business tasks. Everything in one place, without unnecessary bureaucracy.