Startups from Central Asia and the Caucasus that attracted investments in May 2026

Armenia

Wirestock 
Armenian startup Wirestock raised $23 million in a Series A funding round. The investment will be used to develop its business supplying data to AI companies. Wirestock collects, labels, and delivers visual data required for training artificial intelligence models.

Kazakhstan

DeepInfra 
US company DeepInfra, co-founded by Kazakh citizen Yesenzhar Kanapin, completed a Series B funding round of $107 million. Investors include NVIDIA, Samsung Next, and Felicis. The total amount of raised investments exceeded $125 million.

UvU Shuttle 
Kazakh startup UvU Shuttle raised investments in a pre-Series A round from venture fund INMerge Ventures, a fund with Azerbaijani and Turkish roots. Following the round, the company's valuation exceeded $10 million; the investment amount was not disclosed.

UvU Shuttle develops shuttle services for corporate transportation, school transport, and urban routes. The company operates in Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia, serving more than 45 corporate and educational clients.

Parde 
Kazakh startup Parde closed a Pre-Seed round of $100,000 from US fund Boost VC at a valuation of $1.75 million.

Parde operates at the intersection of FinTech and the events industry: the platform combines ticketing and financing services for event organizers.

Uzbekistan

AliPos
Uzbek SaaS startup AliPos raised $200,000 in a new investment round. Participants in the round included Imkon Ventures and Nexus Capital Management Angel Club.

The startup develops digital solutions for restaurants, cafes, hotels, and the broader HoReCa sector.

Doomers Publishing
Uzbek gaming startup Doomers Publishing raised Seed investments from Hicham Nouhou, a gaming industry veteran with experience at Tencent and Nintendo. The company publishes PC and console games worldwide, helping developers scale projects through analytics and rapid testing.

Between
Uzbek startup Between raised $130,000 in a Pre-Seed round from AloqaVentures and Yoshlar Ventures.

The company is developing a SaaS platform that connects influencers and content creators with businesses on a barter basis, opening a new direction in marketing.

Startup Pitch Competition Day: Uzbekistan Winners
In Samarkand, as part of the GSMA M360 Eurasia 2026 forum, Startup Pitch Competition Day: Uzbekistan took place, organized by GSMA in collaboration with IT Park Uzbekistan, IT Park Ventures, and ITU.

The winner of the competition was NavAI, which received $10,000 in investments from IT Park Ventures and the opportunity to participate in 4YFN at MWC Barcelona 2027 from GSMA. Startup EduFuse received $7,000 in investments, and AzizAI received $5,000.