Most technology startups operating in Uzbekistan face a number of common difficulties. These include a lack of financial support, a shortage of qualified personnel, and the absence of necessary skills for promoting their products. These problems prevent many promising projects from moving to an active scaling stage.
Findings of the Uzbekistan Founder Portrait 2026 Study
These findings were made by analysts from the Stanbase platform based on the conducted study Uzbekistan Founder Portrait 2026. This research is based on the results of a survey that covered 229 startup founders, as well as 25 in-depth interviews.
According to the study data, between 67% and 72% of startups experience problems obtaining funding in their initial stages of existence. The market shows a certain pattern: investors tend to direct funds to projects that already have a confirmed customer base and sales history. At the same time, new companies cannot enter the market without an initial capital injection.
Another significant problem for 56% of respondents was the recruitment process. Founders find it difficult to attract experienced developers because offering equity in the project as compensation is not always competitive compared to the stable salary offered by large corporations.
As the business develops, the main challenges change. More than half of entrepreneurs admit that they lack marketing knowledge, and 39% need to improve their business development competencies. The study authors emphasize that despite engineers creating high-quality products, they often face difficulties in promoting them and attracting investment.
It was also found that existing state support mechanisms are not being used to their full extent. Almost 36% of startup founders have never approached state programs or business incubators. The most valuable tools for entrepreneurs turned out to be meetings with private investors (scoring 4.46 out of 5) and closed business communities (4.24 points). Universities ranked last in the rating with a score of 3.25.
It was previously reported about plans to launch the Talent Hub program in Uzbekistan, which will provide foreign IT specialists and investors with the opportunity to remotely register companies and open corresponding bank accounts.
