Uzbekistan sees surge in major business deals – Korzinka, Click, TBC and Uzum secure new investments

Korzinka secures $110 million investment deal

On April 1, Korzinka – Uzbekistan’s largest retail chain – announced that it was attracting $110 million in direct foreign investment. Such a large-scale private sector deal is a rare event in Uzbekistan. On June 10, the company confirmed that the investment process had been successfully completed.

The investors are Abu Dhabi Uzbek Investment and UzOman financial institutions. This is the second-largest investment in Korzinka’s history, following the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s investment in 2020.

According to the company’s statement, the funds will be directed toward the rapid growth of a multichannel retail model. Key priorities include strengthening Korzinka’s leading position in the supermarket segment, expanding the small-format Korzinka Mahalla chain, and developing the Korzinka Go e-commerce project.

In addition, the investment will be used to build a new 49,000-square-meter distribution center, planned to be launched in the second half of 2025. To finance construction, Korzinka had already attracted $25 million from the German Investment and Development Corporation in October 2024.

Thanks to the new funding, Korzinka plans to expand its store network to over 1,000 outlets in the medium term. The chain currently operates more than 150 stores.

Click and Tengebank join forces

At the end of July, leading digital payments company Click and Kazakhstan’s largest bank, Halyk Bank, signed a partnership agreement.

Under the deal, the Kazakh company will acquire a 49 percent stake in Click for $176.4 million. In turn, Click shareholders will purchase 49 percent of Halyk Bank’s Uzbek subsidiary, Tengebank, for $60.76 million. The mutual share exchange deal has a total value of $237 million.

The partnership is expected to create a unified digital ecosystem operating across both Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Within the deal framework, Click was valued at $360 million, while Tengebank was valued at $124 million.

For reference, Click was established in 2011 and entered the Uzbek market by enabling payments via mobile phones (initially through USSD requests). In the first half of 2025, the payment operator’s net profit reached UZS 154.7 billion – up 32.2 percent compared to the same period last year.

TBC acquisitions: OLX Uzbekistan and BILLZ

Georgia’s TBC Group entered Uzbekistan in 2020 by opening a bank and later acquiring the Payme payment system in two stages. In 2025, TBC expanded its Uzbek portfolio further by adding BILLZ and OLX Uzbekistan.

At the end of June, TBC Bank Group purchased a controlling stake in BILLZ – one of Uzbekistan’s largest SaaS platforms for retail automation.

The deal is valued at up to $12 million, with 53 percent of shares acquired in the first stage for $9 million. Over two years, the bank’s stake is expected to rise to 60 percent. This gives BILLZ an overall valuation of $20 million. The startup will continue to operate under its own brand but will become part of the TBC Uzbekistan ecosystem.

Founded in 2017, BILLZ was one of the first Uzbek startups to attract institutional investment, securing $150,000 from Sturgeon Capital in 2020. At that time, the company was valued at around $800,000. Over five years, its valuation has increased 25-fold.

TBC Uzbekistan CEO Nika Kurdiani and BILLZ co-founder and CEO Rustam Hamdamov emphasized that the deal is of strategic importance.

As the Central Bank of Uzbekistan tightens rules on microloans – limiting their share in banks’ portfolios to 25 percent – TBC, previously focused mainly on retail lending, will now be able to diversify its portfolio and strengthen its presence in the SME segment through BILLZ’s client base.

On August 21, the Georgian bank also announced the acquisition of a controlling stake in Uzbekistan’s largest online classifieds platform – OLX Uzbekistan. For this deal, TBC established a joint venture with Titan Investments, an international investment holding. All OLX Uzbekistan shares will be transferred to the joint venture, with TBC holding the controlling stake (50 percent plus one share) and Titan Investments owning the remainder.

The seller is OLX Group, part of the Netherlands-based Prosus holding. While the transaction amount was not disclosed, TBC’s official statement described it as one of the largest consolidation deals in Uzbekistan’s 30-year history.

According to company data, olx.uz ranks as the sixth most visited website in Uzbekistan, attracting 5.4 million active users per month and hosting 2.2 million active listings. The platform for goods, services, cars, and real estate covers more than 20 percent of the country’s active internet audience. OLX will continue to operate under its own brand but will later be integrated into the TBC Uzbekistan ecosystem.

Uzum reaches $1.5 billion valuation

In early August, Uzbekistan’s major digital ecosystem Uzum raised nearly $70 million from China’s IT giant Tencent and the international investment fund VR Capital.

Lead investor FinSight Ventures – which participated in the first round completed in March 2024 – also took part in the deal. As a result, Uzum’s market valuation reached approximately $1.5 billion.

The funds will be directed toward developing the ecosystem’s fintech infrastructure, expanding its product line, and improving e-commerce solutions.

For reference, the Uzum ecosystem includes Uzbekistan’s largest marketplace as well as a digital bank, installment and food delivery services, and a car sales platform.