Uzbekistan’s startup ecosystem 2026: an analysis of 3,532 applications

This report presents an anonymised, aggregate analysis of the 3,532 applications, and the 4,233 founders behind them, submitted to UzCombinator's second season between 8 June and 20 July 2026. The founders are young: 66% of those who gave their age are 21 or younger; women make up 24% and solo founders 84%. A third of the applications that named a region come from Tashkent city, the rest from 13 regions and from abroad. Artificial intelligence (406) and education technology (402) lead; business (788) and consumer (775) customers are almost even. Of the 1,635 teams that named their stage, 41% are at MVP; the step from first users to first revenue is the narrowest. 94% of applications report no revenue yet, 15% are raising now and 1% have raised before. The programme's acceptance rate was 0.65% (23 teams). The report is intended as an open source of data on the size, composition and stages of Uzbekistan's startup ecosystem. Every figure is given with its base (n).