On June 5, Tehnopol brought together five Estonian and five Uzbek startups for an online pitch session, where the companies presented their business ideas. Investors from both countries, including EstBAN representatives Olga Luštšik and Kati Vabi, participated to explore investment readiness and potential cooperation opportunities.
According to the investors, the startups were at very different stages of development — some had only built their MVP, while others already had a customer base and recurring monthly revenue (MRR). From Estonia, the following startups presented their idea to Uzbek investors:
“As it became clear, the level of digitalization of services in Central Asia is still low, meaning there are many so-called ‘low-hanging fruits’ — unsolved problems that could be addressed with simple and valuable solutions,” commented Olga Luštšik. “At the same time, most of the local startups are focused on their own region, and few showed global ambitions — which is understandable, considering they operate in a large and growing domestic market. In that sense, this can even be seen as an advantage compared to Estonian startups,” she added.
For Uzbek investors, Estonian startups might have seemed significantly more mature in terms of solutions and product development, and the differences in focus and complexity sometimes made it difficult to relate to the pitches.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say that Estonian startups felt like ‘science fiction’ to Uzbek investors,” noted Luštšik. “Rather, the two ecosystems are solving different types of problems, shaped by their respective digital maturity levels and market needs — and that difference was clearly visible.”
Overall, events like these help investors map the maturity level of different markets and assess the potential for cross-regional collaboration. They also play an important role in building the first connections between ecosystems that have had limited interaction so far.
- Tehnopol is EstBAN partner member and they have several startup-supporting programs ongoing.
