UzVC National Venture Capital Fund launches Startup Growth Program (SGP)

UzVC National Venture Capital Fund will hold an inaugural conference to celebrate the launch of its Startup Growth Program (SGP). The inaugural SGP conference will help to explore world experience and how the Uzbek startup and VC ecosystem should take a leap and enter the global stage. The special speakers (formerly 500 startups partners), Asher Siddiqui, General Partner at Sukna Ventures, and Marvin Liao, Partner at Diaspora Ventures, will share stories and insights from Silicon Valley on how to build and run disruptive startups.

The program is driven by the government support to bring world-class expertise to Uzbek startups in their journeys to grow and scale up into foreign markets. The ten startups will be selected for the program, in which, along with the UzVC portfolio startups, accepted teams will get a sense of the latest trends in the startup world. SGP covers essential matters like go-to-market, milestones&metrics, and fundraising strategies, which are necessary for growth and entering markets outside the borders of Uzbekistan. 

The conference on November 16 will feature such speakers and panelists as Alisher Shaykhov, UzVC Senior Advisor, Bakhodir Bekov, Acting Head of Inclusive Growth Cluster, UNDP, Akmal Paiziev, CEO and Founder of Express24, Denis Kalyshkin, Investment Director of I2BF Global Ventures, Adrien Henni (France), Partner at Pulsar.vc.

UzVC intends to make SGP an annual initiative to educate entrepreneurs on risks and opportunities and hence increase the success rate for VC and angel investor portfolio companies that originate from Uzbekistan and are ready to take the world by storm. These early-stage companies need orchestrated support in overcoming challenges to generate sufficient revenue streams that allow them to grow and prosper. 

The launch is co-organized by the joint project of Ministry of Economic Development and Poverty Reduction and UNDP in Uzbekistan “Empowering youth to embrace digital economy and digital entrepreneurship” in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Uzbekistan, National Office for Innovation Implementation and Technology Transfer, the Youth Affairs Agency, and INNO Technopark.