TL;DR Uzbekistan has about 37 million people, and nine in ten are online. Money sent home by workers abroad is a big part of household income, farms still employ a quarter of workers, and there's a state-backed park for software exporters. The ideas that fit modernise farm and textile supply chains, serve families on remittances, and sell services abroad.

The market in numbers

  • Population: about 37.1 million in 2025[1].
  • GDP per capita: about US$3,968 in 2025[2].
  • Internet use: about 90% of people were online in 2024[3], with about 110 mobile subscriptions per 100 people[4].
  • Where people live and work: about 51% of people lived in towns in 2025[5], and about 25% of jobs were in farming[6].
  • Remittances: personal remittances received were about 14% of GDP in 2025[7].
  • Currency: the Uzbek som (UZS), managed by the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan[8].
  • Starting a company: registration runs online through my.gov.uz, fo.birdarcha.uz and the One Stop Shop, often in about two working days, according to an IT Park guide from 2025[9].

What founders here actually have to work with

The country is online[3], which is rare at this income level[2]. You can sell through apps and messaging and expect most customers to follow, even in smaller towns.

Remittances are the other big fact[7]. A lot of households depend on someone working abroad, and that money arrives in bursts. Credit, savings, insurance and education products shaped around those bursts have a natural market.

Then there's the export side. Farms and textile mills are being pushed by foreign buyers to prove where things come from and how they were made, and that need is paperwork more than machinery. And the IT Park offers tax relief to export-oriented residents[9], which makes Tashkent a sensible base for a services firm selling to clients abroad. In my view the strongest plays here sell to two audiences at once: a local supplier and the foreign buyer who checks them.

Ideas that fit Uzbekistan

Each idea was researched for India. The rupee figures, UPI and Indian licences don't apply, so rebuild each page with local prices and rules.

Cotton, textiles and traceability

  • Mothtrap: Camera pheromone traps and spray alerts run as a service for cotton programmes. Sell to the cluster that manages the fields, not to individual growers.
  • Bonusroll: Books that show ethical cotton buyers where their premium went. Only worth building where a buyer already pays a premium.
  • Upstreamly: Maps the mills and job-workers behind garment exporters for European buyer checks. Start with one exporter whose buyer is asking for it right now.
  • Offcutsort: Sorting cutting waste on the factory floor into graded lots that recyclers pay for. A single large sewing unit is enough to test it.
  • Drapeview: AI photos of each garment on several body types for small fashion brands. Swap the Indian body-type set for the shoppers your brands actually sell to.

Water, fruit and farm logistics

  • Canalbudget: Weekly crop-water budgets and tail-end flow checks for canal-fed farms. Water user groups and irrigation offices are the buyers [Requires validation].
  • Pickweek: Picking-week and tonnage calendars so grower groups can sell fruit before harvest. Exporters to nearby markets would use it to plan trucks.
  • Fruitcoat: Coating service for fruit packhouses, priced per kilo. Prove it crop by crop before you sign long contracts.
  • Dryhaul: A truck-borne dryer that turns rejected fruit into dried stock. Find a buyer for the dried stock before you build the first unit.
  • Trellismap: Weekly drone canopy maps that tell vineyard managers which vines to check first. Drone flying rules come first [Requires validation].
  • Thirstline: A season-ahead water shortfall outlook and backup plan for each factory site. Food and textile plants are the likely first buyers.
  • Leakfinder: Acoustic leak surveys for city water zones, paid per verified leak. Pitch it to a water utility as a pilot on one district.

Money for working families

  • Vouchloan: Small loans for workers going abroad, vouched for by people from their home district. A licensed lender has to carry the loans.
  • Exportmoney: Tracks each export shipment until the money lands for small exporters. Rebuild it around local customs and bank documents.

Services sold abroad

  • Paidtrace: Checked client references and proof of payment for freelancers. It helps local developers and designers win clients who have never worked with them.
  • Annexwell: ISO 42001 readiness and evidence files for software exporters. IT Park residents selling AI products abroad are the natural first clients.
  • Deskmoat: A managed security baseline that gets small exporters through buyers' cyber audits. Bundle it with Annexwell if you serve the same firms.
  • Roleplaycall: Phone role-play tests for frontline job candidates. Run it in Uzbek and Russian for call centres and retail chains.

Rules to check before you start

Registration runs through the state portals my.gov.uz and fo.birdarcha.uz and the One Stop Shop, and a tax ID is issued once the company is approved[9]. Software exporters can apply to become IT Park residents, which brings tax and visa relief[9][10]. Banking, payments and lending come under the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan[8]. I couldn't load the tax committee's site to confirm its current portal, so treat tax registration details as [Requires validation].

This is a starting list, not legal advice. Check with a local lawyer or the agency itself.

Questions founders ask

Services sold online or to exporters, like Paidtrace, Upstreamly or Roleplaycall above, need a laptop and a few clients more than equipment. With nine in ten people online[3], you can find customers without a big sales team.

Do foreigners need a local partner to start a company in Uzbekistan?

An IT Park guide from 2025 says 100% foreign ownership is allowed in most sectors and no local partner is required[9]. Some sectors have exceptions, so check with the registration portal or a local lawyer first.

Is the IT Park worth joining?

If you export software or IT services then probably yes. The 2025 guide lists income tax, property tax and social payment relief for export-oriented residents until at least 2040[9]. Check the current eligibility rules with IT Park.

Talk to Yash

Uzbekistan suits founders who can stand between a local supplier and a picky foreign buyer, and I'd be glad to help you find the right side to start on. If you need a hand, you know where to find me.

Talk to Yash →

Sources

  1. World Bank, "Population, total: Uzbekistan", 2025. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/UZB/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?format=json&mrv=1
  2. World Bank, "GDP per capita (current US$): Uzbekistan", 2025. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/UZB/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?format=json&mrv=1
  3. World Bank (ITU data), "Individuals using the Internet (% of population): Uzbekistan", 2024. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/UZB/indicator/IT.NET.USER.ZS?format=json&mrv=1
  4. World Bank (ITU data), "Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people): Uzbekistan", 2024. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/UZB/indicator/IT.CEL.SETS.P2?format=json&mrv=1
  5. World Bank, "Urban population (% of total population): Uzbekistan", 2025. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/UZB/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS?format=json&mrv=1
  6. World Bank (ILO estimate), "Employment in agriculture (% of total employment): Uzbekistan", 2025. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/UZB/indicator/SL.AGR.EMPL.ZS?format=json&mrv=1
  7. World Bank, "Personal remittances, received (% of GDP): Uzbekistan", 2025. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/UZB/indicator/BX.TRF.PWKR.DT.GD.ZS?format=json&mrv=1
  8. Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan, home page, 2026. https://cbu.uz/en/
  9. IT Park Uzbekistan, "How to register a business in Uzbekistan: a complete guide for foreign founders", 2025. https://www.it-park.uz/en/itpark/news/how-to-register-a-business-in-uzbekistan-a-complete-guide-for-foreign-founders
  10. IT Park Uzbekistan, home page, 2026. https://it-park.uz/en

For illustration only. Names are fictional and ideas hypothetical; sourced facts are real but may be out of date. Nothing here is legal, financial or professional advice, and Yash Khatri is not personally liable for any use of it. Read the full disclaimer.