January 27, 2022, Tashkent, Uzbekistan. UZCARD, national payment operator of the Republic of Uzbekistan, and Innotech Group of Companies, leading provider of high-tech solutions for digitalization of banking industry, are launching the Startup Bridge international acceleration program. It is aimed at finding and developing the best technological projects, training and supporting young entrepreneurs, as well as assistance in expansion of startups from Uzbekistan to Russian market of financial technologies.
The Startup Bridge program will launch on February 28, 2022. The program is open for founders of technological projects in such areas as Crowd-financing, BNPL, PFM, B2B SaaS and others who have a developed prototype or MVP, as well as a calculated business model.
Young entrepreneurs interested in scaling their innovative business to Russian market will be able to take a special 10-week course with support of professional mentors and trackers. As part of the project, participating startups will be able to launch a pilot in partnership with the largest Russian technology companies. In addition, they will be provided with industry support and opportunity to integrate their developments into ecosystem of international organizations. Based on results of 10 best projects, participants will be able to present their achievements on May 25 at Demo Day, where they will have the opportunity to raise capital from UZCARD Ventures and Innotech Group SC, as well as from key representatives of Russian venture ecosystem. 5 startup founders who excel during the training will get invitation from host companies to visit Moscow to get acquainted with the Russian fintech ecosystem and build cooperation with potential partners.
The program will be held at the site of UZCARD corporate accelerator. Applications will be collected until February 18, 2022 inclusive on the website https://startup-bridge.uzcard.uz. Startup Bridge is a unique acceleration project within the framework of ongoing cooperation between UZCARD and Innotech Group in the field of scientific and commercial tasks, an agreement on which was signed by the two companies in September 2021 at Kazan Digital Week 2021 international forum.
“For development of international fintech sector, it is important for companies to exchange best practices, bring new players to the market, maintaining healthy competition. Young entrepreneurs and their innovative solutions are helping to saturate the market with new service models that banks and financial institutions can use to diversify their business, create ecosystems and implement digital platforms. The Startup Bridge project of Innotech Group of Companies and UZCARD will enable the best minds of Uzbekistan to prove themselves, expand geography of their activities, as well as cover the growing demand for IT and fintech products,” emphasizes Igor Kalganov, General Director of Innotech Group of Companies.
“UZCARD continues to actively implement initiatives together with Innotech Group of Companies to bring to the market better, thoughtful solutions in the field of high technologies, as well as for their further implementation in business practices. The Startup Bridge program is aimed at developing innovative activities and attracting venture capital to the Republic of Uzbekistan. The project will involve some of the best mentors in the field of technology startups, with the help of which participants will be able to unlock potential of their business in the international arena,” said Farrukh Ziyaev, General Director of UZCARD.
Innotech Group SC is a modern high-tech fast-growing company that has been developing innovative solutions for digitalization of banking industry since 2020. Innotech Group cooperates with the largest banking organizations in Russia, and also actively builds partnerships in the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia. Detailed information about the company can be found on the official website.
UZCARD is the leading national payment operator of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The main goal of the company’s work is the constant search, development and improvement of products in the field of the national payment business, modernization of modern service, growth of services in the fintech industry. Detailed information about the company can be found on the official website.