Team that will represent Uzbekistan at Entrepreneurship World Cup 2022 determined!

On September 24, 2022, as part of Demo Day AloqaTech Lab, the National Final of the Entrepreneurship World Cup 2022 competition was held among participants in the AloqaTech Lab incubation and acceleration program.

The Entrepreneurship World Cup is an entrepreneurship championship with $1 000 000 winning prize. It is an initiative led by the Global Entrepreneurship Network and Monsha'at, with the support of a number of national and global partners.

The national final of EWC Uzbekistan was organized by IT Park Uzbekistan in partnership with AloqaBank and Aloqaventures. Since its launch in 2019, the contest has attracted over 400,000 entries from 200 countries, during which time finalists have received over $3 million in cash prizes and $256 million in bonuses. Recall that IT Park is a national partner and has been holding a competition in Uzbekistan since 2020.

This year, 42 projects entered the competition, of which 12 were selected for the national finals. Each project received access to free virtual training services from global organizers and up to $25,000 in partner benefits to help them take their business to new level.

The judges of the national stage:

● Abdulazal Toshxujaev - Investment Director of the UzVC Venture Fund;

● Farrukh Maksumov, Head of the Startup Ecosystem Development Department, IT Park Uzbekistan;

● Ilkhom Idiev - Investment Director of the venture fund Semurg Ventures;

● Olimjon Umarov - Advisor to the Chairman of the Board of AloqaBank;

● Sukhrob Gaibulloev - Director of Aventures Venture Fund.

According to the results of the final, the winner was determined, who will represent Uzbekistan - the Beautify.uz project.  The startup has raised $50,000 in investment from AloqaVentures and is entering the next stage of the global competition, where it will compete with other contestants from 200 countries around the world.

Beautify.uz is a startup that helps beauty artists become visible on the Internet, attract new clients and earn more by reducing unpaid working hours using a platform that works as an aggregator of photos of the work of masters and through which one can make an appointment.

The international stage of the competition will take place in March 2023 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where Beautify.uz will present its project and have the opportunity to compete for a prize pool of  $1 million. The top 100 finalists will receive a prize of $100,000 each and support from such service providers  like AWS, Freshworks, Oracle, Hubspot, Stripe and Segment.

Also, finalists get an automatic access to the GEN Starters Club, an invitation-only community of talented founders from around the globe.