Central Eurasia's Startups Shine at TechCrunch Battlefield 200

The startup ecosystem in Central Eurasia is experiencing a significant breakthrough. The "Road to the Battlefield" competition, organized by Silkroad Innovation Hub in partnership with TechCrunch and Freedom Holding, has marked a historic milestone for the region. The competition, which took place between July 21 and August 12, 2025, saw 380 startups from 27 countries pitch their ideas across nine national rounds.

This event has been hailed as the largest startup pitch competition in Central Eurasia's history, demonstrating the region's growing dynamism and the global interest in its innovative companies. Notably, 35% of the participating startups were founded by female entrepreneurs, and the youngest entrepreneur, just 14 years old, was from Unify (Uzbekistan).

The startups represented various stages of development, from the idea stage to pre-Series A. Now, four standout startups - Polygraf AI (Azerbaijan, USA), QuickShipper (Georgia), Surfaice (USA, Kazakhstan), and ArtSkin (Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan) - have secured spots at the prestigious TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 2025 in San Francisco, where they will compete against the most promising ventures from around the world.