GoKawiilThe Road to Battlefield competition, organized by Silkroad Innovation Hub in partnership with TechCrunch, Freedom Holding, Astana Hub, IT Park Uzbekistan, is now in its second year. Its purpose hasn’t changed since it launched: Give founders across Central Eurasia a direct route to TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 200 during this year’s Disrupt from October 13 – 15 in San Francisco.
“For two years now, together with our partners, we’ve been organizing Road to TC Startup Battlefield to give founders in our region a direct line to the top VCs and global ecosystems, one they didn’t have before at this scale,” said Asset Abdualiyev, founder and CEO of Silkroad Innovation Hub. “There’s a lot of talent here the world hasn’t found yet, and that’s exactly who we’re looking for, founders and ideas from every corner of the region who haven’t had their moment.”
The program’s first year, 2025, drew 485 applications from 27 countries, the largest startup pitch event the region had seen at the time. Three startups came out of it to represent Central Eurasia on the global stage: Polygraf AI (Azerbaijan/U.S.), Surfaice (Kazakhstan/U.S.), and Investbanq (Singapore/U.S.).
This year, applications jumped to 726 from 39 countries, which is up nearly 50% in submissions and a dozen more countries than last year. This is a record for the program, spanning Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and South Asia. Founders pitched online in front of 47 judges from eight countries, drawn from top VC firms, major tech hubs, and founders who’ve scaled their own companies, alongside an AI judge, AI-Dana, as independent jury.
What makes the competition worth watching now, in its second year, is its trajectory. Central Eurasia is now producing one of the fastest-growing startup pipelines in emerging markets, and the numbers back it up.
National rounds for Road to Battlefield 2026 ran online from July 6 to 20. Twenty-two startups came out of it, and they’ll now head to a regional final on August 12. From there, judges will narrow the field to three finalists who’ll represent the region at TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 200.
Meet the Road to Battlefield finalists
Those 22 finalists are MoliyAI (Uzbekistan), Sino AI (Uzbekistan), Deepen (Uzbekistan), Fermopolis (Uzbekistan), Oqim App (Uzbekistan), Cerberus (Uzbekistan), Soup (Kazakhstan), CortexAI (Kazakhstan), Scano (Kazakhstan), 4sell.ai (Kazakhstan), WeGlobal AI (Kazakhstan), ZhanCare.AI (Kazakhstan), Kaptın Kaptın (Türkiye), Pocket eSIM (Türkiye), SeaDar (Azerbaijan), Telagri (Georgia), Admyra (U.S.), Soulward (Kyrgyzstan), Suriy (Mongolia), MVSxAI (Qatar), Looq (Japan), and Defensive Pedal (Romania).
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan each have six startups in the regional final, a clear sign that these two now stand as the region’s largest startup ecosystems.
“We’re seeing steady growth in AI products, especially from Kazakhstan and Central Eurasia, and that tracks exactly with our vision,” said Magzhan Madiyev, CEO of Astana Hub. “This progress reflects the strengthening of our innovation ecosystem and the tremendous work being done across it. At Astana Hub, our mission is to nurture the next generation of globally competitive founders ready to scale into markets like the U.S., and it’s inspiring to see many of them take the stage, compete internationally, and move one step closer to the world’s leading startup stage.”
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