Rustam Khamdamov, Vadim Zakharyan, and Jahongir Narzullaev from Tashkent were building their careers at a telecom company when they spotted potential in developing an IT platform for retail stores. That’s when the colleagues launched their startup, BILLZ. Today, it has 5,000 clients across Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. This year, BILLZ closed a deal with Georgian bank TBC — selling a controlling stake for $12 million. With that move, the startup shifted from a local player to part of a larger banking ecosystem.
As part of the joint project “100 Startup Stories of Central Asia” with Astana Hub, Digital Business spoke with Rustam Khamdamov about the launch of BILLZ and the mistakes that proved costly along the way. The entrepreneur shared why the team spent nights in retail stores and what features clients value most in BILLZ. We also discussed how a chance breakfast meeting led to million-dollar solutions, and why there was no hesitation when it came to the merger.
«Around 80% of retail stores in Uzbekistan operated without any digital solutions»
— How did the idea for launching BILLZ come about?
— I joined Ucell back in 2011. It’s one of the biggest telecom operators in Uzbekistan and was part of the Swedish-Finnish group TeliaSonera at the time. I started out as a marketing specialist and eventually became head of product. In telecom, we weren’t just dealing with mobile networks, we were also creating digital services for corporate clients. During that period, we launched more than 20 or 30 different projects. One of them was a system for helping SMEs keep track of their clients and transactions.
For its launch in 2016, we started by doing research and running focus groups with B2B clients. It turned out that 30–40% of them were retailers. After speaking with them, we realized that our product, in its original form, didn’t meet their needs. It was built for small businesses in general and focused on basic functions like storing customer data, recording calls, and tracking sales. But retail businesses are a whole different story. They need to manage thousands of products, deal with seasonal sales fluctuations, and keep tight control over warehouse inventory. Our system just wasn’t built for that.
But the need for digitalization was obvious. At the time, around 80% of retail stores in Uzbekistan were still operating without any digital tools. Most were doing their accounting on paper, in Excel spreadsheets, or using outdated legacy software. Because of that, they weren’t productive. They were losing time, money, and in some cases, even dealing with theft.
It became clear that there was huge potential in this segment. That’s when I decided to launch my own project — an IT system to automate retail operations. That’s how BILLZ was born.
— Who did you start the project with?
— At first, it was Vadim Zakharyan. At Ucell, he was in charge of developing IT products, and in the startup, he took on the role of CTO. Later, our third co-founder, Jahongir Narzullaev, joined us. He had also worked at Ucell, but had since left to open his own chain of stores. We tested our ideas at his retail locations, which gave us valuable insights into how the retail business really worked.
— The three of you had experience in product launches, IT development, and retail. How quickly were you able to get the product off the ground?
— We initially thought it would take us two to three months to launch the product, but in reality, we rolled it out within one year. We made plenty of mistakes in the beginning. The biggest one was assuming that launching a startup would be easier just because we came from corporate backgrounds. In large companies, every task has a dedicated person, and the processes are already fine-tuned. But in a startup, we had to do everything ourselves.
Another mistake was trying to perfect the product from the start. We wanted to build the full feature set right away and polish every little detail. Essentially, we were trying to create a corporate-level service instead of quickly launching an MVP, testing demand, and getting to market.
On top of that, our team was working part-time, which really slowed us down. Looking back, we should have left our jobs in 2017, raised investment, and entered the market sooner. If we had done that, we probably would’ve hit our milestones two years earlier.
«We spent nights in stores and even worked at the cash registers — all just to truly understand our clients’ business»
— How does BILLZ work in a retail store, exactly? Which processes does it help with?
— BILLZ is a cloud-based platform for retail stores. Basically, it’s a system you can access from a PC, tablet, or smartphone. It helps with three core tasks: inventory management, customer relations, and financial control.
The entrepreneur enters the entire product assortment into the system, and from there, everything runs automatically: items are deducted from the warehouse when sold, revenue is recorded, and reports are updated in real time. This helps eliminate errors and fraud, which are almost impossible to avoid with paper-based accounting.
There’s also a built-in CRM and analytics. BILLZ keeps a full purchase history, helps launch promotions, and shows which products are selling faster. It makes business management much easier for store owners: they can see their profit, identify illiquid stock (products that don’t sell well), and track turnover, meaning how quickly goods are converted back into cash.
On average, retailers who start using our system save around 40% of their time on routine operations. They no longer need extra staff for accounting or inventory management, and there are fewer errors and losses.
— You started with offline retail, helping stores move from paper to digital tools. The next logical step would be online retail. Have you explored that direction?
— Yes, we did try. At the time, digital commerce was growing rapidly, so we decided to launch online stores for our clients. The first few projects got off the ground, but it quickly became clear that without traffic, they wouldn’t succeed. We even built a digital marketing team to help clients with promotion, but that ended up stretching our focus too thin. As a result, both directions started to suffer. In the end, we decided to shut down the online side and focus entirely on our core product for offline retail.
— Who were your very first clients?
— We started with clothing stores because they were more inclined toward automation. Unlike grocery shops, they had already invested in things like store design, renting space in shopping centers, and buying large collections. With higher turnover and greater purchasing power, automation felt like a natural next step for them.
— What made them choose you over other options?
— We really tried to be as client-focused as possible. We even spent nights in stores helping with inventory counts and supported teams during big promotions when customer traffic was high. I personally stood behind the cashier desk to understand how everything worked from the inside. Instead of building a simple tool, we ended up creating a complex product packed with features. As I mentioned earlier, that was both a mistake and an advantage. In some cases, we understood retail operations even better than the store owners themselves.
Getting the first 100 clients was tough. But once they started to see the value, they began recommending us — and that’s when the business really started to grow.
— How easy is it for stores to switch from paper to BILLZ?
— In general, yes. But the transition does take some effort. That’s why we’re fully committed to making the product as simple and user-friendly as possible. We remove unnecessary features and focus on an intuitive interface so that even someone without a technical background can easily use it. Of course, if an entrepreneur is used to working with a notebook or Excel sheets, switching to an online system can be a challenge. That’s where our support comes in. We guide clients every step of the way. We offer an online academy with short courses, and every new client gets a dedicated account manager. They help input products into the system, fine-tune the cash register setup, and train the staff.
— How does BILLZ generate revenue?
— We use a standard SaaS model — in other words, a subscription-based service. Every new client gets a 7-day free trial, after which they choose a pricing plan. For example, in Kazakhstan, the basic package costs 13,900 tenge per month and is ideal for small stores with simple accounting needs. A more advanced plan with extended finance and marketing features costs 22,900 tenge.
For larger retail chains, there’s a full package priced at 45,900 tenge per month. Each additional store location adds 7,900 tenge to the subscription.
In addition to subscriptions, we also generate transactional income. For instance, if a retailer secures financing from a bank through our platform, we receive a commission. The same goes for payment services. We act as an aggregator and earn a small percentage from each transaction.
«In Uzbekistan, around 60% of major retail chains use our platform»
— How many clients are currently using your platform?
— We currently work with over 5,000 stores, and our monthly growth is about 300 to 400 new clients. This is the result of a comprehensive marketing strategy. We have a dedicated team that attracts leads through advertising campaigns, and those leads are then processed by our sales department. One especially pleasant aspect is that 20 to 30 percent of new clients come through recommendations.
Of course, not every case is successful. When the entrepreneur is personally involved, the automation process usually goes smoothly. But if it is a side business and the owner delegates everything to a manager, there is not always enough motivation to implement the system. Sometimes the process can feel boring, especially when it involves entering 10,000 products, printing price tags, and sticking them on — which can take up to a week. If the manager is not interested, the process can stall.
— You initially focused on clothing stores. Do you now serve a broader range of clients?
— Our main clients are small retail stores with 1 to 5 locations, an assortment of 3,000 to 5,000 products, and a customer base of up to 20,000 people. We focus strictly on retail, not production or wholesale. The key segments we serve include fashion (clothing, footwear, accessories), electronics and appliances, beauty products, grocery, and construction retail.
We also work with larger clients who have hundreds of store locations. For them, we provide additional integrations, such as 1C, marketplaces, payment systems, and more. In Uzbekistan, we estimate that around 60% of retail chains use BILLZ, and we also have similar clients in Kazakhstan.
— How and when did you manage to expand beyond the local market?
— In Kazakhstan, we have a local office and a full team on the ground. In Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, we operate through franchise partners.
We entered the Kazakhstani market in 2022 and ran into challenges right away. There are far more digital solutions available compared to Uzbekistan, and their adoption rate is much higher. In Uzbekistan, businesses often still need to transition from paper or Excel to digital systems. But in Kazakhstan, the market is already competitive and well-developed, so you have to prove why your product is better than the existing options.
— What kind of impact did these market differences have?
— In Uzbekistan, one lead costs us about $2. In Kazakhstan, the cost of acquisition ranges from $8 to $12. That’s because the market is more competitive: there’s more advertising, bigger budgets, and tenders raise the stakes. All of this affects the unit economics of the product, including customer acquisition cost, pricing, and distribution channels.
So, we had to build a new marketing and sales strategy tailored specifically to the realities of the Kazakhstani market, rather than trying to copy what worked in Uzbekistan.
«$7 million was used to buy out stakes from founders and investors, while $5 million was invested directly into the company’s development»
— Where does the funding for product development come from?
— At the start, my co-founders and I invested $200,000 of our own money. Our first external investor was the British fund Sturgeon Capital, which provided $150,000 in 2020.
Then, in 2022, the Singapore-based fund Quest Ventures joined the project with a $500,000 investment, and Sturgeon Capital contributed an additional $150,000.
In 2024, we received a $200,000 investment from FinQ Ventures. Then, in November 2024, our list of investors grew with the addition of Evren Uçok, the founder of Trendyol — the largest marketplace in Turkey.
In June 2025, we announced a deal with the Georgian bank TBC, which acquired a controlling stake — approximately 60% of the company — for $12 million. Of that amount, $7 million went toward a cashout for founders and early investors, while $5 million was invested directly into the company’s development. The remaining 40% of shares are held by the team and some of the existing investors. Under the terms of the deal, TBC is expected to acquire full ownership within three years, based on a new valuation of the company.
— Let’s talk more about the deal. How did you come to the decision to sell 60% of the company?
— I first met the TBC team back when I was working at Ucell, during the period when they were preparing to launch in Uzbekistan. At the time, the bank’s representatives were meeting with major market players, and they reached out to us because mobile operators hold large volumes of data. We’ve stayed in touch ever since.
In 2024, I was actively networking with funds in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and attending conferences in the US and Georgia. One day, I happened to meet Nika Kurdiani, CEO of TBC in Uzbekistan. We had breakfast, exchanged ideas, and quickly realized that our businesses could be valuable to each other. At first, we discussed a potential partnership. But after a few more meetings, Nika made a new proposal. He said, “We can invest $5 million, but as a strategic player, we’re not in the venture game — we need a controlling stake.”
Later, Oliver Hughes, former CEO of Tinkoff Bank and now responsible for international expansion at TBC, joined the negotiations. We quickly found common ground and realized that, strategically, we were a perfect fit. That’s how the decision to move forward with the deal came together.
— A deal with a bank is a major step, especially when it involves selling a controlling stake. Were you concerned about losing independence, facing limitations, or experiencing a shift in company culture?
— We had no concerns. We’d known the TBC team for a long time and felt there was a strong cultural match. Strategically, our product fits naturally into their ecosystem, and that ecosystem gives us the opportunity to grow even faster.
For us, it was a key decision: either form a strategic partnership with a major bank or pursue our own license. Our long-term strategy goes beyond retail automation. We’re also focused on developing FinTech services like payments, installments, loans, and other banking solutions.
What’s also important is that as part of the deal, we secured $5 million in funding. This was the investment portion of the $12 million mentioned earlier. That kind of deal is quite rare in Central Asia. There aren’t many active venture funds in the region, and it’s still not easy to “sell” the region to international investors, even though interest is growing. One of the biggest challenges in negotiations is the question of scale. If your valuation is $10 million, you need to clearly show how you’ll grow to $100 million. At a $20 million valuation, you have to make the case for hitting $200 million. That’s often the hardest part.
— What are the main benefits for you as a result of this deal?
— This partnership will strengthen our position in FinTech. We plan to launch new services in both retail and financial technology, including installment payments, additional payment solutions, and the integration of banking products directly into BILLZ.
To be honest, we already offer some financial services. For example, a retailer can work with our system for six months and become eligible for a collateral-free business loan of up to $150,000. We launched this project in partnership with Asia Alliance Bank. So far, the total volume of loans issued through our platform has reached $15 million.
We recently integrated with a payment aggregator, which now allows retailers to use a single QR code to accept payments from any system. This is especially relevant in Uzbekistan. In Kazakhstan, 8 out of 10 payments are made using Kaspi QR, so the system is relatively unified. In Uzbekistan, however, it is a different story. There are Click, Payme, Uzum, Alif, Paynet, and dozens of banking apps. As a result, retailers often had to display several QR codes — usually at least three, and sometimes five or six. We solved that issue with this integration.
— If we look beyond just new features, what direction is BILLZ heading in the near future?
— Over the next year, our main focus is scaling. Right now, we serve around 5,000 stores, but in Uzbekistan alone there are between 150,000 and 180,000 retail stores, and in Kazakhstan around 220,000 to 250,000. So we’re still covering only a small part of the market. Our key goal is to increase our market share and onboard more retail locations.
In a three-year horizon, we see ourselves as an integral part of the TBC ecosystem. BILLZ should become a single window for small and medium-sized businesses, offering not only automation but also financial services, analytics, and additional tools. Everything a retailer needs to grow should be accessible through one unified platform.