The venture arm of Uzbekistan’s leading national payment processing company, UzCard, successfully closed an investment into IMAN investment company, as part of a $1m seed round led by Battery Road Digital Holdings (Singapore), and a number of other VC funds, including Tesla Capital, MyAsiaVC, and Le Mercier’s Capital among others.
The significance of the transaction included the complex legal aspects of the transaction, involving three jurisdictions, challenges from an Uzbek law perspective, and matters of Shari’a compliance. As part of our work we:
(i) carried out legal due diligence checks on various corporate, commercial and regulatory aspects of IMAN Group of companies’ activities in Uzbekistan;
(ii) commented and took part in negotiations over the SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) under English law to ensure investor’s rights are protected, including the planned relocation of the parent company of Iman Group to Singapore; and
(iii) assisted the client with the satisfaction of condition precedents to investment.
Led by charismatic co-founders Rustam Rahmatov and Mark Zubov, the faith-driven ‘buy-now-pay-later’ company now has its eyes set for new horizons with the upcoming expansion across majority Muslim Asia Pacific countries.
Centil’s team was led by Senior Associates Husniddin Ochildiyev and Ulugbek Gulamov, and involved Associate Khayrullo Abdullaev, with the help of international English law consultant,) who advised on English and Uzbek law matters of the transaction. Husniddin commented: “We are delighted to have played a part in IMAN’s inspiring story. In addition, it is a great opportunity for Centil’s team to be involved in one of the first and most significant venture capital transactions in Uzbekistan, and demonstrates our capability to work on complex multi-jurisdictional transactions governed under English law.”
The firm’s team later took part in a conference organized by UzCard Ventures, where it spoke along with representatives from Tesla Capital and IMAN on the details of the transaction, and what it means for startups in Central Asia.
