BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 1. PASHA Holding is
sourcing startups not solely in Azerbaijan however throughout the area and
matching them with the particular wants of corporations in its
portfolio, Tugra Musayeva, head of innovation at PASHA Monetary
Holding, stated on the CAMCA Regional Discussion board 2026 in Baku at this time,
Development’s correspondent
experiences from the occasion.
She made the remarks throughout the “Regional Synergies: Designing
the Subsequent Digital Silk Street” session.
In response to Musayeva, the group has a program underneath which its
corporations work with startups and implement technological options
by way of pilot initiatives. A profitable pilot at one firm can serve
as a advice for different corporations inside the group.
“We supply startups from the area based mostly on the wants of our
corporations in banking, insurance coverage, e-commerce and different areas. When a
pilot is profitable at one firm, the answer is handed on to
different corporations within the group. They belief one another’s expertise:
if an answer has labored for one firm, it’s seemingly to assist
one other as properly. Right now, this has grow to be frequent follow inside the
group,” Musayeva stated.
“The native market will not be sufficient, so we search for options on the
regional degree. For a startup, this gives one thing that’s most
tough to acquire: the primary buyer in a brand new market. As a substitute of
getting into a brand new nation, constructing relationships from scratch and
spending a 12 months in search of the primary buyer, it will get an entry
level by way of our group,” she stated.
INMerge VC’s regional funding portfolio
Talking about investments, Musayeva mentioned the work of
enterprise capital fund INMerge VC, which started investing in January
this 12 months. The fund has made six investments to this point, with its
portfolio regional from the outset, comprising startups from
Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Türkiye.
“We’re seeing increasingly more founders addressing regional slightly
than native challenges. The benefit of the area is that the
issues are very comparable: funds and transfers, small-business
lending and connecting prospects to digital monetary providers. If
a founder has discovered a technical resolution that may be simply scaled
and doesn’t have to construct a product from scratch to enter, for
instance, Azerbaijan from Uzbekistan, we’re instantly
,” Musayeva stated.
In response to her, INMerge can provide startups greater than capital,
together with a pilot venture, a primary buyer and entry to the
Azerbaijani market by way of the group’s corporations.
INMerge as a regional platform
Musayeva additionally spoke in regards to the position of the INMerge Innovation
Summit, which PASHA Holding is creating as a regional platform
for presidency our bodies, companies, startups and buyers from
the Caucasus, Central Asia and neighboring areas.
In response to her, INMerge has expanded past Azerbaijan, with
occasions held in Istanbul, Tashkent and Berlin. The primary summit will
happen in Baku on November 30 and December 1, 2026.
“INMerge is a spot the place regional demand for innovation meets
provide. Massive corporations within the area nonetheless search for startups
individually, every in its personal nation. We would like them to share their
challenges, acknowledge one another’s pilots and make investments collectively,” she
stated.
Musayeva careworn {that a} startup scales throughout the area not
solely as a result of its expertise is scalable.
“It scales when the ecosystem reduces the price of getting into the
subsequent market. The objective will not be merely to attach our nations
by way of digital channels, however to make the area work as a single
marketplace for innovation,” she stated.
