Big Uzbek fintech company Uzum plans to launch an app-based ready-to-eat food order and grocery delivery service in the near future, according to the company’s co-founder Jasur Dzhumaev and an adviser to the holding, Boris Dobrodeev.

The food delivery service model would combine the market approach taken by Russian companies Delivery Club and Ozon Fresh, they told RBC. To this end, Uzum intends to develop a network of dark stores (localised order-fulfilment warehouses for ‘clicked’ goods for delivery) throughout Uzbekistan. However, the company does not, reportedly, plan to deliver its own ready-made food offerings due to unprofitability.

In an interview with the Russian edition of Forbes, Dobrodeev earlier said that Uzum was fully focused on the Uzbek market and had no expansion plans that would take it to other countries.

Dzhumaev, meanwhile, told how the idea of creating Uzum came to him a few years ago, but at that time the penetration of mobile applications in the country was at a fairly low level.

One aim of the Uzum project is to create the largest developed e-commerce ecosystem in Uzbekistan.

At the moment, the company is negotiating with what it describes as some of the largest international investment funds from the Middle East. Uzum intends to raise $300mn by the end of 2023.

Within three years, Uzum plans to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) on an international stock exchange or several exchanges.

Since its official launch in the middle of last year, Uzum has managed to reach 29 cities in Uzbekistan. It has also built its own 27,000-square-metre warehouse.

By the year’s end, the company aims to record annual turnover of around $150mn.