20-year-old Uzbek founder raises $500K for no-code startup Surgent
What's the deal? Bahodir RajabovDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a 20-year-old entrepreneur from Bukhara, Uzbekistan, has raised $500,000 in pre-seed funding for his San Francisco startup SurgentDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. The platform lets creators without technical skills build and monetise software products.
Whop, a US digital product monetisation platform, invested through chief executive officer Steven SchwartzDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. The deal follows standard Y Combinator SAFE terms.
Why now? Rajabov turned down an acqui-hire offer from Whop — roughly $1 million in annual salary plus equity — to keep Surgent independent. Whop then invested directly.
The timing reflects a growing trend: creators seeking revenue beyond ads, courses, and dropshipping. Surgent positions software as a fourth monetisation channel.
What could go wrong? The no-code space is crowded. Competitors like Lovable and Replit already serve users wanting to build apps without programming.
Surgent's differentiation — focusing on monetisation, not just creation — must prove itself against well-funded alternatives. Building proprietary payment infrastructure adds technical and regulatory complexity.
The signal: A 20-year-old from Uzbekistan raising $500,000 in Silicon Valley signals the continued globalisation of startup talent. Rajabov's path — from Telegram bots in Bukhara to IBMDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →'s GenAI team to founding Surgent — shows how accessible entrepreneurship has become.
Surgent bets the next wave of creator monetisation will shift from courses and communities to software. Whop, which processes around $400 million annually for digital entrepreneurs, backs that thesis.
The three-person team will use funds to accelerate development, grow its user base, launch payment infrastructure, and prepare for the next round. Long-term goal: help 100,000 users earn at least $1,000 per month.
Sources:
StartupBase.uz
The Tech
Vladimir Norov
Fortune
