BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 8. Loans issued by Iranian banks and financial institutions to startup companies increased significantly in the sixth month of the current Iranian year (from August 23 through September 22, 2025), rising by nearly 147 percent compared to the same period last year (from August 22 through September 21, 2024).
Data obtained by Trend from the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) indicates that Iranian banks and financial institutions provided loans worth about 814 trillion rials (about $1.4 billion) to 1,244 startup companies, while during the same month last year, 755 startups received around 329 trillion rials (about $566 million).
State-owned banks granted loans totaling 82.2 trillion rials (about $141 million), marking an increase of 58.5 percent compared to the previous year, while non-state banks issued approximately 732 trillion rials (about $1.26 billion), up by 164 percent year-on-year.
Overall, loans worth nearly 2.9 quadrillion rials (about $5 billion) were extended to startup companies across the country in the first six months of the current Iranian year (from March 21 through September 22, 2025).
The initial wave of Iranian startups began to form around 2012, marked by the establishment of a venture fund in 2011 and the emergence of grassroots events and the first prominent accelerator in 2014. While the first incubator was founded in 2000, a significant acceleration of the startup ecosystem, including the rise of accelerators and investment firms, occurred after 2012.
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