Despite rising startup activity, Azerbaijan’s venture capital market remains small

On sunny weekends in May, residents of the Azerbaijani capital once again head for the sea. The beaches of Bilgah, Mardakan, and Buzovna are already welcoming their first visitors. Children build sandcastles, fishermen cast their lines, and cars line the shoreline, some driving almost to the water’s edge.

Azerbaijan will celebrate Eid al-Adha on May 27–28. The holiday is included in the list of official public holidays and is observed as a non-working day.

Azerbaijan’s tourism sector in 2026 has encountered its first serious sign of cooling after several years of post-pandemic recovery. According to data from the State Statistics Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan, 658,500 foreigners and stateless persons from 175 countries visited the country in January–April, which is 10.5 percent lower compared to the same period last year.

Small and medium-sized enterprises in Azerbaijan are entering a period of growing financial pressure in which liquidity management is becoming as important as revenue growth itself. Rising borrowing costs, import inflation, volatile logistics routes and slower consumer demand are forcing businesses to rethink one of the most overlooked aspects of corporate finance: emergency reserves.