Faq

  • What is USF?

    The Ukrainian Startup Fund (USF) is a state owned fund and our mission is to support innovation projects and help the talented Ukrainian entrepreneurs to create successful scalable businesses .

  • Should I have Ukrainian incorporation?

    Yes, we support Ukrainian startups and businesses only.

  • How can we get funding for our startup?

    Apply online on USF web-portal. We fund startups continuously.

  • How much do you fund?

    We have two options: for pre-seed stage startups – grant size is up to $25k and seed stage startups – grant size is up to $50k.

  • What qualifies as pre-seed stage?

    A pre-seed funding round is for early stage product development of a minimum viable product (MVP). Funding of a startup at this level is to maximise its future fundraising opportunities through testing, having an effective core team and building beyond a prototype.The amount of money is usually relatively small because the business is still in the idea or conceptual stage.

  • What qualifies as seed stage?

    Startups at this level have already validated their value proposition. They have monthly revenue which is consistent, constant and the business is growing month on month. The startup needs its next level of funding to find true product/market fit, scale, grow and become a competitor in the current market place.

  • How much of equity stake do you take?

    We do not take any equity stake. We provide funding in the form of grants.

  • Do we need to write a business plan?

    Yes. We make funding decisions based on our application form that includes business plan to be evaluated by our experts

  • Will you sign an NDA? How do I know you won't steal my idea?

    No, we won’t sign an NDA. No funds would at this stage. The informal commitment to secrecy on our application form is more than any fund would make.

  • We have two ideas. Can we submit several applications?

    We don’t recommend it. You should pick your favorite idea and apply with that one.

  • How long it takes to evaluate startups?

    Usually it is around 1 month, but sometimes it depends on our expert’s load

  • What is the deadline to apply?

    There are no deadline, applications are accepted on rolling basis.

  • How do you evaluate applications?

    Evaluation of each submitted application is performed by independent experts. Their evaluation is based on certain criteria which include, but are not limited to: sustainable business model, skilled leadership team, market, product and technology

  • I am a solo founder. Is that a disadvantage?

    No. We regularly accept solo founders.

  • Why didn't you accept our application?

    We do not provide with the feedback why we didn’t select for funding any particular application. The main reason it could be rejected is a sufficient number of other applications that seem particularly good.