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February 18, 2022

TechUkraine Digest #1/2022

What has happened in the Ukrainian tech market in January 2022?

R&D and new offices in Ukraine

Qualcomm has recently registered as a legal entity in Ukraine, a representative office in Kyiv and plan to open the R&D center in the country – read

French neobank Qonto in partnership with Ukrainian IT company WeSoftYou is hiring Rubi on Rails contractors and in future is going to open an R&D office in Ukraine – read

SoftServe opens R&D centers in South America: Mexico, Columbia, and Chile. The first office will launch in Guadalajara, Mexico. The next – Bogota and Medelina, Columbia, and Santiago in Chile – read

Ukrainian tech company Intellias opens an R&D office in Novi Sad, Serbia. The key industries for new center are Automotive, Telecom, FinTech, Digital – read

BlaBlaCar’s tech hub in Kyiv and plans for a global bus marketplace: interview with Igor Ivashchenko, VP Engineering CEE – read

Venture capital and startups:

Co-Founded by Ukrainian Illya Polosuhin, Near Protocol raised $150 MLN from Three Arrows Capital, Dragonfly Capital, a16z, Mechanism Capital. NEAR Protocol, scalable blockchain designed to provide the performance and user experience necessary to bridge the gap to mainstream adoption of decentralized applications,  listed as the 3rd fastest-growing crypto ecosystem for developers in 2021 by Forbes – read

Co-Founded by Ukrainian Pavlo Eremenko Universal Hydrogen, the company leading the fight to decarbonize aviation through the adoption of hydrogen as a universal fuel, raised $62 MLN by Mitsubishi Motors HC Capital, Tencent, Stratos, GE Aviation and others – read

Ukrainian Fintech Farm, a newly launched fintech startup based in the U.K. that creates digital banks in emerging markets, has raised $7.4 million in seed funding led by Flyer One Ventures and Solid with participating TA Ventures, Jiji.ng, u.ventures and AVentures Capital – read

BGV Trident Capital, founded by Illia Ponomarev and Hennadiy Butkevych (the co-owner of ATB), has invested $5 million in the robot manufacturing startup Deus Robots, created by Pavlo Pikulin in 2018 – read

Ukrainian cross-chain bridge Allbridge raised $2 MLN from Race Capital and Chris McCann. Founded by Andriy Velykyy in summer 2021, the company supported chains including Solana, Avalanche, Fantom, Celo, Polygon, Ethereum, BSC and Terra – read

The Ukrainian online notarization platform OneNotary, working in the US market, has raised a $1.75 million investment round co-led by Adventures Lab VC, Digital Future VC, uventures, TMT Investments PLC, and GoodPaper Venture – read

Ukrainian pharmaceutical company Farmak has invested more than $1.2 million in projects and startups in the MedTech and HealthCare industries: ComeBack Mobility, DrugCard, Cambrian Biopharma – read

JKR Investment Group invested in TRIONIKA, a Ukraine-based global IT company. The amount of the deal is not disclosed – read

Finmap, a cash flow management service for businesses, closed a new round of investments amounting to $1.2 million from Presto Ventures, Sturgeon Capital, SID Venture Partners, startup incubator Startup Wise Guys – read

Ukrainian SaaS platform for companies in the aviation industry Input Software joins the global Techstars community at the “Cities of the future” accelerator program in Turin, Italy. The company raised $120 000 with an estimate of $3 MLN – read

The Ukrainian venture capital firm TAVentures increased the size of its fund — from $50 million to $75 million. The firm will use the additional $25 million to invest in a new direction — Web3, blockchain, and a metaverse = read

M&A

U.S. chipmaker giant Qualcomm acquired a Ukrainian startup that develops virtual and augmented reality software Augmented Pixels for an undisclosed amount – read

Glovo acquires Ukrainian grocery delivery service Zakaz.ua. The companies didn’t disclose the acquisition cost, but according to experts’ estimates, the price didn’t exceed $50 millions. According to Liga.tech, Zakaz.ua refuted the deal – read

Spanish Impress is acquiring the Ukrainian company OrthoS, resulting in the birth of Orthos Impress. During the next three years, Impress will invest € 10 million in the Ukrainian market: building the clinics, R&D center, treatment planning & production facility – read

IdeaSoft announced the acquisition of Kharkiv-based software and gametech development company PULS Software, which will become Eventyr. One of the main business vectors will be focused on Web 3.0, NFT gaming, and Metaverse vectors, as well as expansion towards the large corporate IT sector – read

Virtuos, a leading global game development company, announced the completion of its acquisition of Kyiv-based Volmi Games (‘Volmi’), a 2D and 3D art production studio with 140 employees. Virtuos’ expansion into Kyiv marks the company’s first foray into Eastern Europe, tapping into Ukraine’s growing pool of tech talent – read

Callback Automation Platform for the websites CallPage, an IT startup founded by Ukrainians Ross Knap, Sergey Butko, and Andrey Tkach, has been acquired by SaaS Labs, an American automatized platform providing services to sales and support teams. The amount of the deal is undisclosed – read

Ukraine is among TOP 10 countries where Unicorn Founders Born according to the Stanford University Graduate School of Business Venture Capital Initiative research – read

Sich-2-30, Ukraine’s fourth satellite, was launched on 13th of January. Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched it into orbit with a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The satellite was designed, assembled and tested in Dnipro, Ukraine, at the Pivdenne Design Bureau – read

Ukrainian 3DLOOK has received the prestigious Digiday Technology Award in ‘Best In-Store Technology’ for successfully implementing its mobile body measuring solution in 330+ tailored brands stores and improving the shopping experience for both the retailer’s customers and sales representatives – read

Ukrainian mission-driven digital fashion company DRESSX is in a Newsweek as one of the America’s greatest disruptor (fifty visionaries, innovators and pioneers who are transforming the world through technology) – read

Ukrainian Delfast Inc. is among the best all-terrain electric bike globally according to Insider – read

Ukrainian effa, 100% recyclable and renewable paper travel amenities startup, showcases via CES 2022 and features at TechCrunch – read

Ukrainian Mosqitter is featured in line with global tech giants among the top picks from the CES 2022 at the category Appliances & Cleaning by Reviewed – read

9 Ukrainian tech companies were shortlisted in the rating the Best 50 employers in Ukraine by Forbes Ukraine and Work.ua: Intellias, SoftServe, ELEKS, EPAM Ukraine, Ciklum, DataArt,  N-iX, Gismart, Luxoft – read

Six Ukrainian startup teams selected to present Ukraine at the South by Southwest SXSW 2022 Conference happening this March in Texas, the USA: Framiore, effa, FlashBeats, Deep3dstudio, Proof-of-Love, SPOKK – read

Lviv IT cluster in cooperation with USAID Competitive Economy Program in Ukraine launched Lviv Tech, the first B2B platform that connects the Ukrainian IT sector with clients from all over the world – read

Ukrainian greencubator team and CIVITTA in partnership with European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Union in Ukraine has launched the new phase of the Climate Innovation Voucher up to EUR 50,000 to develop climate innovation as part of the FINTECC programme, aimed at increasing SMEs’ competitiveness to develop and implement climate technologies – read

On the basis of the National Technical University “Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute ” (NTU “KhPI”) UFuture, NIX Solutions, KFund opened the “Innovation Campus”. A modern educational cluster combines a high level of theoretical training of classical university education and obtaining relevant skills (technical, economic, managerial and communicational) while working on real practical tasks – read

Our partners EASE, European association of software engineering, launched the production of the documentary “The first code”. The film will tell the history of the Ukrainian tech ecosystem at a glance – read

The Ukrainian drug delivery service Liki24, has reached the mark of 1 M customers. The company operates in Ukraine, Poland, Romania, and Hungary – read

Binance has announced the appointment of the General Manager in Ukraine Kyrylo Khomiakov who will be responsible for strengthening the company’s positions in the local market, implementation of the global marketing strategy, and GR – read

Teams of Creative Management Camp and Cultural Agency launched a web application Navzaiem («Mutually») designed for professionals who create, manage, produce and promote cultural and creative projects – read

The Founder Of Superludi Vlad Nozdrachev Launches Nextedo – New Economy Business University that will provide new economy entrepreneurs and professionals with the knowledge and special skills that will lead to better business outcomes – read

TitanEra launched the lines of 3D printing for the production of pilot goods at the R&D center. TitanEra is the first company in Ukraine and the world to build a pilot plant for the production of titanium powder and final titanium goods based on the patented Titanera Process – read

Ukrainian UFuture holding company, which develops the Bila Tserkva industrial park, announces changes in its configuration and the finish of the first phase of development: relocate production capacities of the Plank Electrotechnic to partners, and place the German manufacturer of automotive components in its place – read

Key facts and figures of Ukraine’s Tech industry – read

The next Ukrainian unicorns according to experts point of view: Restream, Effa, Esper Bionics and others – read

Government news

  • How to apply for Diia City residency: Cabinet of Ministries’ guidelines – read
  • Due to the Diia City, the IT sector growth performance can double to 40-50% per annum, while revenues can grow from USD 6 billion to USD 16.5-17 billion, according to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal – read
  • Ukraine is introducing new tools to win a regional competition for investors –  the development of 25 industrial parks countrywide, the potential of which is starting from USD 2.5 billion in additional investments, according to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal – read
  • Ukraine over the next few years aims to integrate into European markets by signing so-called visa-free with the EU in the industrial, customs, digital, transport and energy sectors. The introduction of European rules will give the Ukrainian economy additional billions of euros in revenues – read
  • The Ministry of Digital Transformation is now encouraging people from all over the world to use the digital literacy educational series available in English on the web portal Diia.Digital education – read
  • The immigration permit procedure is simplified for foreign IT specialists. The Cabinet of Ministers has approved a bill that would improve the mechanisms for granting immigration permits, to simplify the process for giving immigration permits to foreign highly qualified IT specialists. According to the government, consideration of applications for immigration permits is reduced from one year to 6 months – read

Blogs 

  • Dominique Piotet’s interview for podcast #1 in Ukraine – listen
  • Ukrainian cybersecurity expert Dr. Yegor Aushev, co-founder of Cyber Unit Technologies and Cyber School, showcased the presentation on a topic of Critical Infrastructure trends 2022 at Intersec, the world’s leading trade fair for Commercial & Information Security – read
  • Interview with Bogdan Ponomar, one of the initiators of the AI HOUSE Conference and CEO of AI HOUSE, who’s team is responsible for many educational projects in AI and ML fields and creating a solid AI community in Ukraine – read
  • Interview with Yaroslav Prygara, ex-CEO of SHERP and co-founder of recently launched startup for remote workers Remo that provides high-tech working spaces in the best places around the world – read
  • Interview with CEO of Digital Learning David Oreshok, a modern educational project for schools that helps transform the computer science lessons into up-to-date IT courses for pupils – read 
  • Inspirational story by Ukrainer about the benchmark of Ukrainian tech ecosystem MacPaw founded by Oleksandr Kosovan – read
  • Interview with Oleksiy Skrypny, ELEKS, one of the most experienced person in the Ukrainian tech industry – read
  • Mykhailo Rogalskiy talks about rebranding to The Credit Thing the fintech startup Koto from London, launched by monobank founders – read

Reports: 

  • Ukraine IT Report 2021 by IТ Ukraine Association – read
  • UKRAINIAN STARTUP ECOSYSTEM by Polish-Ukrainian Startup Bridge, Ukrainian Startup Fund, Warsaw Stock Exchange – read
  • Salaries of Ukrainian IT specialists by DOU – read
  • Migration map of IT specialists in Ukraine by DOU – read
  • The Best 50 employers in Ukraine by Forbes Ukraine and Work.ua – read
  • IT Vinnytsya Research 2021 – read
  • 2021 Annual European Venture Report by PitchBook – read
  • Global M&A Report 2021 by PitchBook – read
  • State Of Venture 2021 Report by CBInsights – read
  • Global VC funding report by Crunchbase – read
  • PitchBook Benchmarks (as of Q2 2021) by PitchBook – read
  • The French Tech Ecosystem 2021 report by Eurazeo – read
  • Electric Capital Developer Report 2021 – read
  • Creative economy: new economy epoch XXI century by CMD-Ukraine – read
  • The state of SaaS in Japan by One Capital – read
  • AdTech full year market report 2021 by Luma Partners – read
  • Cryptocurrency and blockchain in Ukraine – read

 

 

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