What has happened in the Ukrainian tech market in November 2020?
Available at: TechUkraine
Venture capital and startups:
Ajax Systems, a Ukrainian manufacturer of wireless security systems, has opened the second plant in Kyiv. It is located on the Left Bank at 9 Boryspilska St., on the territory of the former Kyiv radio plant and plans to create 1,000 new positions – read
Ukrainian startup RetargetApp, a web app that automatically creates and optimizes effective ads for online shops, closed the Seed-round of $2,4 mln. BeeVentures and TMT Investments PLC invested $1,2 mln – read
The international startup with Ukrainian roots Portal has closed a $350,000 angel funding round by a group of investors from the Netherlands – read
Ukrainian startup VAR.energy allowing solar plants to boost profits raises angel investment. VAR.energy installs an add-on controller on an existing SPP, which makes it possible to sell to electrical grid operators the so-called “secondary services” for balancing reactive power- read
Ukrainian venture firm ICU Ventures announced it has invested in Hivecell, a New York-based Edge-as-a-Service company that’s redefining the category of edge computing. Hivecell is powered by a Ukrainian developer team.The terms of the investment are not disclosed – read
Ukrainian startup AllRight, a global platform for English learning for kids 4 y.o. and older, which combines lessons with real teachers and homework with AI-powered tutors, raises $5M from Genesis Investments, also supported by TMT INVESTMENTS, TerraVC, and existing investors Flashpoint and Misha Lyalin.
– read
A Ukrainian live streaming service StreamHERO raises $550k from Adventures Lab and angel investors. StreamHERO is a live stream advertising network. Its algorithm integrates non-intrusive banner ads into broadcasts and places call-to-action links into a chat – read
The U.S. company Hover, a platform that creates a fully interactive 3D model of any property using photos taken with a smartphone, has raised a $60 million Series D round led by a group of insurance carriers.The company has representative offices in Zhytomyr and Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine – read
Ukrainian Startup Fund announced the 6 winners of the 14, 15, 16 Pitch Days who raised from pre-seed funding round 25K to seed funding round 50K per project – eSalesPlatform, HackenAI, RE-leaf PAPER, Muscreators, iceFood, Impulsar – read. Check out the full list of winners.
Three winners of the hackathon “Hack for Locals 2.0″ – Don’t burn, Ward, Drop Table Team. UNDP Ukraine together with the Ministry of Digital Transformation have selected three winners of the three-day hackathon “Hack for Locals 2.0,” whose projects will soon receive financial and mentoring support to implement their innovative ideas in the communities of Ukraine – read
The Seattle-based game publisher TinyBuild has invested $3 million in Lviv-based game studio Hologryph – read
Ecosystem news:
The Top Young IT Entrepreneurs of the Forbes Ukraine Under 30 2020 – read
The Kyiv Post announces the winners of the 2020 Top 30 Under 30 award, an annual prize that recognizes young Ukrainian achievers – tech entrepreneurs among young leaders: Artyom Kopanev, Genesis, Roman Mogylnyi, Reface App, Victoria Repa, BetterMe, Misha Rudominski, IT and aerospace entrepreneur – read
Polina Lishko, Ph.D., a Ukrainian-born physiologist at the University of California, Berkeley, has been chosen to receive a 2020 MacArthur “genius” award. The award comes with $625,000 in funding over five years, which Dr. Lishko, an associate professor of molecular and cell biology, will use to continue her work on reproductive physiology. – read
Margarita Sivakova, CEO OF Legal Nodes, became the Winner of the European Women of Legal Tech Award 2020 in the Entrepreneurship Category – read
Anastasia Volkova, Ukrainian tech entrepreneur and agricultural innovator, who were shortlisted at the BBC 100 Women 2020. Anastasia uses science and technology to tackle issues of food security – read
According to Sensor Tower, Ukrainian delivery service Raketa.ua has been ranked as TOP 10 the most downloaded EU apps in App Store and Google Play in 2020 – read
Ukrainian startup BIOsens, biotechnology company which develops hardware and software solutions for analysis of food contamination, have emerged as a TOP 100 Global startup of #SLINGSHOT 2020 (among 7,500 global startups!) – read
Dealroom.co-powered Ukrainian ecosystem map is now covering 1300+ startups, investors, accelerators, investments per industry, and more making it the most extensive startup and venture capital ecosystem in Ukraine – read
Kyiv is now City #87 in the ranking of The Best Cities by Resonance Consulting – read
Ukraine becomes the ninth country joining the NASA space program. Ukraine has all the scientific and technical capabilities and experience allowing the country to become one of the weighty partners of NASA during the implementation of the Artemis program – read
Ukrainian hypermarket goods delivery service, Zakaz.ua kicks off in Uzbekistan. Previously service was launched in the capital of Moldova, Chisinau. In Ukraine, Zakaz.ua operates in 15 cities, particularly in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Odesa, and Lviv – read
The IT labor market grew up by 20% in September 2020. According to GlobalLogic, the number of vacancies in the IT-sphere reached 6,000 in September. This shows the gradual resumption of the IT industry in Ukraine since the pandemic started – read
The State Statistics Service reports that IT helped save the day as Ukraine’s balance of trade in this area showed a $4.4 billion surplus. Compared to the first three quarters of last year, exports of services dropped by 12% to $8.15 billion, while imports fell by 26.5% to $3.7 billion. BRDO Ukraine reports that Ukraine’s IT industry loses $199 million in Q2/Q3, export growth rate may recover in Q4 – read
According to the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, since July 2020 over 7.5 thousand Ukrainian towns with a population of 1.5 million have gotten access to the 4G – read
The Parliament of Ukraine has registered draft laws for the development of the Ukrainian IT sector – №4303 “On Stimulating the Development of the Digital Economy in Ukraine” and №4305 “On Amendments to Criminal Legislation Concerning the Special Procedure for Investigating Criminal Offenses to ensure proper conditions for the development of the digital economy”. According to forecasts of dynamic development after the launch of Diia City by the end of 2025, by the end of 2025, the number of jobs in the IT industry will increase up to 450 thousand – read
GIG-employees are the new players in the Ukrainian IT-field. Thanks to the draft law №4303, a new form of employment is becoming increasingly integrated into the Ukrainian legislation: GIG-employees, which allows IT companies to enjoy truly flexible working conditions, sais Oleksandr Bornyakov, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation and Head of project Diia City – read
According to the Ukrainian Israeli Innovation Summit overview, during the past three years the collaboration between Ukraine and Israel in the IT-sphere has been taken to the next level: nearly 30 Israeli companies have opened their offices in Ukraine; more than 50 Ukrainian technological companies have found new clients in Israel; the turnover of Ukrainian IT services to Israeli companies have reached over $150 mln; about 40% of its IT services Israel buys from Ukraine – read
The Digital Transformation ministry is launching an English-language version of Diya.Biznes, its online platform for entrepreneurs doing business in Ukraine. The platform features a map of the business support infrastructure, including incubators, accelerators, business support centers, foundations and business associations in each region of Ukraine – read
The stories of the Ukrainian startups: the world’s first smart solar blind Solar Gaps and Ukrainian unique electric bike Delfast by Ukrainer.
Reports:
The Global Fintech Ecosystem Report 2020 by Startup Genome – read
Europe startup unicorns by Sifted – read
Via VentureBit AIN, TechUkraine, EsportObserver, UNDP Ukraine, USF
