Made in Ukraine Tech Startup Edition, interviews with top Ukrainian entrepreneurs

Vertical farming enables more land efficient agriculture closer to urban areas. The Ukrainian entrepreneur Aleks Prykhodko is the CEO and founder of a vertical farming startup, Smart Oasis. While focused on Ukraine, the company also has a pilot project in the UK. Mr. Prykhodko talks about vertical farming technology and how he hopes to take his company global. https://smartoasis.life/

Go TO-U is an electric vehicle charging software solution that acts as a digital experience platform for e-mobility. CEO and cofounder Nazar Shymone-Davyda talks about how and why he helped established the Ukrainian tech startup company, its early successes and which markets he hopes to serve. https://go-tou.com/en

G-MAK is a Ukrainian active defense security product startup cofounded in 2018 by Lyubomyr Dykun (CEO) and Volodymyr Rovinskyi (CTO). Their product provides home protection in less than 1 second by turning on active defense systems: thick fog, powerful stroboscopic flash and multi-tone siren sound to disorient any intruder. Commercial Director Volodymyr Chykalov talks about how and why the company was founded and their plans to market and sell their product in various markets including the U.S. https://g-mak.ua/en

Since 2017, innovative tech startups from Ukraine have exhibited at the world class CES technology show. The Ukraine Startup pavilion is made possible due to the joint work of the Ukrainian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (UVCA) and the Ukrainian Startup Fund together with USAID Competitive Economy Program in Ukraine (USAID CEP), Western NIS Enterprise Fund, Global Innovation through Science and Technology (GIST) and the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine. TechUkraine is an information partner. Dmytro Kuzmenko, the executive director of the UVCA talks about the Ukrainian startups at CES this year and their opportunity to present their products and services in person to a global audience. https://techukraine.org/2022/12/29/brave-ukrainian-tech-will-showcase-hardware-innovations-at-ces-2023-in-las-vegas/

Angel One is a recently launched venture fund for UKrainian tech startups offered by the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, Ukraine. Managing Partner Ivan Petrenko discusses how and why the fund was started and what its plans are for investment. https://sifted.eu/articles/ukrainian-university-fund-spinouts/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivan-petrenko-070299172/

Carbominer is a Ukrainian hardware startup that has developed innovative technology to capture CO2 from the air. CEO and founder Nick Oseyko offers an update on what has been happening with the company and its technology since his first interview with Made in Ukraine in March 2021. https://carbominer.com/

The Ukrainian entrepreneur Karolina Attspodina is the CEO and cofounder of WeDoSolar. The company headquartered in Berlin, Germany, offers apartment dwellers an option to generate their own electricity from solar energy. The solar energy generator is located on a south-facing balcony. Karolina talks about her company and its great success in the market since it launched in February 2022. https://we.do.solar/en

Promin Aerospace is a Ukrainian spacetech startup based in Dnipro, Ukraine. CEO and cofounder Misha Rudominski describes the innovative rocket technology of the company and his plans to commercialize it. https://prominaerospace.com/

Elai.io is a text-to-video platform that offers users a convenient tool to create all kinds of videos for promotional and other purposes. CEO and cofounder Vitalii Romanchenko talks about how and why the company was founded, its successful business model and future plans for growth. https://elai.io/

AVentures Capital is a major early stage Venture Capital fund focused on global companies that leverage R&D in Ukraine and CEE. Yuliya Sychikova is a company director and the producer of the investment report, "Dealbook of Ukraine: 2022 edition". She reviews the highlights of this report produced each year since 2014. https://www.slideshare.net/YevgenSysoyev/dealbook-of-ukraine-2022-edition-251657977?fbclid=IwAR0hqZkT4aqCQlA6I7ftdnFItjfz6-pxwu2EFVxetmOqKZBb8va1Yj_abo0

SID Venture Partners was formed in 2021 by three Ukrainian IT service companies: Sigma Software, Ideasoft and Datrics. Their venture capital fund backs Ukrainian founders from pre-seed to Series A. Managing General Partner Dmitry Vartanian and General Partner Alexey Stoletny discuss the fund's strategy, its first startup investments and the challenge for tech companies posed by the war in Ukraine. https://sid.fund/

The Ukrainian Startup Fund is a Ukrainian Government agency under the auspices of the Ministry of Finance. It makes funding grants to pre-seed and seed stage Ukrainian tech startups. Director Pavlo Kartashov talks about why USF was established, how it works and its reputation as the major angel investor in Ukraine today. https://usf.com.ua/en/

The Ukrainian tech startup OneNotary aims to create convenience for their customers through an online notary service available 24/7 focused on the U.S. market. CEO and cofounder Ivan Zinkov hopes to improve the notarization process by streamlining it and making it affordable and easily accessible. He talks about how the company was started and his plans for future growth. http://onenotary.us . Contact Sales [email protected]

MaxAh, a Ukrainian cleantech startup founded in June 2021, is developing a technology for lithium power supplies using Ukrainian graphene. CEO and cofounder Serhii Dubinevych talks about why the development of this technology is so critical at this time and when he hopes to have a battery prototype available. He is joined by Armand Lazarian, who is the Chief Business Development Officer. The company is headquartered in Kyiv, Ukraine. http://maxah.tech/

Let's Enhance was cofounded in 2018 by CEO Sofiia Shvets and her partner Vlad Pranskevicius. The Ukrainian tech startup offers software to edit large volumes of photos using AI. The name of the product is Claid. Sofiia discusses how and why the company was founded, its business model and current profitability and plans for the future. https://letsenhance.io/

The Ukrainian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association together with its research partner Kreston.ua has released the new annual report, "Ukraine Venture Capital and Private Equity Markets Overview 2020". Kreston Director of Innovation Taras Dumenko discusses the highlights of the report. It is available for download here. https://uvca.eu/en/news/ukraine-venture-capital-and-private-equity-markets-overview-2020 And, you can find out about the research partner Kreston.ua here. https://kreston.ua/

Yurii Filipchuk is the CEO and a cofounder of the Ukrainian tech startup Party.Space. This company specializes in virtual events. Yurii and his team recently attracted a pre-seed investment of US $1 million. He talks about how and why the company was established and its immediate goals. https://www.party.space/

Anton Vaisburd is the CEO and cofounder of a Ukrainian startup firm Datrics. Datrics is a no-code platform to perform data analytics. Anton talks about how and why the company was founded in 2020 and the market opportunities for his product. https://datrics.ai/

Apostera is a Ukrainian tech startup that has produced a Mixed Reality solution for companies developing automotive Augmented Reality heads-up displays (HUDs), Navigation Suppliers, and OEMs. The company has its headquarters in Munich, Germany, but its R&D staff are located in Kyiv, Ukraine. CEO and cofounder Andrey Golubinskiy talks about how the company was founded and its successful track record in the automotive software field. https://apostera.com/

Dobrozem is a new Ukrainian startup that offers an online platform for buying and selling land. Alex Lissitsa cofounded it along with Dmytro Dubilet. A new land reform law in Ukraine has made it possible for Ukrainian citizens to buy and sell up to 100 hectares of land. Mr. Lissitsa discusses why Dobrozem was founded and what its prospects are for short and long term success. https://dobrozem.com.ua/

UNIT.City is Ukraine’s first innovation park. Its goal is to become the center of innovation and a one-point entry into Ukraine for investors, partners and new technology from across the globe. CEO Dominique Piotet talks about how companies, startups, students, professionals and research laboratories creatively work together at the park to grow leading-edge, global businesses. https://unit.city/en/home/

Watched (now Wantent, ed. note 09/08/21} is an AI-based platform that identifies consumer reactions to video content and provides an analysis of the emotional connection with the viewer using machine learning technologies. The service analyzes 25 parameters for the best understanding of a target audience, including engagement, emotions, interest, attention etc. CEO Oleksii Shaldenko talks about how the company was founded, its current clients and plans for future growth. https://www.wantent.io/

Carbominer is a Ukrainian hardware startup that is developing innovative technology to capture CO₂ from the air. CEO Nick Oseyko talks about how and why he established the company and what his plans are to bring its services to the market. https://carbominer.com/

Hirio is a Ukrainian tech startup focused on volume hiring in the HR Tech space. CEO and cofounder Konstantin Miska discusses why he launched the company, its recent success with fundraising and plans for the future. https://www.hirio.co/

Kira Rudik is a current Member of Parliament of Ukraine, the first Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Digital Transformation and the leader of the Holos Party. She is also a serial tech entrepreneur and the former COO of Ring Ukraine. Kira talks about her experience in the world of technology and her desire to help build a better and effective relationship between business and the Ukrainian government. https://www.linkedin.com/in/kira-rudik-b6a6123/?originalSubdomain=ua

Oleksandr Bornyakov is a Deputy Minister with the Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Transformation. In this interview he talks about their programs designed to fully digitize every day administrative government tasks like getting a driver's license, registering a newborn baby, setting up a corporation, obtaining a passport, etc. using a smartphone as the tool. We also talked about Oleksandr's main project – a special legal framework for the IT industry – Diia City. https://thedigital.gov.ua/

Propertymate provides an artificial intelligence-powered management system for real estate developers and agents. It matches potential buyers with their ideal homes. CEO Dan Hnatkovsky talks about how the company was founded, their 2020 success with Techstars in Austin, Texas, and his plans for the future. https://propertymate.ai/en/

Petcube is a global leader in the connected pet market. It was founded in 2012 in Kyiv, Ukraine, and has offices in San Francisco, Calif., and Shenzhen, China. Its first product, the Petcube camera, enables pet owners to see, talk to and play with their pets remotely from their smartphone. CEO Yaroslav Azhnyuk offers a current update about the company's products and efforts to grow the business. https://petcube.com/

Center42 is a boutique innovation agency that helps corporations, investors, and entrepreneurs to work with startups and discover and launch new digital products and business models on the edge of digital transformation. Founder and CEO Kirill Mazur talks about his entrepreneurial career and his company Center42 and its activities. https://center42.tech/

​UniExo is a wearable modular robotic exoskeleton device designed to facilitate and improve rehab for all limbs. The exoskeleton assists and supports patients outside healthcare facilities and helps along their physical rehabilitation. Anton Holovachenko is an inventor and hardware engineer and the founder and CEO of UniExo. He talks about his product, the company and his plans to bring the robotic exoskeleton to the global market. http://www.uniexo.com/

Alcor is a business management consulting company with its headquarters in Kyiv, Ukraine. The company specializes in business process outsourcing (BPO). Dmitry Ovcharenko, its CEO and founder, discusses the company and its efforts to become a major global player. https://alcor-bpo.com/

Founded in 2016, 3DLOOK is a creator of a mobile body scanning technology that uses a patented combination of computer vision, neural networks, and 3D statistical modeling to generate a 3D avatar and more than 70 points of measure from just two photos in under 30 seconds. The company has developed the world's first Body Data Platform and was recognized as the 2019 winners of the LVMH Innovation Award and the IEEE Retail Digital Transformation Grand Challenge. It was previously named by Coresight Research as an emerging company disrupting traditional retail with its 3D body scanning technology. Cofounder and CEO Vadim Rogovskiy discusses the company, its products and future growth plans. https://3dlook.me/

An interview with Dr. Igor Kotsiuba, the chairman and cofounder of the Ukrainian digital health company Healthymity. Dr. Kotsiuba and his team are helping to create an ecosystem for collaboration between hospitals and pharmaceutical companies on AI projects. https://healthymity.com/

The Ukrainian startup RefaceAI has developed an AI technology to swap faces in images and video. One of its products is "Doublicat" which is a face swap AI-tool for GIFs. Chief Business Officer Dmitry Shvets talks about the company, its products and its plans to become a major player in the production side of the entertainment industry. https://reface.ai/

Riddletag is a Kyiv-based Ukrainian startup offering facial recognition technology for the retail, banking, insurance and transportation sectors. CEO and cofounder Yuri Holuzynets discusses the company, its projects and plans for the future. https://riddletag.com/en/

David Gilgur, a founding partner with Blue Lake Accelerator, talks about the program of this business accelerator for Ukrainian tech startups. The accelerator is based in London. https://www.bluelakeaccelerator.com/

Anastasiia Romanova, the CEO of Mosquito Control Ltd, discusses a smart, eco-friendly mosquito control system developed by her Ukrainian startup company headquartered in Kyiv. Her company has participated in the EO Business Incubators program in Ukraine. https://semcs.com.ua/

Olga Afanasyeva is the CEO of the Ukrainian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association based in Kyiv, Ukraine. She talks about her recent trip with six Ukrainian tech startups to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. CRDF Global and its STEP program, funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, were partners for this activity. Olga also discusses the end-of-January Ukraine House Davos alongside the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. http://uvca.eu/en

CEO and cofounder Alex Galkin talks about his company Competera. The company offers a cloud-native platform for brick&click retailers to make optimal price and promo decisions. It was founded in 2014 in Ukraine. https://competera.net/

LvBS Center for Entrepreneurship is a relatively new accelerator for startups and an educational platform for students and young entrepreneurs in Ukraine. Executive Director Ivan Petrenko talks about how the Center was started and its technology business programs. https://ucucfe.lvbs.com.ua/en/

TechUkraine is creating a single communication hub for Ukraine as a technological nation. It facilitates collaboration with existing startup hubs, accelerator programs, VC’s, universities and Ukrainian tech entrepreneurs. Program Director Nataly Veremeeva talks about the NGO's various programs and initatives to secure greater exposure for Ukraine in the global tech community. https://techukraine.org/tech-ukraine/

Vitaly Kirkpatrick, who is a recent Ukrainian emigre to the U.S., founded his company in 2016 focused on wireless audio and assisted-living technologies. He talks about how he developed the idea and his plans to market his product in the U.S. and globally. www.clovitek.com

Solar Gaps offers smart blinds that automatically track the sun and generate electricity for home, office or other commercial buildings. Founder and CEO Yevgen Erik talks about how and why he started the company and his efforts to sell his product on a global market. https://solargaps.com/

Andrei Komarovski is the CEO of the Ukraine tech startup accelerator Sector X. Sector X is a program offered by the UNIT.City innovation park in Kyiv, Ukraine. Andrei talks about the accelerator and the tech startups participating in it. https://sectorx.city/

Zpoken AI CEO Anton Gera discusses the transformation of his original company Anryze into a full service data science firm. Zpoken is headquartered in Kyiv, Ukraine. https://zpoken.ai/

Nanobot Medical Animation Studio provides 3D digital graphics to more effectively illustrate medical applications. Cofounders Andrii Koniukh and Yuriy Svidinenko talk about the art of scientific storytelling and how their company has helped major global life science and medical-product companies more easily communicate with their clients and customers. https://www.nanobotmedical.com/

Michael Puzrakov is the COO, Chairman and cofounder of the Ukrainian custom software development company Intellias. He is also a founding member of the new regional investment community Lviv Tech Angels. In this interview he talks about how LVIV IT Cluster was a catalyst for this new tech startup investment group and their future plans. https://itcluster.lviv.ua/en/projects/lviv-tech-angels/

UATAG founder and CEO Taras Rodtsevych discusses his product UATAG. UATAG is new, patented solution, designed to protect the authenticity of important valuables and products utilizing blockchain technology. It offers 100% counterfeit protection. https://uatag.com/

DeepTrait is developing self-learning AI capable of working with the full genomes of crop plants. Cofounders Sergii Shelpuk and Ruslana Radchuk talk about how the company was founded and the services they hope to offer to the global biotechnology community. https://www.deeptrait.ai/

Crello is a visual editor that simplifies the design process for everyone. It’s a simple solution that eliminates the need for complex design tools to create visuals. Chief Marketing Officer Nazar Begen talks about how the startup was founded and how Crello works. https://crello.com/