The Ukrainian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (UVCA) and the Western NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF) are announcing the UVCA Challenge: CES Edition 2018, which will be held in September 2018 in Kyiv (Kiev).
The ten best startups, up from eight teams last year, will receive the opportunity to exhibit for free at the Ukrainian Expo of the International Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas in early January 2018.
The selected startups will benefit from a free exhibition stand with their individual design and branding. They will also take advantage of additional media coverage, both local and international, as well as mentoring and other assistance.
To participate in the selection process, startups should:
- be an Internet-of-Things or a hardware project
- have an English-speaking founder or team member
- be able to cover flight, accommodation and other expenses during the conference
- plan to expand an existing team by five people within three years
- intend to increase export earnings
“Most of the exhibited projects attracted investment, partners and customers after the exhibition last year. Several UA Tech Expo participants (SolarGaps and Luciding) had successful Kickstarter campaigns or launched pre-sales (Ecoisme). All this proves the demand for the products on the global market,” commented Olga Afanasyeva, UVCA’s executive director.
Last year for the first time, Ukrainian startups had a chance to reach out to 170,000 CES-2017 visitors.
“We are pleased to continue supporting Ukrainian Tech Expo at the CES 2018. Ukrainian talented startups can spur innovation and bring new ideas to create new products and address important social issues. The tech startup sector has a potential to significantly contribute to economic growth and job creation in Ukraine,” said Jaroslawa Z. Johnson, WNISEF’s President and CEO.
- To apply, please submit your application to uvca.challenge@uvca.eu and fill in the form no later than August 31.
