In theri strive to go global, many startups with Ukrainian take advantage of international acceleration programs situated in advanced tech markets. Thus PromoRepublic, a startup founded in Kiev in 2013, is perhaps the country’s most globalized startups, having joined and completes no less that four acceleration programs from Estonia, to Chile, to Finland and the USA (see case study in EWDN’s CEE startup report, Part 6).
Also illustrating this trend have been, more recently, three other startups: PatentBot, Publicfast, and Merodot.
PatentBot is a Ukrainian-American legaltech startup: its solution is intended for checking and registering a trademark via Facebook messenger. The startup has just attracted an undisclosed amount of investment from Betatron, a Hong Kong-based accelerator, at a $750,000 valuation. The company is the first Ukrainian project to receive funding from the accelerator, as reported last week by Ukrainian tech blog AIN.UA.
“China is the fastest growing trademark registration market in the world. It accounts for five million registered trademarks in 2017, up from two million in 2016. In contrast, the numbers are one million and 135,000 in the US and the EU respectively,” AIN quoted PatentBot co-founder Nataly Vladimirova as saying.
As part of the deal, two members of the startup’s team will move to China to participate in the four-month acceleration program. There, the company will create a customized version of their service for WeChat, Chinese most popular messenger.
The company sees the acceleration program as an opportunity to understand Chinese mentality and the peculiarities of the local market, as well as to create a business strategy and find new partners.
Faster than Silicon Valley
As stated by the startup’s co-founder, Valentin Pivovarov, China is developing much faster than Silicon Valley in terms of technology. “In 2017, 15 unicorn companies emerged on the Chinese market, which is unparalleled in the world,” he noted.
In late April, the startup launched in 28 countries of the European Union, in addition to the US and its domestic market, Ukraine.
Meanwhile, another Ukrainian startup, Publicfast, which offers “a marketing tool to promote businesses on social media through opinion leaders’ social reach,” was selected for a six-month intensive scaling program Startupbootcamp Scale San Francisco — 3S Landing Pad, which helps businesses launch in the US and enter the global market.
The company has been chosen out of 450 applicants from 50 countries.
As part of the program, which kicks off on May 21, the selected startups will relocate to San Francisco to benefit from mentoring from Global Scaling Academy, as well as from entrepreneurs, investors, and corporate partners. The teams will also receive six months of free office space, over $250,000 worth of deals, and $40,000 financial support, according to a press release.
As of today, Kyiv (Kiev) -headquartered Publicfast claims 585 active and 1,500 completed campaigns, as well as 71,847 active creators using its platform.
Almost simultaneously, Meredot, a young Ukrainian startup offering “the safest power outlet ever” as an alternative to a traditional socket was selected to participate in the equity-free MassChallenge Israel’s 2018 accelerator program.
The company will join 54 other projects from all over the world to benefit from a three-and-a-half-month program, including access to MassChallenge’s global network, mentoring from industry experts, tailored programming, free co-working space, as well as access to the network of the accelerator’s corporate partners.
