Out of 28 Ukrainian funds locally active before the war, only half (14) have continued investing domestically since February 2022, says a study published earlier this month by local tech news outlet AIN.
These funds are Angel One Fund, Burner, Flyer One Ventures, Geek Ventures, hi5 Ventures, Horizon Capital, Hypra, NetSolid Investments, N1 Investment Fund, SID Venture Partners, SMRK, TA Ventures, U.Ventures and Vesna Capital.
Only seven funds have made three or more deals involving Ukrainian startups during that period.
Some of the most established funds — AVentures, CIG, and Digital Future — did not report any investment, according to AIN.
However, this study fails to provide a comprehensive picture of Ukraine’s domestic venture activity. For example, ZAS Ventures, a Ukrainian fund that started investing earlier this year, and aims to focus on Ukrainian startups, is not listed in the study.
Ukrainian funds generally invest relatively small amounts at the pre-seed, seed and Series A stages. For example, as reported by Forbes Ukraine, hi5 Ventures has just led a round of up to $700,000 (the exact amount was not disclosed) for Odesa-based Saldo Apps. Targeting foreign markets, this startup develops mobile-first software solutions that “allow SMEs to sell online, record financial transactions, and keep their books digitally.”
