Adrien Henni - Ukraine Digital News

Ukrainian entrepreneur launches mental health support platform in the USA

May 5, 2021

A figure of the Ukrainian tech and venture scene, Oleksii (Alexey) Vitchenko, has launched and funded an online mental health support platform in the USA. Founded in early 2021, Calmerry has set for itself the mission of “making therapy affordable and accessible to anyone.” Subscription plans start from just $42 a week, allowing people with …

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Backed by 60 investors, this Ukrainian-founded startup wants to conquer the US banking industry

March 15, 2021

In November 2020 Upswot, an online banking solution provider founded by four Ukrainian entrepreneurs, brilliantly completed a Seed round of funding in the USA. Several institutional investors from this country, together with a plethora of business angels, brought $4.3 million to the startup, just 22 months after its inception. The deal was announced earlier this month by Upswot …

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New venture firm launches in Ukraine “to build fast-growing B2B SaaS and marketplace companies”

September 15, 2020

Last week the Ukrainian media reported the launch of Pragmatech Ventures, a venture capital firm and startup studio that aims to “build fast-growing B2B SaaS and marketplace companies.” Other target segments include proptech, biotech and HR tech. The firm is headed by Yevhen Sergeev, a former Microsoft engineer who says he co-founded “two nine-digit dollar …

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Report: Ukraine-born startups raised more than half a billion USD in 2019

March 12, 2020

In 2019, the VC/PE funding volume for Ukrainian and Ukrainian-founded tech startups reached $544 million (up from $323 million in 2018 and $265 million in 2017), says AVentures Capital’s latest industry report, “DealBook of Ukraine.” Annual early-stage funding for Ukraine-born tech companies The performance was mostly due to a few large rounds involving companies with Ukrainian roots having …

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Snapchat acquires AI Factory, a deepfake image and video startup with Ukrainian roots

December 31, 2019

Snap Inc. has acquired AI Factory, a startup with Ukrainian roots that develops image and video technologies. In an exchange with Ukraine Digital News, Snap’s press service confirmed the deal, which was initially reported by Ukrainian tech blog AIN.UA. Snap declined to provide any further details, but AIN.UA heard from “a source familiar with the matter” that AI Factory …

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Ukrainian administration aims to move online to “become a service, not a scary monster”

November 5, 2019

Following a presidential decree signed in July, the newly-formed Ministry of Digital Transformation has launched an ambitious plan to make all public services available online in a mere few years. A unified e-government portal, christened ‘Diia,’ is scheduled for launch in February 2020 with a first set of online services. The project — formally headed …

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Grammarly, a Ukrainian-born unicorn, aims to “improve lives” through improved written English style

October 11, 2019

Should he still be alive, Shakespeare might be happy to learn that a startup whose only purpose is to help people write English correctly has been valued at more than $1 billion. Such is the case of Grammarly, a San Francisco-based startup with Ukrainian roots, which has just secured $90 million in a round led …

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BlaBlaCar to acquire Ukrainian-born bus ticketing platform Busfor

September 25, 2019

BlaBlaCar, the carpooling giant born in France, intends to acquire Busfor, a major international bus ticketing platform born in Ukraine. The news was reported today by Russian business daily Kommersant, which cites exchanges with BlaBlaCar’s CEO Nicolas Bruisson and Busfor co-founder Ilya Yekushevsky. The deal, which is still subject to regulatory approval, could be completed in Q4 …

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American-Ukrainian startup People.ai raises $60 million from top Silicon Valley funds

May 24, 2019

Just seven months after a previous $30 million Series B, People.ai, a San Francisco-based startup with Ukrainian roots, announced earlier this week it raised twice as much from prestigious Silicon Valley investors. The Series C funding was led by led by ICONIQ Capital with participation by Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, GGV Capital and Y Combinator. ICONIQ …

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Ukrainian startups shine at Las Vegas CES and Davos WEF

January 29, 2019

Over the past few years, Ukrainian industry associations and key market players supported notable initiatives to make their country’s IT assets visible at global industry events. Two key events, held in the beginning of each year, have concentrated their efforts: the Computer Electronics Show (CES) and the World Economic Forum (WEF). Thus, 10 startups from Ukraine were …

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The Current Wave: New breed of Ukrainian tech entrepreneurs seek success in global markets, Part 5

Ukraine hits 53rd place in Bloomberg innovation ranking, between Tunisia and India

January 24, 2019

Bloomberg’s latest ranking of “the world’s most innovative countries,” published this Tuesday, puts Ukraine at the 53rd place, between Tunisia and India. The Eastern European country, which was ranked 46th in last year’s ranking, is among the economies which “sank the most,” dropping out of the top 50, the Bloomberg analysts note. Doing better than Ukraine …

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2018 Eastern Europe and Central Asia Tech Investment Overview

January 16, 2019

Tech investment volumes in Eastern Europe and Central Asia were modest last year, if compared with the Chinese, US or Western European markets. However, 2018 was marked by giant corporate deals involving international players while a series of smaller venture transactions illustrated the diversity of the regional startup scene. In this review, which encompasses Russia, …

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