The investments volume is increasing
Since 2013, Ukrainian IT companies have received a total of $1 billion investments. This interest makes the country one of the most attracting location from the perspective of investment activities in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).
In 2018, IT companies and startups raised $323 million (excluding NDA deals). This is 22% more than last year. These are mainly investments in companies’ growth and development following B series. However, compared to the previous year, investment at the stage of seed-Series B increased by $6 million ($73 million in 2017 to $79 million in 2018).
71% of all investments on the market in 2018 are distributed among only three companies. These companies have development labs in Ukraine, and the founders are Ukrainians (GitLab, BitFury, and People.ai).
Total investments in 2018
The table below contains all public funding deals for the past year in descending order. In total, the compilers of Dealbook counted 44 investments. Gitlab, the company with Ukrainian roots which attracted $120 million in Series D Round, became an absolute record-breaker in the fundraising campaign.
Most active investors
As noted in the study, there are still very few local Ukrainian funds that support startups at the seed stage. Mostly they finance startups from fund 1 (tens – rarely hundreds of thousands of dollars per project), only a few collect fund 2 with a larger volume.
Traditionally, American and European funds and angels are the most active investors in Ukrainian startups.
Overview of Ukrainian IT Ecosystem
In Ukraine, there are R&D offices of 19 major international IT companies and startups, such as Oracle, Samsung, Ericsson, Huawei, and others. Most of them are based in Kyiv; R&D labs are located in Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipro, and Lviv.
Many IT giants, such as Google, for example, also use the services of Ukrainian IT experts through outsourcing companies. However, such cooperation is often under NDA.
Top product companies by revenue
Also, the study covers data about Ukrainian product companies with the most international revenue. There is a total of 21 companies. Some of them are based in Ukraine, however, there are also those that are positioned as international, but have Ukrainian origin.
Merges and acquisitions
Ukrainian M&A market is mainly represented by funding deals with software outsourcing companies. The annual rate of this sector is going to increase by 20-25%.
Earlier, a similar study was published by UVCA.
