Ukrainian startup Contera.ai wins $25,000 at the YEP Accelerator Demo Day – we attended the event

On Tuesday, February 25, YEP Accelerator organized and held a Demo Day. The key part of the event was a pitching competition for the best startup in the accelerator program. Contera.ai was selected as the winner and received $25,000 in non-equity investment from YEP in partnership with u.ventures.

In this batch, the program expanded the geography of participants by inviting Ukrainian startups based not only in Ukraine, but also in Poland, the United States, France, and Thailand. AIN attended the event and shared how it went.

About YEP Accelerator

YEP Accelerator is an intensive 3-month program for MVP/pre-traction/pre-revenue startups that need help and mentorship to quickly achieve their first traction and investment. This is the fourth YEP Accelerator startup batch.

The acceleration process is implemented with the assistance of UMAEF, which supports reform initiatives in Ukraine and transformational projects. The jury who selected the best startup included:

• Oleksandr Yatsenko, SMOK Ventures;

• Andrew Zinchuk, ZAS Ventures;

• Michael Perevoznyk, Flyer One Ventures;

• Maksym Strukov, Geek Ventures;

• Anton Washchuk, Ukraine-Moldova American Enterprise Fund;

• Ivan Petrenko, Angel One Fund;

• Galyna Isakiv, SID Venture Partners;

• Yulia Man, Digital Future.

Before the pitching of startup ideas, YEP Founder and CEO Andrii Zaikin gave a speech in which he shared that the acceleration program has been in existence for over two years and has four startup cohorts. He said that during the program, the graduates attended 25 different tech conferences in Europe and the United States and continued to develop their startups.

YEP also developed its venture capital fund network and was able to hold more than 150 meetings between founders and potential investors in the current program. As a result, out of 22 startups that have already completed the program, 30% have attracted investors, six startups have raised seed capital, and one startup has reached M&A.

Additionally, YEP CEO Andrii Zaikin announced the recruitment for the upcoming 2025 startup cohorts, with applications open until March 2025.

Pitching ideas

Each startup had three minutes for a pitch session and 7 minutes for feedback from the jury, and some startups joined offline. The participants of the current battle are:

• Contera.ai is a SaaS platform that automates 60% of marketing tasks for e-commerce businesses, turning data into actionable solutions for SEO and paid ads.

• Jahro is a SaaS tool for Unity developers that eliminates debugging workarounds and provides real-time control and monitoring of the game.

• M1 is a marketing AI assistant that helps marketing agencies create customized GTM strategies for clients.

• Maval is an intuitive game engine for creating story-driven RPGs and visual novels. The startup focuses on visual solutions that will work for PC or PlayST.

• Rewish is a platform for creating wish lists that helps to increase sales of online stores.

• SPOGAD is a development of post-consumer plastic recycling technologies for the production of fashion accessories and high-end jewelry.

• Voopty is a universal ERP system that automates and centralizes administrative processes for after-school programs. According to the co-founder, it saves time, money, and helps to optimize work. 

• VyshyvAI is an AI platform that simplifies the creation of custom products, providing fast and cost-effective solutions from design to production.

Oleksandr Yatsenko, CEO of SMOK Ventures, explained to AIN that the startup assessment consisted of assessing how the raised funds would help the startup develop and take a step towards solving their problems.