Ukrainian Startup Fund Holds Eighth Pitch Day

07.07.2020

On July 3, the Ukrainian Startup Fund held the eighth Pitch Day. For the first time after quarantine, the event took place offline in the territory of the Unit.City innovative park. Presentations (pitch) were made by ten startups. All of them are at the seed stage (applying for state grant funding in the amount of $ 50,000 each).

The event began with a solemn congratulation from the Minister of Finance of Ukraine Sergiy Marchenko:

“I am very pleased to be among you. It is wonderful that Oksana Markarova founded this fund by investing in it in my soul, and I can support this project, be the minister who encourages and develops innovations. Together with the Minister, Deputy Prime Minister of Digital Transformation Mikhail Fedorov is working on the possibility of launching Dila City. Today I want to look with interest at the work of the fund from the inside, how the process of selecting startups is going on. Thanks for the invitation!”.

Victoria Tigipko, founder and managing partner of the TAVentures venture fund, personally made a presentation where she told how startups around the world are experiencing pandemics, provided optimistic forecasts and encouraging statistics:

“I want to thank everyone who works in this interesting market at this difficult time. On the one hand, there is a serious global problem – COVID, but on the other – an unrealistic number of opportunities around the world, new models are appearing. Therefore, we need to orient, group, optimize “raise all your processes for opportunities to survive this difficult period. What you are doing is changing the global digital ecosystem. Good luck!”.

The main points from the presentation: M & A activity did not decrease; countries have launched support programs for their startups; 94% will not stop their activities; 40% in search of investments; European funds have the capital and raised 20 billion euros in 2019-2020rr; economic crises have little effect on startups (only 10% went bankrupt, while others “raised money”); seed stage startups recover faster.

The solemn part was completed by Yuri Pedery, CEO of AeroDrone, a startup that was one of the first to receive a grant from the Fund:

“In January of this year, we managed to get a grant from the USF. We had a clear strategy on how to scale our business through mass production. We have already built two production aircraft. Now we all have several contracts with technical partners and pilot projects outside the rural sphere the economy that we initially focused on, namely in energy and logistics. Therefore, my advice to startups: if you manage to get grants, use them according to your strategy, do not spray on the little things. Choose 2-3 areas and focus on them. “

Assessed the pitch of startups by members of the Competition Commission:

Olexandr Romanishin. Advisor to the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, partner of the accelerator ISE Booster.

Andriy Guly. Chief Analyst Indax.

Mikhailo Khaletsky. Senior Investment Analyst, Simpact VC.

Andreas Flodstrom. Founder and CEO at Beetroot.

Sergiy Dovgopoliy. Managing Partner, Business Accelerator FeelGoodLabs

Andriy Zaikin. CEO at YEP startup incubator.

Maxim Beshleul. Founder and CEO of MedicalLife.

The main criteria for evaluating projects at the seed stage are: team, market, technology, product, strategy. In each category, a maximum of 5 points (total maximum 25). A passing score for a recommendation to the Supervisory Board for a grant is 15 points.

Based on the results of the assessments of the Competition Commission, the following rating list of startups was formed (from the highest score to the lowest):

Neverdark. Fireplace with real fire for any apartment.

Ревізіон. Feedback service and NPS. The platform allows you to return existing and attract new customers. Build a positive brand reputation through an effective feedback system at every point of contact with a client.

Upswot. Improving sales efficiency for SMEs with continuous monitoring and insights from 117 alternative data sources.

Activechat. A platform for creating complex virtual assistants with the ability to automate their development process based on AI.

Timeat. Service for pre-ordering dishes in restaurants and cafes. This helps users save unnecessary time waiting for meals in restaurants, and restaurants to attract new customers and accelerate client flow.

A.D.A.M. Biotech startup focusing on bio-printing bone implants using proprietary 3D technology.

MoKeш. Platform for direct financing of small businesses by private individuals.

Poly Diagnostic. Production of diagnostic tests based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in Ukraine.

DeviceVoice. Innovative hardware-software IWT solution for automating coffee business using patented Self-Checkout technology and telemetry system.

Trustee Wallet. Innovative non-custodial multicurrency crypto-gaman, which provides the ability to instantly send and receive virtual assets using Visa / MasterCard.

At a meeting of the Fund’s Supervisory Board, which will be held in the near future, it will be decided which startups will receive grant funding.