Ukrainian Startup Awards 2019 - The Fastest, The Biggest, The Most Impactful

Ukrainian Startup Awards 2019

Ukrainian Startup Awards 2019 recognized the most impactful activists and fastest-growing Ukrainian startups in 9 categories. Whom did the community nominate, who won, and what does it mean for Ukrainian startup ecosystem for 2020? Read all about what happened at the awards ceremony at LIFT99 Kyiv Hub on January 24th, 2020!

The winners of Ukrainain Startup Awards 2019

The winners of Ukrainain Startup Awards 2019

Why Startup Awards?

Ukrainian startup ecosystem is growing fast. A few years ago, Ukraine was mostly known for its amazing dev power but more and more startups are now recognizing their Ukrainian roots, more and more founders are eager to get started right here in Ukraine!

This means that more startups are being born, but it also means that the local founders can really learn from each other, share their already existing know-how and expertise, and create a wider pool of valuable global contacts by collaborating. LIFT99 is in Kyiv to support these goals and initiating the annual Ukrainian Startup Awards is a great way to spark new conversations, as well as bring visibility for the mega-fast-growing rising stars, and draw the global attention to Ukraine and its potential.



Some highlights? We’re really excited to see that the founders of big Ukrainian startups that have already made it global, like Grammarly (Giving Back Powerhouse 2019) and Restream (Revenue Hack of 2019), are participating at the community-level events, giving back to the ecosystem and supporting the next generation of founders. The importance of role-models can’t be underestimated!

We also saw amazing indicators of growth from Ukrainian startups in 2019, in real hardcore numbers - there are startups in this list here that have grown their ARR in 2019 by 500%, doubled their team-size from 400 to 800, raised millions of $$.

Investment scene is a sensitive topic in Ukraine. Which is why we need to keep the conversation going. It was mentioned on stage that raising a seed-round in Ukraine is quite feasible nowadays, escpecially since some of the experienced Ukrainain founders have turned to making angel investments themselves and are giving back to the community this way; but the next rounds will probably already come from outside of Ukraine. And more often than not, directed to the foreign entities of the startup, despite their Ukrainian roots. How can we change that?

The panel of experts at Ukrainian Startup Awards 2019

The panel of experts at Ukrainian Startup Awards 2019

To discuss the highlights further, we led the awards ceremony in with a panel discussion. The focus was to offer context and actionable takeaways around the topics assembled and the names listed in them. Because the 9 categories are not random - they were put together to spark valuable discussions.

Some of the categories are educational in nature, encouraging startups to not get stuck because of lack of funds (Bootstrap Badger of 2019); or when they are raising money, how to do it in a really smart way, with the right people (Wise Wallet of 2019). Other categories are looking at a much bigger picture - like what is the real impact startups are having on humanity and the future of our planet;

The topic of the panel was "Summary of 2019 and plans for 2020: Market expansions, investments, and scaling for Ukrainian startups,” and presented Anna Polishchuk (CEO at Lalafo), Stas Matvienko (CEO at Allset), Roman Apostol (CEO at Mate Academy), and Pavel Karagjaur (VP of Growth at Bolt). The discussion was moderated by Ragnar Sass, CEO at LIFT99.

If you missed it, catch the LIVE RECORDING OF THE PANEL HERE.

Ragnar Sass, CEO of LIFT99 leading the show on stage

Ragnar Sass, CEO of LIFT99 leading the show on stage


The Winners and Nominees of Ukrainian Startup Awards 2019

1) The Startup Sector of 2019: Hardware Comet

Every year we pick one category of startups that is the trend-setter, that is booming, that showed exciting growth and interesting case studies. 2019 was the year of hardware - new factories opened, funds were raised, products broke records! Who flew the highest?

THE NOMINEES FOR THE STARTUP SECTOR OF 2019: HARDWARE COMET

  • Ajax
    Ajax is a wireless security system for ultimate protection. They have raised $11M. In 2019, the number of users grew 260k, totalling 400k by end of year. The team grew from 405 to 807. 

  • Cardiomo Care
    Cardiomo is a solution for monitoring heart health in real time, using wearable technology providing a live dashboard and alerts system. 2019 brought them 285 new users, the launch of 2 pilots, cooperation with hopsitals in Portugal, Germany, and UK. They also joined two accelerator programs - Rockstart Health (the Netherlands) and Biosaxony Accelerator at Leipzig Heart Center (Germany). In 2021, they are planning to scale to UK and US markets.

    Delfast
    Delfast produces electric bikes with a range of up to 370km on a single charge of battery which is the current Guinness World Record for distance traveled on a single charge. This is 5-10 times better than 99% of other of electric bikes. Delfast had 112 users and 6 B2B clients in 2019 (which is a big leap from 27 users in 2018). Solid revenue for last year. $815k raised so far. Delfast is now present in three countries (Ukraine, USA, France) with a team of 15 people.

  • Deusrobots
    Deusrobots is a company that creates robots for safe interior finishes. No external investment, self-funded. Right now they are in negotiations with a few construction companies in US and Europe. Pre-revenue. Team of 9 people.

  • Kray Technology
    Kray Protection UAS is building an industrial crop spraying drone. It is capable of processing up to 1200 acres per day autonomously. They are currently in talks about pilot projects with many big customers and are planning to launch the pilot projects by spring 2020. Solid revenue. $1.1M raised so far.

  • nuka
    nuka - an eternal notebook and eternal pencil that could be used endlessly. Launched via crowdfunding (kickstarter, indiegogo) with the result of 2500 pre-orders. Fundraised $250k ($180k via crowdfunding and $70k via acceleration and angel investments). In 2019, the team grew from 3 to 7 ppl.

  • Photon LMS
    Photon is the most advanced mini studio with constant LED lighting. Fully controlled lighting for detailed object shooting. Raised $92k at Kickstarter in 2019. Team grew from 3 to 7.

  • SEMCS by Mosquito Control 
    Smart Eco-friendly Mosquito Control System will clean outdoor territories from mosquitoes and protect people from mosquito-borne diseases. Since the beginning of 2019, the team has done 5 iterations of the system, conducted 5 independent tests, and held 700+ customer interviews. Beta version went for sale in Dec 2019. Right now, Mosquito Control has 10 users. $200k raised so far. Team of 6.

The Winner: Ajax

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2) The Impact Visionary of 2019

This startup measures their success by the impact they have in the world and on the future of humanity. May it be in edtech, greentech, medtech - this startup had a breakthrough in 2019 in a field that really matters, with a visionary solution that solves a real problem.

THE NOMINEES FOR THE IMPACT VISIONARY OF 2019

  • Beetroot Academy
    Beetroot Academy is a non-profit educational arm of Beetroot, a Swedish-Ukrainian IT-company with clients in more than 20 countries globally. They've currently raised $2.3M. Total number of graduates in 2019 - 1359 IT-specialists (166% growth); in the past 5 years - 2800+ IT-specialists. Number of new locations: +4 academies (with 16 academies in total now across Ukraine). Team of 50 employees and 60 teachers. 

  • Cardiomo Care
    Cardiomo is a solution for monitoring heart health in real time, using wearable technology providing a live dashboard and alerts system. 2019 brought them 285 new users, the launch of 2 pilots, cooperation with hopsitals in Portugal, Germany, and UK. They also joined two accelerator programs - Rockstart Health (the Netherlands) and Biosaxony Accelerator at Leipzig Heart Center (Germany). In 2021, they are planning to scale to UK and US markets.

  • Effa 
    Effa is a disposable toothbrush made of recycled paper and all other elements are made of eco-clean materials that do no harm the nature. Fundraised $130k from Starta VC + $30k from angels. Now focusing on launching mass manufacturing. They signed their first distributor delivery agreement on 2.4M toothbrushes for 2020 with globally known brands. First sales will launch in March 2020.

  • Esper Bionics
    Esper Bionics is an engineering company that works on mechatronics and machine learning, with ambitions for neural computer interfaces. Started official full-time work in March 2019. Got 20 LOIs and a request for 1000pcs a year for low-budget bionic prosthetic hands from European prosthetic organisation. Bootstrapping, no investment raised yet. Team of 7.

  • Mate Academy
    100% online education in Computer Science which the person will pay back for once they are hired by a company. Employed students grew from 140 in 2018 to 440 in 2019 - that’s 214% growth. Team grew from 5 in 2018 to 25 people in 2019. Fundraised $580k in 2019.

  • Raccoon.Recovery 
    Raccoon.Recovery is a tool for physical rehabilitation after injuries and neurological diseases that provides better outcomes for patients and saves therapists' time. Now it is a tool for hand rehabilitation that will be scaled to a full body solution in 2020. Total number of new users in 2019 - 520. Revenue increased by 47% and team grew 51%.

  • SEMCS by Mosquito control
    Smart Eco-friendly Mosquito Control System will clean outdoor territories from mosquitoes and protect people from mosquito-borne diseases. Since the beginning of 2019, the team has done 5 iterations of the system, conducted 5 independent tests, and held 700+ customer interviews. Beta version went for sale in Dec 2019. Right now, Mosquito Control has 10 users. $200k raised so far. Team of 6.

The Winner: Raccoon.Recovery

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3) The Stereotype Crusher of 2019

Positive role models have a huge impact on the decisions our next generation is already making today. In this category, we're looking for road-pavers leading the way to more equality and inclusiveness, within the sector as well as outside of it.

THE NOMINEES FOR THE STEREOTYPE CRUSHER OF 2019

  • Anna Polishchuk - co-founder and CEO at Lalafo
    Lalafo is an online C2C marketplace powered by artificial intelligence, meant for sales of all kinds of items, offering a kind of virtual 'flea market' for used goods, including clothing, accessories, homeware, and collectibles. Solid ARR in 2019. Team of 120 people, fundraised, and total of 8M app downloads.

  • Dariya Kichuk - co-founder of Effa
    Effa is a disposable toothbrush made of recycled paper and all other elements are made of eco-clean materials that do no harm the nature. Fundraised $130k from Starta VC + $30k from angels. Now focusing on launching mass manufacturing. They signed their first distributor delivery agreement on 2.4M toothbrushes for 2020 with globally known brands. First sales will launch in March 2020.

  • Eugenia Broshevan - Managing lead at Hackenproof
    HackenProof is a part of Hacken Ecosystem - a global tokenized business driven by cybersecurity. We connect our customers with the global hacker community to uncover security issues in their products. By running a custom-tailored bug bounty programs we help our customers significantly reduce the risk of losing their data to cybercriminals. Earning revenue. HackenProof has raised $500k.

  • Sofia Shvets - co-founder & CEO of Let's Enhance
    Let's Enhance is online platform to improve images with the help of neural networks. Currently raised investment - $270k. Solid ARR. In 2019, they launched a B2B product that now has 20 companies as clients, signed their first enterprise deal, reached +400k users on letsenhance.io, and grew the team from 4 people to 11.

  • Svitlana Malovana - CEO & Co-founder at Raccoon.Recovery
    Raccoon.Recovery is a tool for physical rehabilitation after injuries and neurological diseases. Today, the tool is meant for hand rehabilitation, it will be scaled to full-body solution in 2020. Total number of users added in 2019 - 520. Revenue increased by 47% and team grew 51%. 

  • Victoriya Repa - co-founder and CEO of BetterMe 
    Better me offers online workouts and diet-specific meals. In 2019, BetterMe received 40 million new downloads. Team grew almost twice, from 47 people to 80.

The Winner: Sofia Shvets

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4) The Wise Wallet of 2019

The best investors are all in, with their expertise, know-how and network, to lift a startup any way they can. In this category, we applaud the investors who've done at least 2 deals in 2019 and are the best team players, enablers, gate openers and bridge builders. These are the people who're giving meaning to the phrase "Smart Money". 

THE NOMINEES FOR THE WISE WALLET OF 2019

  • Bas Godska
    Bas Godska, Dutch business angel, has been investing in Ukrainian startups like Ecois.me, Zakaz.ua, and Newzmate. In 2019, he launched a venture fund called Acrobator Ventures which now has offices in Amsterdam and Kyiv. 

  • Genesis Investments
    Genesis Investments is a Ukrainian VC-fund, investing in Ukraine, Belarus, and Baltic countries. Made 4 investments in 2019 (including Mate Academy).

  • Maria Barsuk 
    Maria Barsuk is an investor at EBRD VCIP. EBRD’s investment program offers growth capital for Central and Eastern Europe. Investments in Ukraine include Allset and Depositphotos.

  • Nick Bilogorskiy
    Nick is an Ukrainian angel investor, located in Bay area. Nick has been an angel investor since 2012, investing in 2-3 seed stage companies per year, focusing on cybersecurity, AI and IOT. He has invested in Petcube, Cymmetria, People.AI, Augmented Pixels, Mixerbox and Uber, among others.

  • Oleksandr Kosovan
    Oleksandr Kosovan is the founder and CEO of MacPaw. SMRK VC Fund is a Ukrainian investment firm that funds early- and late-stage companies. Investments include Allset, Amazing Hiring and AJAX.

  • Viktoriya Tigipko
    Viktoriya Tigipko is a managing Partner of TA Ventures. TA Ventures is an early-stage VC fund focused on investments in Mobility, Digital Health, and AI/ML. 9 years of experience, 130+ investments, 80+portfolio companies.

  • Yevgen Sysoyev
    Yevgen Sysoyev is a Managing Partner at AVentures Capital. AVentures Capital is an early-stage VC investing in startups targeting US/global markets. 


The Winner: Oleksandr Kosovan

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5) The Giving Back Powerhouse of 2019

Passion, dedication, humbleness. A person, event or organisation that gives back without asking. They have a passion and a mission that makes our startup community stronger; the impact of their efforts resonates to the entire society. 

THE NOMINEES FOR THE GIVING BACK POWERHOUSE OF 2019

  • Artyom Yaremchuk - co-founder at Attendify
    Artyom and his team have built a very successful product and now he's ready to share his knowledge and experience with others. He's passionate about B2B sales and is always glad to help with his advice (which he actually does now by actively consulting two startups).
    Attendify is the only event technology company that helps event planners build deeper relationships at conferences, trade shows, exhibitions, corporate meetings and other events using event apps. Clients include Google, Bloomberg, AstraZeneca, Sage, Phillips, Autodesk, and AOL. Team of 86, (11 new people joined in 2019)
     

  • Dmytro Voloshyn - co-founder and CTO at Preply
    Dmytro is always glad to share his expertise with the ecosystem, his insights and ideas usually find very positive feedback from the audience. He's an active participant in different tech events in Ukraine and is helping to bring interesting speakers from global companies to Ukraine.
    Preply is an online educational platform that pairs students with private tutors remotely via online chat. They got 8.7M new users in 2019, +30 new team members and new office in Barcelona. Currently raised investment - $5.6M.

  • Grammarly
    Grammarly is a digital writing assistant that helps people write in English more clearly and effectively by providing feedback and suggestions in four categories: correctness, clarity, engagement, and delivery. In 2019, they fundraised $90M, in total they have fundraised $200M. DAU grew from 15M in 2018 to 20M in 2019.
    In Spring 2019, Grammarly supported #KyivNotKiev initiative by CorrectUA and helped boost the correct writing of Ukrainian city names: Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv. Last year, Grammarly hosted 1500 people at their events in their Kyiv office and also received recognition in charts like Wealthfront’s Career-Launching Companies 2020 and The World’s Most Innovative Companies 2019: Artificial Intelligence Honorees.

  • MacPaw
    MacPaw is a Mac app development startup that's self-funded. In 2019, CleanMyMac downloads exceeded 20M. The team grew by 52% and today has 200+ ppl.
    MacPaw is not only a successful company, but also an ecosystem player that is always ready to share their knowledge throughout different meetups, initiatives as well as inspire everybody around to be more eco-friendly by creating their own app for sorting garbage.

  • Sofia Shvets - CEO and co-founder of Let's Enhance
    Sofia is a young founder, but her personal experience of working at Google and now as a CEO of her own startup is making her expertise even extra valuable for the ecosystem. And she's always happy to share. Being a female founder, she always tries to inspire other ladies to go for it and create their own startups.

    Let's Enhance is online platform to improve images with the help of neural networks. Currently raised investment - $270k. Solid ARR. In 2019, they launched a B2B product that now has 20 companies as clients, signed their first enterprise deal, reached +400k users on letsenhance.io, and grew the team from 4 people to 11.

  • Yuriy Zaremba - CEO and co-founder of AXDRAFT
    Yuriy is an active member of the ecosystem, always trying to share his knowledge and inspire others. He emphasizes that his big dream is to prove that big and successful companies can be built in Ukraine. 
    AXDRAFT offers an on-demand automation of legal processes for enterprise customers, helping them to draft legal documents 10 times faster and avoid mistakes. Fundraised so far - $1.4M. In 2019, the number of users grew 10 times (from 56 to 574), revenue grew 286%. Positive cashflow stage.

The Winner: Grammarly

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6) The Big Bang of 2019

No product, no startup. In this category we're looking for startups who launched their product in 2019. And they did it with a bang! They simply nailed it. 

THE NOMINEES FOR THE BIG BANG OF 2019

  • Flashbeats
    Flashbeats allows you to invite all your friends to create incredible synchronized light shows with the help of your smartphone’s flashlight. Created by the founder of Kabanchik. Flashbeats was launched in April 2019 and had 80k downloads from all over the world by the end of the year. Positive MRR. Team of 2.

  • Esper Bionics
    Esper Bionics is an engineering company that works on mechatronics and machine learning, with ambitions for neural computer interfaces. Started official full-time work in March 2019. Got 20 LOIs and a request for 1000pcs a year for low-budget bionic prosthetic hands from European prosthetic organisation. Bootstrapping, no investment raised yet. Team of 7.

  • Neyra.ai
    Intuitive Al-based service for sales and marketing analytics. Neyra has raised €150k (€100k from Finnish VC Icebreaker VC + €50k). Today, Neyra has 46 users and 275 beta registrations. Positive revenue. Team grew from 2 to 7 in 2019. 

  • nuka 
    nuka - an eternal notebook and eternal pencil that could be used endlessly. Launched via crowdfunding (kickstarter, indiegogo), it collected more than 2500 pre-orders during the campaign. The team has raised +$250k ($180k via crowdfunding and $70k from angel). Team grew from 3 to 7 ppl.

  • Pizdata
    Pizdata is a SaaS platform where you can hire a virtual designer on demand. Launched in May 2019, it's now got 50 paying clients (B2B companies). Positive revenue. Started by 2 founders, the team today has 6 full-time and 10 part-time ppl. 

  • Riddletag
    Riddletag creates digital solutions for offline businesses using face recognition technology. Official product-lauch was in November 2019 at the Tbilisi Metro. Positive revenue. Investments raised - €36k. Team of 3.

The Winner: nuka

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7) The Bootstrap Badger of 2019

There are plenty of paths to success for a young startup, with funds or without. In this category we wish to praise the creativity, courage and teamwork a startup needs to survive bootstrapping mode - we're looking for a startup that has raised under $200k, yet really stood out from the rest.

THE NOMINEES FOR THE BOOTSTRAP BADGER OF 2019

  • Andcards
    Andcards is a technology company that makes apps for coworking spaces. The number of customers grew from 11 in 2018 to 46 in 2019, across 12 countries. ARR grew in 2019 by 500%. Team is bootstrapping and using various equity-free government funds.

  • Cotano
    Cotano is a mobile-first CRM app for the sales people who live in mobile. 10k+ users added in 2019. Earns revenue. Team grew to 6 ppl.

  • Esper Bionics
    Esper Bionics is an engineering company that works on mechatronics and machine learning, with ambitions for neural computer interfaces. Started official full-time work in March 2019. Got 20 LOIs and a request for 1000pcs a year for low-budget bionic prosthetic hands from European prosthetic organisation. Bootstrapping, no investment raised yet. Team of 7.

  • Legal Nodes
    Legal Nodes is a legal marketplace that automates non-legal work for lawyers. 2019 results: 100+ legal providers and 30+ tech companies that left 70+ legal requests. Earning revenue. Team of working 6 full-time, and 3 part-time. 

  • Meredot
    Meredot is developing a full spectrum of wireless power. Products: wireless charging of electric vehicles, wireless mobile charging, drones and robots. Plans to release the pilot project on the US market in 2020. Have fundraised around $100k. Team grew from 5 to 12 ppl. 

  • Pizdata
    Pizdata is SaaS platform, where you can hire virtual designer on demand.Launched in May 2019, they've now got 50 paid clients (B2B companies). Earning revenue. Started by 2 founders, the team today has 6 full-time + 10 part-time people. 

  • Plai.Team
    Plai is a people and performance management platform for SMBs, designed with millennials in mind. Plai is a self-funded startup that has acquired 1500 users in 3 months since their launch in October. Right now, the team has 4 people - 3 co-founders and 1 employee.

  • Riddletag
    Riddletag creates digital solutions for offline businesses using face recognition technology. Official product launch was in November 2019 at the Tbilisi Metro. Earning revenue. Investments raised - €36k. Team of 3.

  • Smartsender.io 
    SaaS for omni-channel user retention marketing automation for large-scale marketers. 100% bootstrapped, with 19 new customers in 2019. Solid revenue. Team grew from 5 to 12 ppl in 2019.

The Winner: Pizdata

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8) The Revenue Hack of 2019

We're looking for revenue-making machines! They've have hacked their way to success and shown us all how to make money as a startup. It doesn't matter whether they've quadrupled their revenue to hundreds of thousands or millions. Massive growth in €€ and $$ in 2019 is what we wish to see.

THE NOMINEES FOR THE REVENUE HACK OF 2019

  • Andcards
    Andcards is a technology company that makes apps for coworking spaces. The number of customers grew from 11 in 2018 to 46 in 2019, across 12 countries. ARR: +570%. Team is bootstrapoing and using various equity-free government funds.

  • AXDRAFT
    AXDRAFT offers an on-demand automation of legal processes for enterprise customers, helping them to draft legal documents 10 times faster and avoid mistakes. Fundraised so far - $1.4M. In 2019, the number of users grew 10 times (from 56 to 574), revenue grew 286%. Positive cashflow stage.

  • Influ2
    Influ2, the first person-based marketing solution leveraging machine learning technology to help B2B marketers engage enterprise decision-makers one-on-one for demand generation. Revenue grew 372% in 2019. Fundraised $1M.

  • Lalafo
    Lalafo is an online C2C marketplace powered by artificial intelligence, meant for sales of all kinds of items, offering a kind of virtual 'flea market' for used goods, including clothing, accessories, homeware, and collectibles. Solid ARR in 2019. Team of 120 people, fundraised, and total of 8M app downloads.

  • Liki24
    Liki24 is a platform (marketplace), that links Pharmacies, Insurance companies, Doctors, Pharmaceutical Producers with Customers. Like24 works in more than 1000 cities around Ukraine and is now entering the Polish market. They cooperate with 10 pharmaceutical companies in the world. Solid GMV. Fundraised $1M from TA Ventures and Genesis investment. Team of 30 people.

  • Restream
    Restream is the best way to multistream a video live across all streaming platforms. Restream handles millions of broadcasts every year for all content creators/streamers/influencers around the world. Customers include professional and amateur gamers, Fortune 500 companies, politicians and celebrities. Doubled the revenue in 2019, the team now includes 35 people in Kyiv and Austin. 

The Winner: Restream

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9) The Founder of the Year 2019

What is Oscars without the Best Picture? The same as Startup Awards without the Founder of the Year. We leave it up to you how to make this difficult choice. 

THE NOMINEES FOR THE FOUNDER OF THE YEAR 2019

  • Anna Polishchuk - co-founder and CEO at Lalafo
    Lalafo is an online C2C marketplace powered by artificial intelligence, meant for sales of all kinds of items, offering a kind of virtual 'flea market' for used goods, including clothing, accessories, homeware, and collectibles. Solid ARR in 2019. Team of 120 people, fundraised, and total of 8M app downloads.

  • Dmytro Voloshyn - co-founder & CTO at Preply
    Preply is an online educational platform that pairs students with private tutors remotely via online chat. The acquired 8.7M new users in 2019, 30 new team members and a new office in Barcelona. Currently raised investment - $5.6M.

  • Egor Belenkov - founder & CEO Kitcast
    Kitcast, a digital signage software company. Solid revenue. Big recurring clients, known worldwide. A team of 20 people. 

  • Igor Zhadanov - co-founder & CEO at Readdle
    Readdle is mobile application development company, mostly built around the App Store. Main products are PDF Expert and Spark. Readdle is a bootstrapped and profitable company since 2007. Readdle's apps were downloaded 32M times in 2019. Team of 174. 

  • Oleksandr Kosovan - founder & CEO at MacPaw
    MacPaw is Mac app development startup that's self-funded. In 2019, CleanMyMac downloads exceeded 20M. Team grew by 52% and today has 200 people.

  • Roman Apostol - co-founder & CEO Mate Academy
    100% online education in Computer Science, which a persons back when they are hired by a company. Employed students grew from 140 in 2018 to 440 in 2019 - thats 214% growth. Team grew from 5 people in 2018 to 25 in 2019. They fundraised $580k in 2019.

  • Vadim Rogovskiy - co-founder & CEO 3DLOOK
    A body data platform which enables a simple exchange of measurement and shape data between business and theirs customers. Launched beta version in Q3 2019, by the end of 2019 got 30+ global businesses, including VANS, Singapore Airlines and Desigual. Solid revenue in 2019. Fundraised so far - $3.2M.

  • Victor Shaburov - founder & CEO at AI Factory
    AI Factory is the most promising mobile startup developing unique Computer Vision and AR products with focus on image and video recognition, analysis and processing. The company was sold before the launch - AI Factory was acquired just a few weeks ago. The team grew from 0 to 70 people in 1 year. Raised investments - $6M from personal funds.

  • Yuriy and Oleg Zaremba - co-founders of AXDRAFT
    AXDRAFT offers on-demand automation of legal processes for enterprise customers, helping them to draft legal documents 10 times faster and avoid mistakes. Fundraised so far - $1.4M. The number of users grew 10 times - from 56 to 574. Revenue grew by 286%. Positive cashflow.

The Winner: Victor Shaburov (AI Factory)



That’s it, folks! Thank you all and now it’s time get sh*t done for the Ukrainian Startup Awards 2020!
See you there!

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The live recording of the panel discussion and the awards ceremony is available here.
The photos of the event can be seen here.

PS. What’s next for us? In spring 2020, we’re flying 14+ startups to Georgia for 72-hour ultra intensive growth accelerator (funded by Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs). It works - in 2019 we already proved it. If you’re an early-stage startup yourself, apply for Salto Growth Camp 2020!


Ukrainian Startup Awards is initiated by LIFT99 and co-hosted with Startup Estonia in 2019. A big thanks to all the panelists, the 9 people who helped us announce the winners on stage, and to all the community-members who nominated their favourites and added their vote to the final results.

This event was partly financed by EU Regional Development fund under the Startup Estonia EU50651 program.