The losses that Ukraine and its people have suffered during the ongoing Russian invasion have been enormous, to say the least. However, after six months, the country is slowly starting to recover its territories and its tech startups and their innovations are playing an important role in strengthening Ukrainian resistance.
According to data According to the Ukrainian Startup Fund, 24 percent of Ukrainian tech startups continued to work after the start of the war, while almost half of all these startups – or 47 percent – are working partially.
For Ukrainian entrepreneurs themselves, it is now or never when it comes to reviving the economy.
“Despite the war, Ukrainian startups – much like the country’s IT sector – have shown resilience and entrepreneurs continue to run their businesses. I believe that we will rebuild our country very quickly and we will do it now, not after our victory,” Viktoriya Tigipko, co-founder of Wtecha community of Ukrainian women working in technology, reports The Recursive.
And Ukrainian tech companies and startups also contribute to the country’s resilience. The kyiv-based software company MacPaw is an example, especially since it had already imagined such projects from the first weeks of the war.
The company, which has a team of over 150 software engineers, has played a crucial role in strengthening the country’s cybersecurity. One of its branded products is SpyBuster, a tool that immediately detects and blocks applications, services and sites connected to Russia or Belarus.
The app also allows users to determine which sites or media outlets are connecting to Russian servers and notify them, as many media outlets in the country are unaware that their sites are connected to Russian servers.
“DDuring the first weeks of the war, MacPaw engineers developed useful new programs, such as SpyBuster, which helps users secure their data against Russian cyber threats. All this time, the company’s technical director, Vira Tkachenko, stayed in Ukraine and discussed MacPaw’s experience in international events, while shedding light on the events and the needs of the population in Ukraine,” Julia Petryk, MacPaw’s public relations manager, told The Recursive.
Many tech companies like MacPaw stayed and continued to work in Ukraine, trying to deliver their products and provide their services at the same time, while their teams volunteered, raised funds and did everything possible to support the Ukrainian resistance and help the country win. this war, adds Petryk.
“In the future, Ukrainian technology companies, investors and entrepreneurs are expected to actively participate in the reconstruction of the country and its economy. We must create employment opportunities for talented specialists, invest in innovative and ambitious startups and training, and proudly represent Ukraine through the highest quality products and services. I think this is a path that the Ukrainian technology industry will follow in the future,” Petryk emphasizes.
So, while the Ukrainian armed forces are fully capable of confronting Russian aggression on the real battlefield, one software company has decided to confront the enemy in the way it knows best: with Web3 initiatives.
WeSoftYou A Ukrainian product development company has created the CryptoCossacks Club – Ukrainian Metaverse, consisting of MMOs, comics and NFTs to promote Ukrainian spirit and culture globally and support the country in times of war. 50% of the funding is intended for Ukrainian charitable foundations: the Come Back Alive fund and the charitable foundation of Serhiy Prytula.
“Our long-term Web3 project – CryptoCossacks Club consists of the game, a collection of NFT avatars and comics. We think the Crypto Cossacks Club is a new black. We will create the “Ukrainian Wonder” based on our unique cultural code. Our goal is to make CryptoCossacks Club a Ukrainian brand in the Web3 world. Who is Crypto Cossack? Crypto Cossack is the main character of the Ukrainian Metaverse. He is a free and fearless warrior. Cossack is a Ukrainian spirit transformed into a digital artwork. It represents freedom, peace and resistance against dictatorship. Maksym Petruk, CEO of WeSoftYou, told The Recursive.
As the tech sector is one of the least affected by the war, this also gives tech startups the opportunity to create jobs and keep the country’s economy running, Anna Kozlova, CEO of the video game development holding company Room 8 Group said.
“Our people have shown enormous dedication – we continue to work from day one of the invasion and show our customers that we are reliable partners. It’s the way we do things as a leading game development outsourcing company, working with the world’s leading game publishers. Right now, every Ukrainian has a huge hole inside, even those who were lucky and saw their families safe. But we know that we must work, create jobs, do our best and support the Ukrainian resistance. This idea is our main driving force in our professional and personal lives,” Kozlova told The Recursive.
Ensuring foreign aid reaches those who need it
At present, foreign aid is also of significant importance for the Ukrainian resistance, as many countries and world organizations have provided it in the form of humanitarian and medical goods, military supplies or monetary help. However, these huge amounts of aid also need to be managed carefully so that they can reach those who need it most, and a Ukrainian NGO has proposed a solution to make the whole process easier.
Sunflower Relief is a local non-profit social organization that matches foreign aid with field-verified beneficiary NGOs. The organization does this by starting at the end of the process and working backwards: it searches for, identifies and verifies high-integrity organizations and beneficiaries in Ukraine, then matches them – and their specific needs – with foreign aid looking for a way. In.
Founded by Irra Ariella Khi, a London-based entrepreneur of Ukrainian origin, Tournesol focuses on helping Ukrainian civilians, who are either displaced or unable to leave areas of violence.
For Ariella Khi, creating this organization was the only way to be sure that she would use her skills to contribute in the best possible way to the Ukrainian resistance.
“My personal role was to create Tournesol Relief with initial funding from Phoenix Court Works, and my role as CEO is to channel, find and raise funds (all Tournesol cases have been 100% funded through my personal network and to the funds which I alone obtained). This is my MO because only with significant funding can we meaningfully support the volunteers who work tirelessly in the UK and Ukraine,” she told The Recursive.
And now, fulfilling the mission of Sunflower Relief has also become an obsession for her, as it also shows the power of helping those in need.
“From the third day of the war, it was not a choice for me but an obsession and an inevitability: I had to raise my hand, create an organization and help create a focused environment and direction for all good will and the volunteering I saw happening around me – especially here in the UK. This is what allows me to feel that I am helping to fight against this senseless aggression and also allows me to feel that we are not totally powerless; and we can “be the resistance” together – to face this very difficult time in our lives. Ariella Khi explains.
UK-based cryptocurrency exchange EXMO, which has a Ukrainian CEO, is also among the companies that created a “Save Ukraine” relief fund in early March.
After six months, the fund managed to raise more than $2 million to help victims of the war, while also organizing various other logistical activities for the Ukrainian resistance.
“Our girls organized the evacuation of people from the then-occupied kyiv region to the safer western part of Ukraine, and we transported 350 people. We also organized shelters for displaced people and targeted financial and humanitarian aid to those affected by the war. We brought fire engines and ambulances to Ukraine, provided free food points at the borders and purchased hospital equipment and medicines,” EXMO marketing manager and volunteer Eleonora Zolotarova told The Recursive.
Kyrrex is another foreign-based cryptocurrency exchange that has many Ukrainian employees and has launched a similar fund for the country as part of its charitable foundation. The aim of this initiative is to collect donations from customers ready to help the Ukrainian people.
“We transfer these funds to official bodies or municipal administrations to resolve the most important and relevant problems on site. This way, they know the most common requests from hot spots and can provide help as quickly as possible. This is the best way to ensure that money is spent correctly. The Kyrrex community has already raised over $300,000 since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine,” Mariia Semenova, head of marketing and communications at Kyrrexexplain.
Keeping businesses alive off the battlefield
While most Ukrainian tech entrepreneurs are doing their best to keep their businesses alive, there are also some who risk their lives on the battlefield.
kyiv-based angel investor and entrepreneur Dmitry Tomchuk is one of them. For now, Tomchuk is trying to defend his country on the ground, while managing his businesses. And it’s “a hell of a lot of work,” as he describes it.
“There are a number of people among us who are struggling and, at the same time, trying to keep their businesses afloat. I’m one of them, and it’s hell. Especially because these two things are incompatible. But, surprisingly, there are people at the front who are fighting and continue to manage their affairs at the rear,” Tomchuk, founder of the Kyiv-based Fison investment fund, wrote in a Facebook post.
During the last six months of the war, Tomchuk made constant efforts to keep his companies operational. While he succeeded in doing so with some of them, he failed with others. But he has no intention of giving up, neither on the battlefield nor on the economic scene. Keeping businesses operational is crucial for Ukrainian resistance.
“I am well aware that if I put everything off until the happy years after victory, I will lose everything I had and I will get nothing back. Therefore, businesses should operate even if the founder is in the forefront. Yes, few people succeed, but the owner should at least try to manage his business on the front line, and I do my best,” Tomchuk concludes.
