2021 has been a record year for Ukrainian IT in all aspects. Ukraine got the first decacorn, Grammarly; the total value of its venture investments during the year exceeded $ 1 billion. Moreover, in 2021, Ukrainian venture funds will enter the American market by investing in project promises from the US.
One-click analytics for marketers
Last November, Ukrainian funds Digital Future and Adventures Lab invested in Narrative BI, an advanced B2B analytics platform. The San Francisco-based startup raised a $ 1.2 million pre-seed funding round. In the round, Ukrainian companies were also joined by US funds.
It is a no-code analytics platform for Marketing/Growth/Sales teams that automatically generates actionable data insights based on company statistics. As a major advantage, the service offers to reduce dependency on IT departments. It allows one to use existing marketing and analytical tools with one click, gain insights in an accessible form, and share them.
The startup’s founder Michael Rumiantsau hails from Belarus. He believes that in making the right business decisions, the primary role is played not by intuition but by extensive analytics.
“Advanced analytics is a game-changer for growing teams. This is evidenced by the ever-growing interest from their side in more understandable and intuitive tools. With the support of our investors, Narrative BI continues that will change by creating a strong platform for people. empowerment to benefit fast -growing teams and businesses around the world, “he said.
Previously, Rumiantsau was the CEO of FriendlyData. The startup was bought by ServiceNow, and Michael was offered a serious position on a new project. However, he decided to develop his business and his ideas, and investors especially noted this quality of the founder.
“This is one of those cases where, as an investor, I admire not only the product but also the history of the company. Instead of comfortable office and serious income, the founder of Narrative BI chose the opportunity to create new business.It says a lot about his ambitions and personal qualities, “emphasizes Ruslan Tymofieiev (Ruslan Timofeev), Founding Partner at Adventures Lab.
This year, the creators of Narrative BI are preparing to launch a full version of their service.
AI will interact with customers
In the fall of 2021, Digital Future, a Ukrainian fund, invested in the Ukraine US project Outloud.ai, an AI-based retail platform that allows users to automate voice communication with customers. Among startup clients, there are several large American restaurant chains, such as Burger King.
The value of the deal was not disclosed.
According to Digital Future founder Alex Vitchenko, when selecting projects, the fund team pays attention to several key criteria including a business model that can be scaled to the markets of Western Europe and North America. At Outloud.ai, they certainly saw this potential.
“Unlike the online world that conveniently examines the interaction between a client and a service, the same offline sphere is not yet transparent. Outloud.ai solves this problem using proprietary analysis technology a voice in noisy environments and helps businesses understand what problems they have on their front line. We are also convinced of the size of the target market and of the founder’s good experience in the American retail industry, “Vitchenko said. .
Outloud.ai has previously secured investments from USF, and last summer, it graduated with Y Combinator.
Service that helps with buying an apartment in the US
At the beginning of last year, an American startup with a Ukrainian team, Propertymate, raised $ 1 million in funding from Ukrainian venture capital fund Pragmatech Ventures.
The startup was founded in 2018 by Bohdan Hnatkovsky and Sofia Vyshnevska. The team has offices in New York, Austin, Kyiv, and Lviv. It is a platform that allows buyers of primary real estate to find all the information they need about new home construction. Thus, home builders or agents can communicate directly with interested clients. The service is based on AI algorithms.
Property clients include Lennar, DR Horton, Taylor Morrison, and Pulte Homes. The platform is used by major players in the American real estate market: Keller Williams, eXp Realty, and Compass.
At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, home builders tried to reduce marketing costs and switch to other sales options. Propertymate is just one of them. The service takes a commission from a transaction only to customers who have purchased. The number of clients over the past two years has grown 65 times.
“Despite COVID-19, the primary real estate market in the U.S. is emerging. We have experienced greater demand for our service, and now, thanks to these investments, we plan to start working in Dallas and Houston in the next six months, ”said Bohdan Hnatkovsky, founder of the startup.
Currently, Propertymate is working in Austin, but thanks to investment from Pragmatech Ventures, the company plans to expand to up to two more cities.
Notary services from the comfort of your home
American startup OneNotary has raised $ 1.75 million in investments from American and Ukrainian venture capital funds. Negotiations began in 2021, but the deal only closed in January 2022.
The founder and CEO of the project, Ivan Zinkov, is from Ukraine. The team is mixed with some of the employees based in Ukraine. Among the investment funds that fund the startup, there are Ukrainian companies such as Adventures Lab, U.Ventures, and Digital Future.
OneNotary is an online notarization platform in the United States that allows one to verify required documents remotely.
“Our company’s mission is to help businesses close deals faster by offering the integration of online document notarization into their working tools,” Zinkov said.
Previously, in the United States, online notarization was only legal in their state. During quarantine, everything changed. Currently, the relevant law has been enacted in 39 states. A notary is required in every area, whether it is real estate, car sales, or education. Every industry, state, and even every county has its own rules and procedures. According to the developers, with more than 10,000 notaries in its system, OneNotary successfully covers these requests.
Adventures Lab founder Ruslan Tymofieiev (Ruslan Timofeev) pays close attention to the project team and their high motivation.
“The boys passed the easy money test and turned down an offer to sell the project to one of the big US players in legaltech. Many would consider this offer very lucrative. And that happened when they did. are working to the limit, outside their financial comfort zone. Such dedication to the project shows their desire to further develop it independently, “Tymofieiev said.
In the future, OneNotary plans to enter the global market.
AI to help developers
In October 2021, Ukrainian venture fund TA Ventures invested in Spice AI, a Seattle -based startup. Other foundations and angels from GitHub and Microsoft also participated in the round. The total amount is $ 1 million.
It is an AI-powered platform that allows developers to use integrated machine learning algorithms in applications. This saves time and effort in developing software. The idea is that if, for example, an app you’re working on controls an air conditioning system, AI algorithms will offer a low power consumption option.
Spice AI founder Luke Kim previously worked at Microsoft for 10 years, including an engineering position. He said he knows from personal experience how much integrated artificial intelligence mechanisms help programmers in the software development process.
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