Ukrainians will get a chance on Nov. 20 to get international attention for their startup through a global tournament to find the most promising new business ideas.
The
Washington D.C.-based global startup accelerator and seed funding organization
1776 is staging the Challenge Cup in Kyiv, one of 50 cities selected for the
contest. The top prize in the tournament is $1 million.
Each host
city will hold a competition to select its top three startups, which will then
be presented at one of nine Challenge Cup regional finals (in the case of Kyiv,
in Tel Aviv, Israel). From there, the winners of regional finals, along with
and handful of wildcards, will be flown to the Challenge Cup Global Finals in
June in Washington, D.C.
Overall, there will be 135 local stage winners, 45 regional finalists, and one global winner.
Andrew
Tsintsiruk, one of the organizers of the Challenge Cup in Kyiv and a member of
the jury for the Kyiv event, said there was demand for such competitions in
Ukraine.
“I’m very
confident about the capabilities of Ukrainian entrepreneurs, about the
information tecnology sector,” Tsintsiruk told the Kyiv Post. “But Ukrainian
startups need to be featured globally – there are startups that are making good
products in Ukraine, but nobody knows about them, except maybe their friends
and local colleagues.”
To apply to
take part, potential contestants had to give general information about the
stage their startup has reached and what kind of product it offers. The online
competition entry forms had to be filled in by Nov. 15.
As well as
the chance to win $1 million in cash, competition participants will make
valuable business connections, which will help them grow, as well as having an
opportunity to share their vision on a truly global stage.
UAngel, a network of
Ukrainian businessmen, and the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council will be the local
co-hosts in Ukraine of the Challenge Cup. Managing Partner of AVentures Capital
Yevgen Sysoyev, Managing Partner of GrowthUP Group Denis Dovgopoly, head of
UAngel Nataliya Berezovska, and head of Microsoft Ukraine Nadiya Vasylieva will
be members of jury on Nov. 20 in Kyiv.
Sysoyev
said the contest would also increase chances of Ukrainian entrepreneurs
attracting investment from abroad. “I’m expecting for-profit impact making
startups to apply, to increase their chances get attention within the U.S.
(business) ecosystem,” Sysoyev told the Kyiv Post.
Several
Ukrainian startups have already won the hearts of millions of people around the
globe – Reeddle, Grammarly, PetCube, Looksery and DepositPhotos have shown they
can compete with the giants of the industry on the global market. And if one of
the competitors in the Kyiv local stage of the Challenge Cup makes it through
the regional finals to the global stage, another as-yet-unknown Ukrainian tech
startup could join their ranks.
Kyiv Post staff
writer Denys Krasnikov can be reached at [email protected]. The Kyiv
Post’s IT coverage is sponsored by Looksery, Ciklum, Steltec
Capital and SoftServe. The content is independent of the donors.
