The first time I visited Kyiv was in March 2019. I got an invitation from the management team to take a look at the UNIT.City project and to make a final decision as to whether I wanted to join. Because prior to getting the offer to become CEO, all I knew about Ukraine were those three notorious ‘C’s’ – Chernobyl, Crimea, and Corruption.
Due to my engagement in the tech sector, I was well aware of deep tech talents emanating from Ukraine. In Silicon Valley, I have often heard compliments in the direction of Ukrainian developers. Nevertheless, I had the common perception created by the US media telling unflattering stories about the former Soviet Union, in which Ukraine was being mentioned all the time.
When my plane landed at Kyiv’s Boryspil Airport, I took an Uber (oh, Uber is operating here also, which is great!) and made my way downtown. I was awe struck as I saw something different from what I’ve been told at home. Posh cars, well-dressed people, fancy restaurants. It felt like I was in Berlin or in Prague. A truly cosmopolitan city!
Arriving at UNIT.City, I was not prepared for what I would initially see and experience. In the middle of an old relic of a post-Soviet factory, a brand-new city was being built, much like Phoenix rising from the ashes of a previous empire. But bigger, better, and definitely more tech advanced! With a mix of Scandinavian and world architecture, and amazing attention to the environment. An incredibly modern environment for talented people which I will speak more on. I was in the Future. We were building the Future!
The very first conversations I had in Kyiv were with people who clearly demonstrated their knowledge (and in great English) on AI, robotics, fintech, biotech, whatever tech – the level of discussion was on a par with Silicon Valley, and sometimes even at a higher level! I had to stop counting how many times I found myself saying “oh really?!”
During breakfast or lunch, it’s very common to hear interesting insights on a subject such as crypto to space exploration all being discussed at the neighboring table over a coffee and meal.
Of course, in the Bay area tech scene (San Francisco), access to technology seems a bit more natural, but in Ukraine, tech people are sharply keen on discovering, accessing, and creating radically new things. Moreover, Ukrainians are very demanding and are already very accustomed to a high level of service. That’s why technologies and applications made in Ukraine have such a cool UX / UI that embody refreshing creativity and deployment for real world usage. If you don’t know what an AMAZING online bank is, well try Monobank from Ukraine. To name just one….
Dominique Piotet, CEO, UNIT.City (SERGEY PIRIYEV)
Long story short, arriving to Ukraine broke all the stereotypes that I previously had and actually made me realize that I felt the same energy here that I had experienced in Silicon Valley when Google and Facebook were created. I saw a large wave of innovation coming from this emerging market and overall from Ukraine as a whole. This convinced me to move to Kyiv and become part of the movement.
During the first years, I dedicated myself to the development of the local ecosystem, focusing in the main on talents, as without a systematic approach and proper environment it would be easily wasted. Together with our core team and partners, we launched several different acceleration programs and held numerous startup pitches which revealed great software and hardware startups in key sectors such as: space tech, agrotech, science, medicine, logistics, AI, and of course Blockchain to name a few.
The Ukrainian tech ecosystem is growing consistently with newcomers and the technologies they are bringing. We simply needed to highlight it and to create the platform for it to thrive within UNIT.City.
SECTOR GROWTH PATTERNS
The growth of the tech sector in Ukraine alone delivers more than 25% year-on-year in terms of revenues. There are over 200,000+ developers in the country and almost 20,000 graduates from IT schools and universities every year. The Ukrainian IT sector is one of the top-3 export services (after agriculture and goods processing), contributing about 8.3% of Ukraine’s GDP. It is clearly the Future.
Nevertheless, changes in the Ukrainian society are somewhat slow and uneven which diminishes the success of the Ukrainian tech scene. For dozen years already there has been constant talk about the need for reform, but reforms are often just a matter of debate. Of course, in the society of any country, there are those who want change, and conservatives who remember the good old times and want to keep the status quo as is.
UKRAINE NEEDS TO ACCELERATE
While I have seen and experienced tremendous growth in the Ukrainian tech sector since my arrival, I see even more opportunities developing at a faster rate as each year goes by.
The core opportunities for Ukraine and its tech ecosystem for the next 3 years:
- Raise more funding to grow quicker. Pace is everything! And to grow fast, you need money to fuel it.
- Encourage more people to create companies. WE NEED more great founders and a founder’s culture. Without founders no startups can happen!
- Talent, talent, talent ! The world is in urgent need of tech talent. This is a HUGE opportunity for Ukraine and we all need to embrace education and support it
- .Success stories. We have a few, of course (GitLab, Grammarly, PeopleAI, etc.), but they are more success than stories. And we need those great stories to inspire, to change the bad narrative of the ‘3 C’s’.
- Give back! We need successful entrepreneurs to share, not only their money by investing in young startups, but also their knowledge, their network, their support.
Kyiv’s UNIT.City business park.
TAKING ON THE WORLD FROM UKRAINE?
Like most people, tech people would prefer to stay in their country rather than look for a new life in other parts of the world. Creating the conditions locally to support those people, and potential entrepreneurs, is key, and this is now starting to finally happen. People need to aim and attain a higher standard of living and the support to know that their work and efforts will not be in vain.
I also see more and more examples of young entrepreneurs, who have the ambition to grow a global company, but would prefer to stay in Ukraine, keep their team intact, and run their business from here. Just imagine the potential if we could get government support to making this a reality?! But, this is an entirely different subject and for another article.
So, how will this growing pool of talent and the tech ecosystem evolve and thrive in what we are seeing is probably one of the big trends to follow in the year to come. Will we be able to reverse the ‘Brain Drain’ or should we call it the ‘Unicorn Drain’ from Ukraine?
If venture capital sees the potential present in the region, then the global expansion will come, and tech will definitely become a driving force for the future of Ukraine. We need to retain, foster, and grow our talents rather than have them and their ideas exported for the benefits of other countries who already understand the massive impact that tech and its solutions can bring to a nation. But most important, we need peace in Ukraine, so to let it shine and promote itself properly!
Op-ed disclaimer: The Kyiv Post is not responsible or liable for any content in this article, which expresses the personal viewpoint of the author only.
