Three Ukrainian high-tech companies were winners at this year’s Golden Kitty Award, an annual tech prize awarded to information technology products of the year in 15 different categories.
Dubbed by industry players “the Oscars of the tech world,” the Golden Kitty Award is run and awarded by the $20 million-valued website Product Hunt, which helps its users discover new apps and gadgets.
On Jan. 29, Product Hunt declared three Ukrainian startups winners: MacPaw, Petcube, and PatentBot.
A service from Ukrainian company MacPaw, Setapp – a subscription to a collection of apps for Apple’s MacBooks – was named the Consumer Product of the Year.
Marketing Manager at MacPaw Julia Petryk says the team was unsure if they were going to win the prize until the results were published, because even though the number of the votes can be seen online, the Product Hunt algorithm used to select winners is “much more complicated than just counting (votes).”
The award means “the most progressive and picky audience has recognized our product,” Petryk told the Kyiv Post, saying that the colleagues are “ineffably happy” and motivated for more achievements.
Petryk says that Product Hunt gives tech companies a platform to present their developments for the first time, and that “IT entrepreneurs and users from all over the world often learn about innovations precisely from there.”
“And (the award) is so democratic that startups and well-known brands can be nominated in the same category,” she said, and pointing out that the iPhone X won in the Hardware of the Year category.
“It is very commendable that Ukraine is confirming its image as a startup nation, and a country where world-class products are born. We’re very happy for our colleagues in the market and hope that this example will inspire others,” she said.
Meanwhile, Petcube – with its gadget Petcube Bites, a pet camera with built-in treat dispenser to play with pets online – won in a nomination of WTF Product of the Year. The Ukrainian company batted away competition from The Boring Company found by the CEO of automotive company Tesla, Elon Musk to win the award.
In response, Musk joked on Twitter about pivoting The Boring Company’s product from on-brand Boring Company hats, to “less-boring” $600 Boring Company flamethrowers.
But wait, there’s more: the flamethrower is sentient, its safe word is “cryptocurrency” and it comes with a free blockchain
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 29, 2018
The third winner was Ukraine’s PatentBot, which helps ease the process of applying for trademarks. It was declared the Bot of the Year, which PatentBot Managing Director Valentin Pivovarov said was “a huge step forward not only for our team and the project, but also for the all Ukrainian legal tech.”
“The award will help to promote PatentBot on the U.S. market and scale it globally,” Pivovarov told the Kyiv Post. “We’re proud to be on the list of the best technology innovations; but also of the fact that Ukraine is strengthening its position on the technological map of the world.”
In total, Product Hunt nominated seven Ukrainian tech startups for the best products in various categories, including device Hushme, the graphic design apps Flawless App and Crello, and writing-enhancement platform Grammarly. One of the co-founders of Flawless App, Liza Dzyuba, took second place in the Maker of the Year category, which was won by tech entrepreneur Pieter Levels.
The Golden Kitty Award, now in its third year, has seen the number of award categories grow to 14 product categories, and two data-driven (non-voting) community awards.
Voting lasted from Jan. 22-28. The most upvoted product of the year, an app called Station, has won Product of the Year. Station unifies web apps in one interface.
The winners will soon receive their golden statuettes of a kitten by post, which, MacPaw’s Petryk says, “the team and two corporate cats are waiting for, and we’re looking for place in the office to put it on display.”
The Kyiv Post’s IT coverage is sponsored by Ciklum. The content is independent of the donors.
