One of the most important aspects of cultural development is education. It creates the foundation for forming a conscious society capable of analyzing events and taking an active part in state life. Ukrainian educational institutions are gradually introducing new technologies and modern teaching methods that allow students to obtain quality knowledge and practical skills. At the same time, great attention is paid to developing critical thinking, communication abilities, and a creative approach to problem solving.

The modern world is changing extremely quickly, and technologies are becoming an integral part of everyday life. The Internet opens access to a vast amount of information, and social networks allow people to instantly exchange news and ideas. Along with the advantages of the digital era, new challenges arise, including issues of information security, personal data protection, and combating disinformation. That is why it is important to learn to use modern technologies responsibly and to critically evaluate the information received.

Environmental awareness plays a distinct role in the development of society. In many Ukrainian cities, programs for waste sorting, greening public spaces, and promoting an eco-friendly lifestyle are being actively implemented. Young people are increasingly interested in issues of environmental protection, energy efficiency, and the use of alternative energy sources. This indicates the gradual formation of a new approach to the interaction between humans and nature.

The country’s economic development also largely depends on supporting small and medium-sized businesses. Entrepreneurs create new jobs, develop local brands, and implement innovative solutions across various sectors. Ukrainian startups are increasingly attracting the attention of international investors, and IT specialists successfully collaborate with companies from around the world. This contributes to strengthening the economy and building a positive image of the country on the international stage.

The topic of a healthy lifestyle is no less important. People are beginning to pay more attention to physical activity, proper nutrition, and psychological well-being. Sports grounds are opening in cities, marathons and educational events dedicated to health are being held. Psychological support is also becoming more accessible, and society is gradually shedding stereotypes about the importance of mental health.

Cultural events and creative initiatives remain an important part of public life. Theater performances, music festivals, art exhibitions, and literary meetings bring together people of different ages and professions. Such events not only promote the development of the arts but also help create spaces for communication, exchange of experience, and the birth of new ideas.

In modern society, mutual support and social responsibility are becoming increasingly important. Volunteer organizations, charitable foundations, and civic initiatives help solve pressing problems and support those in need. Thanks to the activity of caring people, numerous educational, cultural, and humanitarian projects are being implemented that positively impact the country’s development.

The future of Ukraine largely depends on the younger generation, its aspiration for knowledge, development, and change. It is the youth who today actively introduce new ideas, create modern projects, and shape a new culture of communication. Combining respect for traditions with openness to innovation allows building a society that confidently looks to the future and is ready for new challenges.

Корабель Wanli належить до серії швидкісних патрульних суден Anping, які побудовані за зразком катерів тайванського флоту та можуть бути оперативно переобладнані для бойових завдань у разі загрози. Під час останніх тренувань корабель вперше взяв участь у бойових сценаріях із протикорабельними ракетами на борту.

Представники командування берегової охорони Тайваню наголошують, що такі тренування мають на меті підвищити оперативну готовність до оборони острова, забезпечити взаємодію між різними родами сил та вдосконалити застосування сучасного озброєння.

Патрульні кораблі класу Anping призначені для моніторингу територіальних вод, охорони рибальських суден та запобігання нелегальній діяльності, але у разі загрози їх швидко озброюють для участі у військових операціях. Додавання ракет Hsiung Feng II значно посилює потенціал берегової охорони в умовах можливої ескалації в регіоні.

AIN shares the list under the opinions category. You can read the full article by following the link to the Level2 Ventures blog page, here.

A robust post-investment partnership doesn’t just leverage the financial aspects but harnesses the full spectrum of resources that investors bring to the table. There are a few effective strategies for startups to maximize the benefits of their relationships with venture capital partners:

Establishing effective communication channels

Clear and consistent communication forms the foundation of any successful relationship, including the one between a startup and its investors. Establish a routine of structured updates and regular check-ins, such as monthly newsletters paired with quarterly meetings. These interactions should not only report on financials and key performance metrics but also explore strategic discussions and solicit guidance. A transparent approach fosters trust and respect, facilitating a more engaged and supportive investment partnership.

Leveraging investor expertise for strategic advantage

Venture capitalists bring knowledge and a unique perspective, informed by diverse experiences with both successful ventures and instructive failures. Startups should consider actively seeking their investors’ insights on significant business decisions. Whether contemplating market expansion, adjusting business models, or navigating complex regulatory environments, investors can provide invaluable guidance.

Expanding opportunities through investor networks

A distinct advantage offered by venture capitalists is their extensive and often influential network. This network can open doors to potential customers, strategic partners, key hires, or even future funding rounds. Startups should work closely with their investors to identify how best to engage with this network.

Proactive engagement in problem solving

Instead of waiting for challenges to escalate, startups should proactively involve their investors in problem-solving. Venture capitalists can provide alternative perspectives and innovative solutions, potentially averting crises. They may also serve as strategic advisors during critical junctures, offering insights that steer the startup toward stability and growth.

Cultivating a supportive community

Many investors nurture a community among their portfolio companies, creating a supportive network that enables peer-to-peer learning and collaboration. Active participation in such communities can yield significant benefits, including shared resources, collective learning sessions, and networking events designed to foster connections and growth.

The dynamic between a startup and its venture capital partners is pivotal and extends well beyond mere financial support. It’s worth taking benefit of.

The number of M&A deals also increased significantly, reaching 87 deals compared to 54 in 2022 and 120 in 2021, according to InVenture research. Particular emphasis should be placed on increasing activity in such sectors as IT, commercial real estate, industrial logistics and agriculture. It is worth noting that among the 87 completed deals in the IT sector, Mergewave Capital played an important role, having completed 4 successful deals with IT outsourcing companies, and another deal is being finalized in 2024 in the field of IT products.

In this context, our goal is to analyse in detail the events of the past year 2023 and forecast the development of the situation in 2024 in the M&A market in the technology sector, focusing in particular on IT services and products. In addition, we direct our attention to the study of Ukrainian manufacturers in the field of the defense industry, revealing potential opportunities and challenges for this promising segment.

ІТ Services

According to a study by the AIN media group (Fig. 1), the number of IT specialists in Ukraine continues to grow, reaching approximately 350,000 (as of January 2023).

At the beginning of 2024, we also predict roughly the same number with an increase of 5-15%, but during this year a lot happened on the front, and accordingly we see an unconfirmed dynamics of migration of IT specialists from private IT companies to the sphere of defense industry of Ukraine and Armed Forces of Ukraine. This can be seen not only in (Work.ua, Rabota.ua, etc.), but also in the relevant professional service for finding a job in the defense sector (Lobby X).

The report also states that in 2022 and 2023, according to AIN.Capital data, there was a significant decrease in both the number of M&A deals (Fig. 2) and the volume of transactions (Fig. 3).

Number of M&A deals

However, the volume ($M) in 2023 showed a higher value in 2023 – ($130M) vs. the one ($111.1M) in 2022. This indicates positive dynamics in the M&A market in the technology industries, as small companies cannot withstand stiff competition and many owners want to to capitalize on a service business in which they have invested their time and expertise, but are currently unable to compete in the market with larger players and are having trouble selling their services, so they are looking to sell part or all of the business to a larger company that will keep jobs and provide momentum moving forward with new markets, new industries. Globalization and de-risking – In most cases, the main goal of larger companies is to buy smaller ones.

However, if we look at the types of deals in 2021-2023 for the financing of IT companies in Ukraine, a strange situation emerges (Fig. 4): the largest number of deals are grant funds and early-stage venture investments (mostly product startups). This suggests that the owners of IT companies are looking for quick money in a minimum period of time and therefore quick merger/acquisition deals will be mainstream in 2024-2025.

Other market players also note that Small ball deals are prerogative: “According to the firm’s M&A analysis, the volume of large deals (over $1 billion) has continued to decline steadily since 2020 as deal participants increasingly target smaller mid-market transactions that are easier to execute, less risky to finance and offer a unique and strategic fit into the buyer’s portfolio.”

Fig. 4 Source: AIN.Capital

According to Forbes and the service that formed M&A deals in 2023, we have several cases publicly mentioned in these media, 4 of which went through the company Mergewave Capital. As a result, the Ukrainian IT market increased by 1 Polish giant — the EUVIC group of companies, and, as standard for the market, by the minority investment of the Ukrainian InSoft group.

As the M&A investment advisor of Euvic Group in Ukraine — Taras Bachynskyi — notes:

This is not the only foreign strategic partner that works during the war in Ukraine. We are constantly negotiating and convincing to invest in Ukraine. And as we know, there are also other non-public Tech deals from foreign investors that didn’t catch the eye of Forbes, AIN, and DOU, but overall, 2023 was pretty stingy with the M&A.

I expect that there will be more deals in 2024: firstly, Euvic, the company we represent, is planning a few more deals. Secondly, we are also constantly working with European players and they also understand that IT companies are not static assets, and yes, in most Ukrainian companies, 30-40 percent are already abroad. Therefore, it is not such a risky investment. We also know several companies that are looking for discounted assets — IT outsourcing companies at 3-4 EBIT. Considering a rather difficult year for IT, we expect the volume of deals to at least double, as partnering with a stronger IT company, selling them a stake in our business and moving on is quite a smart decision.

Based on this, we can conclude that there will be more M&A deals in 2024, since 2023 seemed to be a difficult year for IT companies, accordingly, business founders are faced with the question of survival and capitalization:

• selling the company when it has passed the peak, thus capitalizing all its resources built up over the years;
• or merge with a larger strategic partner in order to stay afloat and survive the turbulent period, thus keeping employees and own business with the opportunity to grow together with the big giants of the international market.

As Pavlo Karapinka, co-founder of Mergewave Capital, notes – “Buyers often become large foreign companies that see the potential of the Ukrainian market and want to hire the best personnel in the field of software development. This is a buyer’s market, so you should listen and feel their mood with your fingertips and set up business sellers for a positive deal with the maximum possible capitalization of their work. We need to move forward with stronger players. In the future, everything can change, and there will be an opportunity to buy back your shares, if necessary.”

ІТ Products 

As Vitaly Dnistrovskyi, investment director of the product M&A vertical of Mergewave Capital, notes:

Unlike the outsourcing market, the product market is dominated by VC and Private Equity investment rounds. In 2023, there were about 40 such deals with Ukrainian companies or companies of Ukrainian origin for a total amount of about 200 million dollars. Among the most iconic deals are the $70 million Series C of edtech platform Preply, the $22 million investment round of Fintech Farm, and the $15 million Series A of digital clothing marketplace Dress X. In 2024, we expect further rounds from existing investors and attracting investors at a later stage.

In terms of product deals at Mergewave Capital, in 2023 we had the most activity in the b2b SaaS segment. This applies both to Ukraine and abroad. In Ukraine, this segment is still not very active from the point of view of M&A, because the most active investors consider M&A profiles starting from $1M ARR, and the Ukrainian food b2b market still remains not so large compared to the European one. However, given the significantly higher capitalization of fixed income models compared to the same outsourcing companies and continued moderate interest from some major players in Eastern Europe, 2024 will be a positive trend.

We are currently in several advanced stage negotiations for several vertical SaaS solutions. We also observe the interest of investors in fintech solutions (classic payment transaction models, e-commerce payment solutions, SaaS solutions for financial institutions, neo-banking models)

The most active M&A investors in the European segment of b2b software for companies up to $10M ARR on average pay multipliers of 3-4x ARR, depending on the vertical, growth rate, and marginality of the project. Of course, the “martial law” discount will be applied to Ukrainian projects with clients in Ukraine, but we hope that at least with the localization of military actions, as well as a favorable global macroeconomic climate (such as, for example, the expected decrease in interest rates), in 2024 we will observe more positive dynamics,

Vitaliy Dnistrovskyi notes.

In fig. 5 we can see the global picture of product SaaS deals in M&A in the world, respectively, the year 2023 is similar to 2018 in terms of the volume of deals, and from here we also see a potential increase, if not in the value of deals (on average $1-5M), then in the number of such deals.

Defense tech

As our colleagues from INTEGRITES point out, now defense technologies are experiencing an unprecedented boom. Indeed, many IT specialists directed their efforts to the development of defense projects. For example, startups that before the war developed software to control drones for peaceful purposes, such as delivering goods or aerating fields, have switched to using drones for military purposes.

As a result, a number of defense technology companies have reached the next level of development in other specializations, including aviation equipment of various types and purposes, technologies for combating drones, robotic systems and software complexes aimed at the operation of the above mechanisms.

In turn, as Stepan Jus, Global M&A Operational Officer and head of the Defense vertical at Mergewave Capital, stated:

We are following this direction and have already opened it for potential fundraising and M&A deals. In this way, we invite Ukrainian manufacturers to our portfolio to attract buyers/investors to our Military Tech startups and manufacturing enterprises, in order to act as a common front against the occupying forces of the Russian aggressor. At the moment, there are a dozen private companies that are looking for financing opportunities in the field of the defense-industrial complex, and investors see the future of Ukraine in the support of the national military industry and the state production of defense products.

It is also worth noting that, in addition to the short-term supply of military equipment, in the long term, Ukraine will need help in restoring its own defense industry and reorienting production to Western standards. Therefore, according to the Rheinmetall company, in October 2023, the concern established a joint venture in Kyiv with the Ukrainian state company Ukroboronprom JSC — Rheinmetall Ukrainian Defense Industry LLC. As a first step, the repair and maintenance of combat vehicles is planned, and then the production of armored vehicles in Ukraine. The goal is to turn Ukraine into an effective partner, restore its once powerful defense sector and ensure its strategic autonomy. Currently, investments in the Ukrainian defense industry are being counted not only from other countries, but also from the private defense sector and private investors.

Summary

Summing up, we can say that 2024 will be much more interesting in terms of the number and value of deals, since many deals have been postponed from 2023, and last year’s results are not satisfactory enough for many domestic IT companies, accordingly, we will see a trend of minority and majority share sales.

Almost 50% of buyers are ready to buy 100% of smaller companies that have efficient employees, contracts and customers. However, there are risks for men in Ukraine associated with mobilization. There is also an unconfirmed trend of the transition of IT specialists from private companies to the sphere of the defense-industrial complex and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, accordingly, the IT sector is gradually moving from the private sector to the defense sector, in which we will also see the start of deals already in 2024.

2024 is predicted to see an increase in the number of M&A deals due to the difficulties experienced by many IT companies in 2023. Specialists will make deals to capitalize on resources, preserve jobs, and survive in a competitive market.

In general, M&A agreements are a strategic tool for firms that seek not only to survive, but also to develop in the face of growing competition. As for the product direction, the results indicate the dynamic development of the Ukrainian M&A market in 2023. Investment rounds from VC and Private Equity dominate, bringing together companies with Ukrainian roots and global players. In 2023, there were about 40 such deals worth approximately $200 million.

The forecast for 2024 indicates continued activity among both current investors and new players, particularly in the b2b SaaS segment. However, it is worth noting that the Ukrainian food b2b market remains less dynamic compared to the European one, but retains the potential for growth, especially in connection with the increased capitalization of recurring revenue models. Ukrainian projects are subject to a certain “martial law” discount, but with the localization of military actions and a favorable global economic climate, positive dynamics on the M&A market are expected in 2024. The increase in the number of deals and the interest of investors in Ukrainian technology companies indicates the perspective of the market and its readiness to interact with international players.

AIN.Capital shares the list.

10 hiring trends to prepare for in 2024

1. Providing a great recruiting experience for candidates was a trend in 2023, and it will continue in 2024. According to a survey conducted by the F1V talent acquisition team, candidates’ interactions with both recruiters and hiring managers directly impact their decision to accept a job offer.
2. Compared to previous years, candidates are now more willing to complete test tasks, considering them as a way to demonstrate their expertise.
3. Despite the job market being shaken by massive layoffs in the first half of 2023, acquiring strong senior or C-level executives is still hard. Finding the perfect fit for early-stage startups also remains challenging, increasing the time recruiters spend to fill the vacancies.
4. Hiring people from around the world is becoming more popular. Companies that only hire in one location might miss out on talented individuals compared to those with offices in different countries.
5. In the U.S., candidates tend to drop out if there are more than 3 interview steps. Ukrainian applicants usually persist through 5-6 hiring stages. Also, Ukrainians are eager to take on more responsibilities, being high-performing and more flexible in fast-paced environments.
6. While the LATAM market is booming and salaries are slightly rising, finding candidates who speak English fluently remains a challenge.
7. Comparing markets in the U.S., LATAM and Ukraine, candidates in the U.S. tend to prepare for interviews better by researching the company and its tech stack. Job seekers in the U.S. and LATAM generally showcase better soft skills than Ukrainians. But Ukrainian candidates have a stronger product and technical background.
8. Despite global downsizing in 2023, there is an uptick in profit-generating positions. This trend is particularly noticeable in areas such as sales and marketing, where higher salary ranges are becoming more prevalent.
9. Outsourcing is dying, while “product” is hiring. Currently, many companies are seeking specialists with expertise in product development.
10. Remote and flexible work options remain some of the most desirable perks for potential employees.

“Are valuations of tech companies falling? Yes, the numbers confirm it. Inspired by a recent post by Pawel Maj, I decided to take a closer look at this trend. Because, well… I don’t see anything wrong happening.”

Do we have a major problem in the tech market? No. And here’s why:

• Valuations are still high. Valuations at 11.9x EBITDA or 3.1x revenue are still considered high valuations. Many industries would dream of such valuations.
• The median EBITDA multiple of 11.9x is higher than in 2014. The median revenue multiple of 3.1x is similar to valuations in 2013, 2014, and 2017. These are normal valuations.

• In recent years, we witnessed inflated valuations driven by various well-known factors (COVID-19, cheap money, accelerated digitization of virtually all aspects of our lives). Valuations at 19.5x EBITDA? Did anyone seriously think that would last?
• A lot of companies have been over-investing and over-hiring for the past few years, so when the market came back to normal and their businesses weren’t growing as fast as they thought, they had to start cutting back. And because the media picks up headlines about layoffs, it looks from the outside like something really bad is happening.
• The approach to startups has changed. It’s no longer enough for them to grow at all costs. They need to capture the market but also make money, increase revenue, and optimize costs.
• Bad press leads to more bad press. This is evident in the fintech industry. Huge fluctuations in cryptocurrencies have resulted in a lack of trust in such assets. The FTX scandal shook faith in innovative financial technologies. Large drops in valuations of giants like Worldline, Adyen, Stripe, Klarna. These articles get clicked on, and because there have been many of them in recent months, they distort the overall picture of the industry.

“So, are we witnessing a major problem? No. We have a correction that is normalizing valuations of tech companies. And that’s a good thing. The sooner valuations return to normal, the sooner companies will stop being overambitious and focus on their businesses. Consequently, they will return to growth more quickly.”

As for the rest? Well, some will be acquired, and some will fail. That’s how it has always been in business. And that’s how it will be now.

For now, the defence tech sector includes the bulk of most prospective industries in the hi-tech market, and the following three tips from accomplishment experts will help you build your defence tech startup more effectively.

As a bonus, Paul Clayton and Serhii Koshman kindly included in their speech opinions about the possibility of new conflicts emerging in the foreseeable future.

1. War is about technology

At the start of the meeting, Paul did an exhaustive summary: “War is a way for constant innovation”, and this principle has remained unchanged since the ancient times. In the distant past, weapons of war, intelligence instruments, and medicine have been continuously improved. Modern warfare has a similar nature: for a successful defense or offensive operation, you have to rapidly adapt, modernize, and develop new means of combat.

In the XXI century, the list of such technologies, especially in progressive countries, usually involves core digital industries like Machine Learning, Data Science, and the AI industry as a whole. Technically, modern algorithms which allow the processing and management of large amounts of data are a vital instrument for every current intelligence service and, perhaps, no less important than the spy network. Such software makes it possible to predict enemy’s potential steps due to highly accurate analysis of satellite photos, contemporary decryption systems, etc.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are at the high technologies’ “forefront” on the battlefield. They are being used more and more actively by Ukrainian forces and have produced noteworthy successes in recent months. We could observe dozens of notable developments and applications of such machines: well-known Bayraktar, tens of different kamikaze drone variations from Ukrainian enterprises, robot SPOT by BostonDynamics, and other autonomous instruments that can help to demine the territory without involving human resources.

2. Find new connections and allies

To ensure the correct operation of hi-tech software, we need high-quality hardware: advanced chips, semiconductors, rare resources, etc. In the context of Ukraine, we can observe some lack of such components. In order to build advanced production, you need to cooperate with Western companies, especially with large-scale industry representatives. These corporations usually acquire prospective startups and provide them with the required resources, funds, and specialists.

By the way, the latter, STEM-educated people, are no less important than hardware. Engineers, scientists, and mathematics are also vital parts of successful growth for every defense tech startup. They will provide idea generation, modernization, and implementation of new technologies. As Paul Clayton assumed, there is no lack of such people in Ukraine.

The war allows to establish new connections more easily because the defense industry in most countries is in the growth stage, and the effectiveness of your communication mainly depends on your activity and initiative.

3. VCs do not know about defense tech

Not every investor can and should know the difference between your UAV or an advanced computer-vision system for drones and the same product from your competitor. Thus, you should have an expert on your team with appropriate qualifications and sufficient experience to explain to VCs why your work deserves attention and funds.

Also, the experts mentioned a few countries with the most “friendly” defense tech market, open to new ideas: Estonia, Great Britain, and the USA.

The future of war

Paul Clayton, a NATO ex-commander, and Serhii Coshman, a def-tech industry representative, are, logically, competent in questions connected to war as a whole, so we definitely should not neglect their opinions about one of hottest debated questions of last year: will China invades Taiwan?

This conflict can directly provoke some kind of new global war, however, Paul Clayton expressed doubts that China will take this step. Firstly, because these actions will collapse China’s economy in a few months, and in this case, the invasion ​​is tantamount to shooting at your own head.

Serhii Coshman, in his turn, noted that military logic is not applicable to countries like Russia and China. These autocracies with a clear shift toward dictatorship are irrational in their nature and more depending on an individual’s (or groups of individuals’) personal whim rather than a critical assessment of economic and military capabilities. Therefore, you definitely should recognize different kinds of political, sociological, and other forecasts as the ultimate truth in the case of these countries.

As we all remember, a wide range of respected experts, before Russian global invasion in Ukraine, assured that such war was impossible: Russia would collapse in a few months, and Putin would probably never take such a suicidal step.

Author: Serhii Zhelieznikov

Mr. Liao spent the last six years as a Partner at 500 Startup, a worldwide Seed Venture Capital firm based in Silicon Valley, which provided the development of Reddit, Canva, and hundreds of other smaller-scale services and media. During his tenure, Marvin invested in over 400 startups, including fintech, digital health, adtech, and other industries.

Such circumstances make him extremely qualified to judge how an entrepreneur’s ideas should look like if they want to attract a venture capitalist with a big fat wallet. That’s why the Lift99 community couldn’t miss the opportunity to invite Marvin to roast a few Ukrainian startups who were brave enough to face wise advice and ruthless criticism.

So, here is the triad of the most crucial Marvin’s conclusions.

Advice 1: F*ck broad presentation

You may create the most beautiful presentation with dozens of complicated motion graphics elements and a wide range of infographics with meaningless digits about the country’s population and economic indicators; however, it does not make any sense if you miss crucial pieces of information about your target group, monetization system, range of prices, etc. 

Remember that you have only a few minutes to impress investors, so exclude all broad, insignificant, and well-known facts that spend priceless seconds of your speech. 

Advice 2: Stop dreaming, show me the digits

It’s great that you have far-reaching, ambitious plans for your project, and your head is full of brilliant ideas that you want to share with everyone, but keep it to yourself, okay? 

Investors do not give a fig who you are and what your passions are — they want to hear how exactly their money would work and which improvements will help you to gain more money. You should offer particular ideas with obvious and transparent conditions, benefits, and risks. 

Advice 3: Crypto? Explain yourself, sir

In the case your startup works with some hi-tech stuff like cryptocurrencies and NFTs, that, for most venture capitalists, logically sounds risky and incomprehensible, you have to specify your sources. Why should they trust your coin? Is there any guarantee of profitability, or at least that you will not waste 100 grand on some pictures that you will not be able to sell in the future? 

If you choose the way of crypto, you should be prepared for these questions and, perhaps, more importantly, be sure that your idea is feasible and relevant to explain in detail why it should work.

When someone in the audience asked Marvin about the formula of successful self-development, his answer was simple and exhaustive: to change yourself — you should change your environment:

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. So you wanna get great? You gotta go where the best people are,”

Marvin Liao said.

Author: Serhii Zhelieznikov

These twenty include: Inovo.vc, SMOK Ventures, Black Pearls VC, Market One Capital, bValue, OTB Ventures, Ciech Ventures, SpeedUp Energy Innovation, CofounderZone, Sunfish Partners, Montis Capital, LT Capital, Movens Capital, Tar Heel Capital Pathfinder VC, Kogito Ventures, Next Road Ventures, Aper Ventures, YouNick Mint, Aligo Venture, and Simpact VC.

To create the ranking, we analyzed the investment activities of Polish VCs for the period from January 2023 to June 2023, referring to deals from our feed and datasets of several DaaS platforms. We counted only those agreements that are public. Investments that the fund, for example, counts in its track record, but does not name, were not included in the rating calculations.

To verify the available information, we conducted a survey among the funds. If the figures we had did not match the answers the funds gave, we asked for clarification and asked them to name all their investments. All funds are ranked according to the number of new investments they made in H1 of 2023. Some funds are not included in our fresh ranking, even though they did close the deals, but that were follow-ons. For example, Satus Starter made three follow-on investments and Arkley Brinc VC — one.

Inovo.vc and SMOK Ventures topped the list by closing 12 new deals.

Inovo.vc added 6 new startups to its portfolio.

In the first half of 2023, Inovo.vc made 6 investments, 4 of which are follow-ons. €10 million round to Danish weight loss app Embla, and testing services, and €1 million for Moldovan edtech Bloomcoding are among its deals in H1 2023. 

In August 2023, Inovo.vc launched a third fund with €100 million in assets to support between 20 and 30 startups from CEE. In total, Inovo.vc’s first two funds have backed over €45 million in more than 30 companies.

SMOK Ventures also closed 6 new deals in H1 2023.

SMOK Ventures made 6 investments in H1 of 2023. SMOK Ventures is one of the Polish funds that has started to support Ukrainian projects actively. In the first half of 2023, it added three Ukrainian startups — Finmap, Workee, and Masthead Data, to its portfolio. According to SMOK Ventures, three main things determined the choice: engineering talent pool, startup founding experience, and proximity to Poland. 

In total, SMOK Ventures have made 29 investments since its launch in 2019. The fund invests from $100,000 to $1 million in early stage startups in Central & Eastern Europe targeting developer tools, AI, gamedev and b2b SaaS business model. 

In 2022, AIN.Capital published the ranking of the most active Polish VC funds, which included 25 local backers. LT Capital, SMOK Ventures, Movens Venture Capital, and Market One Capital topped the list by closing 33 deals.

But despite all the above, the world has recently seen historic growth of financial markets. We have not experienced anything like this in our lifetimes. Vital Laptenok, general partner at Flyer One Ventures, shared his opinion on the current trends in the VC market, which can help startups navigate this uncharted territory.

VCs fought in 2021, now they back away

In 2021-2022, VCs invested a lot of money in overvalued companies due to intense competition and lack of due diligence.

• The situation has since changed: Despite having raised significant funds, VCs are now waiting for the economy to rebalance, largely holding off on investing. To achieve a more sustainable deal flow, investors are anticipating startups to lower their valuations.
• It’s already been happening. I’d say 50-70% of the startups that crossed the $1 billion mark in 2021 are no longer worth that amount. 
• The number of new unicorns in 2022 was the lowest in 4 years, and existing unicorns are also losing their status. The telling example is Klarna, once Europe’s most valuable private startup, which slashed its valuation from $46 billion to $6.7 billion.

Not all companies have run out of money and accepted the new reality yet. But in 2023, they will have to.

From “growth at all costs” to “measured growth”

Over the next 2-3 years, investors will play it safe by carefully auditing startups before investing. VCs will be cautious, preferring to back established, “default alive” startups with a proven track record, healthy unit economics, and a viable product or service.

To evaluate a company’s health, the startup and VC industry commonly use the Rule of 40, which requires a company’s growth rate and profitability margin to add up to at least 40%.

In a healthy economy, investors look at fast-growing startups. But in times of crisis, the growth rate of over 30% is rather a disadvantage. As a result, VCs are now shifting their focus to startups with moderate growth rates and positive unit economics.

The camel approach

Startups need to adopt a new approach to company building and money management. The days of WeWork-style excess are over. Instead, startups must operate in a “default alive” mode, using their resources sparingly.

“Think of a camel that can survive up to 15 days without water. A camel-startup would use money not to kill competition but to build a solid product and have healthy growth. It wouldn’t splurge on lavish offices and extravagant perks for employees.”

Here are a few things to focus on:

• having a clear strategy for achieving profitability,
• controlling expenses,
• maintaining a fair valuation,
• managing cash wisely,
• and not scaling just for the sake of scaling.

In the years ahead, investors will pay extra attention to a founder’s ability to rely on their own business for survival.

Vitamins vs. medicines

Businesses built on fundamental needs have much higher chances to survive tough times, as people and companies become more cost-conscious and begin to spend less on nice-to-have products. 

“Here’s a simple analogy: When someone is sick, they buy medicine and painkillers — not vitamins. Similarly, startups that offer solutions to urgent problems are like medicine and are more likely to succeed in the long run.”

Our investment team has recently evaluated a startup that simplifies access to medical services for relocated employees. It’s a great example of a “medicine” because when people relocate to other countries, they may face tons of troubles with insurance, doctor appointments, and medical treatment. It’s a much-needed product.

It’s time to build

It may seem weird, but a recession or crisis can be a good time to run a startup if founders are ready to face the headwinds.

In hard times, businesses can hire great talent and offer people products or services that solve acute problems. The examples of companies like WhatsApp, Uber, Airbnb, Pinterest, Slack, Venmo, and Instagram, which all grew during the 2008 recession, prove this.

Ukrainian founders are another great example of such resilience: They are building startups during the war, while the national and global economies are slumping. None of our Ukrainian portfolio startups has shut down since Russia started its all-out invasion in 2022.

“Founders who create businesses during crises are usually the most motivated, persistent, and capable entrepreneurs. They know their company may not generate high profits within the next 3-5 years. But fueled by their passion for the project, they are willing to work hard and face challenges.”

“If you’re Russian and you pitch your startup, it’s not a good idea to:
– hide being Russian by removing any Russian references from your LinkedIn / deck,
– pretend to be Ukrainian (wtf??)

Simply state where you’re from and what’s your stance on Putin / the war and move on!

I’m going to find out anyway, so why waste everyone’s time?”

Musielak wrote in LinkedIn blog post.

He didn’t specify the names of those Russian startups, but noted that pretending to have Ukrainian origins is already a trend among them:

“Happens all the time, actually. Both hiding (i can see this on every other Russian founder’s LinkedIn profile) and pretending (less often, but also multiple times).”

Commenting on the post, some users wrote that not all Russians are responsible for the war, and they may hide their roots to avoid harassment. But, according to VC, it is not a good idea.

“I feel for them, but unfortunately, it’s the hiding that will most likely get you unfundable, as I’d immediately suspect that you’re hiding for the wrong reasons. Be transparent and own it. There are amazing reasons to be proud of being Russian. Putin is just not one of them,”

Musielak emphasized.

Some also wrote that it is not fair to reject startups just for being Russian. Addressing those statements, Borys Musielak has shared some insights on how he decides whether to invest in a Russian startup after February 24, 2022, or not. AIN.Capital collected his comments into a column with the permission of the author.

“I’m not going to fund assholes. And if you support Putin and the war, or even if you’re claiming to be neutral, you’re definitely one.

I haven’t said that because they are Russian I automatically assume they support Putin and the war. What I’m saying is that if you’re Russian, you can’t remain neutral. You can’t say “oh, I haven’t supported Putin so I’m good”. No, you’re not. You need to be expressive in your support for Ukraine, and you need to be consistent in order for me to trust you that it’s not just a PR move on your side.

That’s why I advise all the Russians that approach me or other Western investors to be extremely deliberate in how they talk about themselves as Russians and state their believes beforehand.

I’m obviously not going to be judgmental if you’ve done everything you could to state that you are against the war and against Putin (ideally at some point in 2014, and not only in 2023 when your economy falls, and you want out) and I won’t have a problem finding you as a Russian citizen if I believe that you are truthful to what you say. But I’m going to do a lot more reputational due diligence and KYC before I do, for obvious reasons.

If you are based outside of Russia, if you were vocal about being anti-Putin at least from 2014 till now, if you have no connections to Russia outside of family and friends, and if you are genuinely good people (yeah that’s a lot of ifs!) and I can verify all that, of course, I would consider investing.”

Researching the Polish IT market, AIN.Capital editorial board found out that there are no reports that would highlight the year-over-year growth of the industry in personnel. The existing rankings mostly list companies that achieved the highest compound annual growth rate in revenue. So we decided to change the state of affairs and to create the first ranking of the 50 largest IT companies in Poland by the number of specialists working in their offices as of the end of 2022.

The list below includes export-oriented companies or so-called IT outsourcers, product companies, and R&D centers of international technology companies.

The ranking is headed by five global leaders in technology, consulting, and outsourcing services Capgemini, Amazon, Sii, Accenture, and IBM. They all are the foreign invested international enterprises with developments centers in different parts of Poland. Top 5 companies totally hire36,617 specialists in their Polish offices — that is 35.2% of the number of professionals all 50 companies have.

When it comes to the revenue, the top 5 largest companies in Poland look different and do not overlap with the five leaders sized by the number of personnel. According to the latest ITwiz Best100, which shows the annual growth of IT companies as of 2021, AB, ALSO, Dell EMC, Lenovo Technology, and HP Inc. head the ranking, with total revenue of over $4.2 million (PLN 20.3 billion). At the same time, Capgemini, Amazon, Sii, Accenture, and IBM, the five leaders by employment in Poland with total revenue of more than $720,000 (PLN 3.5 million), has been ranked 18th, 89th, 75th, 28th, and 12th accordingly.

Most importantly, that despite the global economic downturn, all 50 companies from our list plan to continue to grow. That means they have tens and some of them hundreds of open positions right now. Currently, there are 1,278 job openings at Capgemini, Amazon, Sii, Accenture, and IBM that led the ranking. At the same time, the 50 largest IT companies have altogether 4,089 job openings in their Polish offices.

Methodology

To create the ranking of the largest IT companies in Poland by the number of specialists working in their Polish offices, AIN.Capital has firstly provided an in-depth analysis of the local IT market. Then we found out, there are no reports that would highlight the year-over-year growth of IT industry in Poland in personnel. The existing rankings mostly list companies that achieved the highest compound annual growth rate in revenue, and some of them describe the state of employment partly.

After that, with the help of Ukrainian OSINT Community Molfar, we identified 50 IT companies that hire the biggest number of professionals if their Polish locations, and surveyed all of them to get actual figures for the end of 2022. For those companies that did not provide us with the fresh data, AIN.Capital together with OSINT Community Molfar applied another approach.

We gathered the information about the number of specialists from public sources, which include LinkedIn and figures from the annual ITwiz Best100 ranking, published on July 2022. The data about job openings was collected from the companies’ career pages on the websites.

AIN.Capital would like to point out that our ranking does not claim to be complete. If you have any comments or advice on how to make it better, please let us know: lp@ain.ua

AIN.Capital talked to FIRSTPICK, Inovo VC, and Presto Ventures about OpenAI products, potential risks and opportunities of its new technologies, and found out if the funds are ready to invest in startups that are developing in this direction. 

Marijus Andrijauskas, Partner at FIRSTPICK 

OpenAI is definitely a company to keep an eye on in the tech world. Their products, like GPT-3 and DALL-E 2, are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with AI and have the potential to revolutionize a wide range of industries. We think they are doing some really exciting work, and we’re even more excited to see what they come up with next.

Thinking about the potential risks and opportunities of new technologies such as ChatGPT and DALL-E 2, sure it is a powerful tool that can be used for a wide range of applications, but like any technology, they also have the potential to be misused. For example, there are concerns about the use of these tools to create deepfake videos or to spread misinformation that is a dangerous tool in the wrong arms. However, we believe that the benefits of these technologies far outweigh the risks and with the proper safeguards in place, we can minimize the potential negative impact.

“We’re always on the lookout for startups that are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with AI, and we do believe that the advancements being made by companies in the AI field have the potential to revolutionize a wide range of industries. Moreover, we do see some nice transitions with the startups we already invested in.”

Our portfolio companies are always looking for ways to stay ahead of the curve and stay competitive in their respective industries. Many of them are already using OpenAI products like GPT-3 and DALL-E 2 in a wide range of ways. For example, we have seen startups using these technologies for things like natural language processing in chatbot and virtual assistant development, content generation for marketing and sales, and even in the product development process.

We think it’s safe to say that ChatGPT and other AI technologies are going to change the future of work in a big way. I mean, let’s face it, some of us already use ChatGPT more often than Google! In all seriousness, these technologies have the potential to automate a lot of tasks and make our day more efficient. As for how fast the entire transition will happen, I think we’re already seeing the beginnings of this shift, but it will take some time for the full impact to be felt. But one thing is for sure, the future of work will be much more “AI-fied” than it is today.

Bohdan Mashtalir, Investment scout at Inovo VC

I think OpenAI is paramount for the wider adoption of AI by non-technical people. That would be the catalyst for the next wave of a digital renaissance. As with everything, OpenAI has its threats and risks in its usage. The stronger effects, the stronger are side effects. Despite all the opportunities, threats of misuse are also present. Anything from students cheating on their essays to equipping digital criminals with more efficient processes. 

“ChatGPT already has changed the way we think of certain types of work. Even though it got very popular, I expect it to follow the classic adoption curve. Players like Google will present their solutions and implement them into the tools we already use every day. At that point, almost everyone would be using ChatGPT like tools without realizing that. As of timeframe, I would give it 2 years to become truly mainstream.”

Investing in new technologies such as OpenAI and ChatGPT is the next hot thing in the world of VC to look for the next winning generative AI solutions (like Jasper & others). Much like others, Inovo VC is open to interesting opportunities within our thesis. In general, assessing those companies in the same way as any other, with no special treatment. 

Jan Romportl, Deep Tech Partner at Presto Ventures

OpenAI is one of the most important AI-focused entities in the world. We’ve been following them closely since their early legendary work in reinforcement learning (OpenAI Gym) back in 2016, followed by their Dota2-playing system OpenAI Five in 2018. They certainly earned our full attention in 2019, after the release of GPT-2. When they released GPT-3 in the spring of 2020, it was clear that they’d become the world’s number one in the new generation of Foundation Models.

The work of OpenAI has been one of the most important milestones in the development of modern AI.

Definitely, these systems pose quite serious threats – especially since uncontrolled and reality-detached online content can now be generated without any limitations. Given the current geopolitical situation and liberal democracies being endangered by cognitive warfare, this can be very dangerous.

Moreover, future versions of these Foundation Models are very likely to reshape the labor market and change social conditions of many people. We appreciate that these models are now included in the proposed EU AI Act as so-called ‘high-risk systems’, thus subject to more thorough EU regulations.

“Presto Ventures is ready to invest in startups that are developing in this direction, moreover we’ve just closed a deal with a startup in this space that is built directly on top of the original GPT-3 (i.e. already before the ChatGPT hype), working on a so-called “cognitive antivirus” – a software that helps protect human users’ minds while navigating the online space, such as reading the news or interacting on social media, in the metaverse etc. But together with that, we remain careful to avoid low-quality, quick and hyped startups – including those that started to emerge after ChatGPT.”

The generative models of AI technology and particularly ChatGPT will profoundly change many professions that are in the business of content generation – such as copywriters, graphic designers, musicians, or marketers. Eventually, it will make low-qualified or low-experienced humans in these fields professionally obsolete. Instead, these professions will become dominated by humans who are able to work in synergy with such AI tools. In other words, humans in these professions can benefit from AI, but they will need to adapt in clever ways. The same holds true for junior software developers, junior lawyer trainees, etc.

This will probably start happening as early as 1 to 3 years from now. The first ones to adapt are text-oriented professions, such as copywriters.

In the latest ranking, we considered only the size of companies in Ukraine, while international offices were not taken into account. However, it should also be noted that many employees from Ukrainian representative offices are currently working in foreign ones, which affects the number of specialists in local teams.

With the full-scale invasion, companies also focused on opening new offices abroad. Ukrainians might also work there. For example, GlobalLogic has opened a development center in Mexico, ELEKS has an office in Croatia, Sigma Software has an office in Prague, and Intellias has opened a representative office in Spain and Portugal. Most outsourcers have relocated to Poland, with N-iX, Grid Dynamics, GlobalLogic, and ELEKS opening offices there. Turkey and Latin American countries share second place.

In addition, in 2022, the companies established offices in western Ukraine. Thus, the most popular cities are Lviv (Luxoft), Ivano-Frankivsk (Luxoft, N-iX), Chernivtsi (Luxoft, Sigma Software), Uzhhorod (almost all those who have not yet had one). And Uzhhorod itself was included in the list of major IT hubs. 

It should be noted that NIX Solutions, which in 2021 ranked fifth with a team of 3,693 people, refused to participate in this year’s AIN.Capital survey. For comparison, we used the data from the July 2022 rating of the largest companies in Ukraine compiled by DOU. Astound Commerce, which last year reported 976 local team members, also did not provide its figures.

Ranking of outsourcing and service IT companies by the number of employees

Overall, as can be seen from the ranking, the situation in Ukraine has had a significant impact on the listed companies. The top five companies recorded either a decrease in the number of employees or a stable number of employees, such as Luxoft. As reported to AIN.Capital by EPAM, which had 15% fewer specialists in its Ukrainian staff in November compared to December last year, more than a quarter of those who left the country at the beginning of the war have already returned. Nevertheless, a certain number of them see their immediate future abroad:

“Compared to the previous year, the number of specialists cooperating with ERAM has decreased. However, there is a reasonable explanation for this. After all, several thousand of our specialists left Ukraine to escape the war. More than a quarter of them have already returned home, but some see their immediate future in other countries. After completing the permitted 90-day stay in Europe, we have observed active relocation processes within the company for several months. Thanks to a large number of EPAM offices worldwide, specialists can work in the countries of their choice and receive support from the company and local peers. Currently, the relocation is the key reason for the change in the size of the Ukrainian team.”

According to SoftServe, 2,000 people have relocated abroad. Some of them have returned, but a significant number of people remain there and are being legalized in other SoftServe locations. In this case, they cease to be employees of SoftServe Ukraine.

“There is also the phenomenon of staff turnover, which is natural for the company this year, but due to the slower pace of hiring and the number of vacancies on the market, the number of employees does not level off as quickly. In addition, we do have some optimization going on, but it is not of a pronounced widespread nature. We maintain a talent pool sufficient to launch new projects and open new vacancies quickly. Most of them are focused on the internal pool, but we also open vacancies for external staffing. We are actively working to attract new customers and projects in Ukraine,” added Anastasia Frolova, Country Manager Ukraine, SoftServe.

Ciklum also noted that many Ukrainian specialists have left and switched to local contracts in the delivery centers of Poland and Bulgaria. The Ukrainian office of the latter employs 2,800 people, which is 14% less than last year.  

Number of specialists in top 3 IT companies

Although half of the companies did not show an increase in employees, the other ten reported an increase in their Ukrainian teams. Among them are Intellias with an increase of 11% (54.5% last year), N-iX with +10% (42.3%), and Grid Dynamics with an increase of 21% (24.9%). At the same time, Avenga (formerly CoreValue) reported 727 specialists, which is 107% more than last year. 

As Avenga explained to AIN.Capital, the company’s growth is mainly driven by the M&A program and the company’s presence in other countries. In addition, the offices in Ukraine operate in a self-sufficient manner, regardless of power outages. Thus, according to Avenga, clients receive services, and the team has the opportunity to work.

“We are establishing our presence not only in Europe, but also in South America (the recent merger with the Argentine company IncluIT gave us an increase of 800 people. Before that, the integration with Perfectial increased the Ukrainian team by 500 specialists. We also have good growth in existing customers, even during the war we did not lose any of them. Analyzing the last three years, which were quite difficult for the world, we did not have mass layoffs, salary cuts, or other drastic measures; our attrition was on average 15-18% when the market had already reached 30%,” said Marta Romaniak, Managing Director at Avenga.

It is a good sign that all the companies in the ranking continue to hire specialists. Although growth is not as rapid as it was a year ago, the availability of vacancies may indicate a step-by-step recovery of the industry. For example, SoftServe plans to hire additional 764 specialists globally in the near future, with 239 vacancies open in Ukraine. At the same time, EPAM notes that there is no massive hiring at the moment, and the need for specialists is mainly covered by the company’s internal talents. In November 2022, they were mainly looking for niche specialists, such as Performance Analyst, Microsoft Dynamics, Salesforce, Big Data, Python, etc.

Number of specialists & number of vacancies

Grid Dynamics has the most vacancies in Ukraine among the top twenty. In 2022, the company closed its offices in Russia and focused on scaling in Europe. As of December, it has about 1,600 specialists in Ukraine and plans to hire another 300 in the near future. GlobalLogic is also relatively active in hiring, with 279 vacancies open at the time of the survey. In their comment, the company noted that they are looking for specialists in various areas, including C++, .NET, Manual QA, Automation QA, Embedded QA, C/Embedded, Machine Learning, and Linux Kernel.

The main conclusions of the survey:

• R&D offices gave up the top ranking in terms of remuneration, falling straight to third place, with product companies taking over the top spot and outsourcing and outstaffing companies finishing second.
• Every fifth respondent reported issues with salary payout. 8.7% of respondents indicated that their salaries were cut after the start of the full-scale invasion. Another 7% reported delays in salary payments.
• For the first time, the highest median salary for developers in Ukraine was recorded in Uzhhorod, not Kyiv, at $4,750. And that’s despite the fact that the median in Kyiv is also $500 higher than last year.
• Median salaries of Marketing Managers across all levels fell by ~$300.
• The salary gap between C-level female and male executives has shrunk from 38% to 27%.
• Junior Researcher, HR, and Recruiter salaries have gone up, while the salaries of Seniors have gone down by $300.
• Senior Video Designers raised their median salary by 17% compared to last year.
• The median salaries of Junior Developers in almost all programming languages have also increased.
• Among Automation QA, those who use Java have the highest salaries.
• Senior Content Developers in E-commerce will receive an average of $925, in Gambling & Betting – $2300, and the maximum this year is offered by GameDev – $3088.

Who was surveyed? Among those who filled out our questionnaire are developers, testers, managers, marketers, data and business analysts, recruiters, content producers, and investment specialists—over 40 occupations in total.

Why is it necessary? Such studies help businesses navigate the labor market. The results of salary surveys allow professionals on both sides of the recruitment process to assess their expectations more objectively without cognitive distortions.

How was the survey conducted? The editorial staff of AIN.Capital conducted an anonymous survey. Over 3,000 individuals completed the survey, mostly those who stayed to work in Ukraine. While analyzing the results, we calculated the median salaries of respondents, dividing them into 4 categories:

• Business: CEO · COO · GM/Admin director · Product Manager · Project Manager · Product Owner · Scrum Master · Producer · Marketing Manager · Affiliate · SEO · ASO · PPC · PR · SMM · Sales Manager · Business Developer · Analyst · Data Analyst · Business Analyst · Data Science · Researcher · Support/Call center;
• Development: Software Engineer · DevOps/Unix Admin · QA Engineer · UI/UX Designer · Cyber Security · DBA · Sys.Admin;
• Content: Writer · 2D/3D Artist · Graphic designer · Sound designer · Video designer;
• Special & Administration: HR · Recruiter · Finance Manager/Accountant · Lawyer · M&A specialist · Scout · Fundraiser.

Having collected the answers and analyzed them, we have created a detailed infographic of changes in the amount of remuneration depending on the expertise, knowledge, and work history for each position provided by the survey. The calculations were based on the fixed part of the salary in USD after taxes. Bonuses and gigs were calculated separately, and the analysis thereof is also available in the article.

Survey respondent persona

The autumn 2022 survey involved 3,007 respondents. Most of them are men (75.9%), of which 42% work in Software Engineering. Marketing remains the most popular sphere among women (15.3% of survey participants); however, the spheres of QA (14.3%) and HR/Recruiting (12.9%) have almost leveled with this undisputed leader of previous surveys. The median age was 32.

The residence map of IT workers has changed dramatically. For obvious and unfortunate reasons, Kharkiv, which had the second largest number of IT workers (8%) after Kyiv, now ranks fourth. A mere 3.5% of respondents indicated it as their place of residence. Kyiv has also significantly lost ground: from last year’s 59%, only 49.3% of respondents now live in it. The number of respondents from Lviv increased from 7% to 13.7%. Professionals also dispersed to small towns, and probably a certain number of them returned to their hometowns.

Median Salaries

Business

Data Analysts became the leaders in terms of median salary among business specialists of Senior and Team Lead levels. It amounted to $4,200 and exceeded the median of Product Owners, last year’s leaders. Within this occupation, the median has significantly increased at the Senior and Middle levels and slightly increased for the Junior level. The highest median of Junior level has Business Analyst ($1,165). They have maintained this leadership since last year. The median salary in the category of Game Designer has plummeted: slightly for Middle-level specialists and very noticeably for Seniors (from $4,000 to $2,700).

Median salaries in the category of Marketing Manager of all levels fell by an average of $300. Affiliate marketing employees earn the most at the Junior and Middle levels. SEO and PPC, like last time, have almost equal medians. The median salaries of PR specialists also remained practically unchanged.

Data Analysts reported the highest salary among respondents employed in the analytics field, with $8,800. Interestingly, the maximum salary indicated among marketers ($5,000) is indicated by the respondent of Team Lead level, engaged in SMM.

The median salary of Sales Managers of varying seniority levels has increased by $100-200 since the publication of the previous report. It should be noted that most sales managers receive a fixed wage, which was calculated, but also representatives of this sphere often get bonuses and incentives, which we will discuss in this article.

Check out these vacancies: Product / Project manager, Producer, Marketing Manager, SEO, Affiliate, PPC, PR, Analyst, Sales / BizDev, Support / Call Center

The median salary for Junior Support/Call center fell from $638 to $490. The median of the Senior level also dropped by $100. Senior Technical Support has the highest median in this area, with $1,900. Specialists who work with English earn more than other specialists. Senior Support/Call center employees working in English get an average of $2,050.

C-level

The highest-paid C-level position is still General Manager (this position is much more common in large companies). GM’s median salary is $6,250. COO’s median has slightly decreased. CEO’s median (a position found in both young startups and large companies) fell from $4,750 to $4,000 this year, while Admin Director’s median increased by 35%.

CTO’s median has slightly increased and reached $5,200 ($5,000 last year). Medians of CPO, CAO, CFO, CHRO, and CSO have also increased. They decreased for CMOs and CLOs (approx. 5% decline for both).

This year, the highest C-level median is in outsourcing companies ($5,275), which is higher than last year’s median but significantly lower than last year’s median for R&D offices ($8,000). This year, the C-level median in R&D offices has plummeted by 35%. The lowest median salary in agencies is $2,800.

Among the respondents who indicated C-level, only 10% are women. Their median salary was $3,650, which is 27% lower than that of the surveyed men of the same seniority level. Interestingly, the number of women at the C-level has decreased since last year, possibly due to the departure of many women abroad caused by the start of the full-scale invasion. However, at the same time, the salary gap has narrowed (last year it was 38%).

29% of respondents at the CEO/COO/GM/Admin director level used to work in the Product sphere. A quarter of respondents were engaged in development, and this fully concurs with the results of previous surveys.

Check out these vacancies: CTO / Architect, CEO / COO / CMO / CPO / CIO або колекцію C-Level

Special & Administration

Junior HR and Recruiter raised their median to $910 and $920 respectively. Junior Researcher’s median has doubled. Across all HR/Recruiter positions, median senior-level salaries fell by an average of $300, most of all for recruiters (from $2,250 to $1,700). Middle Recruiter and HR Generalist positions remained at the last year’s salary level. The highest salaries for recruiters, regardless of seniority, are offered by companies with over 1,500 employees (overall median of $2,600).

Check out these vacancies: HR / Recruiter, Legal, Accountant

Junior specialists’ median salary in the financial managers and accountants category dropped from $678 to $490. However, the medians of Middle and Senior specialists increased by $100. Working in international finances still brings much more than working exclusively in the Ukrainian segment, although the median of the latter has increased from $635 to $990 compared to last year. The median salaries of those who work with Ukrainian and international financial affairs are almost equal to the median salaries of international specialists ($2,000 and $2,100 respectively). However, last year the difference between them was $900 in favor of international specialists.

The trend of slow salary growth among Junior and Middle lawyers continues. Nevertheless, Senior Lawyers’ salaries have suffered a loss ($2,400 last year and $2,050 this year). Interestingly, international lawyers have a lower median this year than the previous one. Those who work with Ukrainian legislation also earn less than last year. However, the median of those working with international and Ukrainian law has slightly improved, adding $100 to the previous year’s median.

The median of Senior M&A and Fundraising has increased noticeably compared to last year. However, the maximum remuneration is much lower. Last year the highest wage was $7,000; this year, it is merely $4,000. On average, specialists in this field indicated that they participate in 5 deals per year, with the maximum number being 40. 78% of respondents indicated they also have additional income outside their primary job.

Content

In the Content sphere, Senior Video designer retains the highest median, currently at $3,200, compared to last year’s $2,650. Senior-level 2D/3D Artist’s median has increased and now stands at $2,900. Middle Writers’ median almost reached last year’s Senior level median and now stands at $1,200, while Senior Writers can expect a median of $1,600.

We also investigated in which companies the Content group is paid more and discovered that Middle and Senior level specialists could expect the highest remuneration in Retail companies ($2,300), while the lowest median is in R&D offices and outsourcing companies ($1,350 and $1,400 respectively).

Check out these vacancies: Copywriter, Artist 2D / 3D, Designer UI / UX

Development

JavaScript is the most popular programming language, used by 23.6% of the surveyed specialists (compared to 24.4% last time). The second most popular language is Java (14.7%), followed by C# (12.2%). Last year top 3 were JavaScript, PHP, and Java. In this survey, PHP was indicated by only 11.5% of respondents (last year, it was indicated as the primary language by 15.9%). JavaScript holds leadership among the additional languages, followed by TypeScript and SQL.

Check out developer vacancies for JavaScript, C / C++, Java, Python, Ruby, Kotlin, Swift and Node.js, React Native, Angular, Vue.js, .NET, Laravel, Yii2 frameworks

In 2021, developers’ salaries were growing; it is believed that the market was extremely hot that year. Has anything changed with the beginning of the full-scale invasion? According to the survey, salaries have increased for almost every position in the Development category.

Speaking about the most well-paid programming languages, Ruby has the highest median at the Senior level for the second year in a row with $6,000. Junior Ruby developers also have the highest starting median of $1,300. The highest median salary among Middle Developers remained for Kotlin developers at $3,200, although it fell by $100 compared to last year.

Last year’s statistics also confirm the medians of Senior PHP and Unity developers. Their medians are the lowest. The medians of Junior developers across all programming languages have increased; the only juniors who earned less this year are Junior Swift Developers. Their median dropped by almost 20%.

Median salaries for some languages depending on the libraries and frameworks used:
⦁ The median salary of C# programmers using .NET is $4,000 (the median remained the same as last year), using Unity – $3,430.
⦁ JavaScript developers working with Angular.js receive an average of $4,650 ($3,200 last year), Node.js – $3,500, React.js – $4,200 (slightly lower than last year’s median). Those who work with Vue.js have the lowest median of $2,650.
⦁ Kotlin developers who develop Android applications in the Android Framework earn an average of $5,200. Those who work with Flutter have a median salary of $4,500.
⦁ iOS app developers who develop using UIKit and SwiftUI have a median salary of $4,850, and developers who work with Flutter have $2,400.
⦁ A PHP developer working on Laravel earns, on average, $3,500. Those programmers who work with Symfony have a median salary of $3,350 (last year, the median was $5,000).
⦁ The average salary of a Python developer working with Django is $3,500, and a Python developer working with Flask is $5,000.

Salaries of programmers vary depending on the role: the highest median salary of a Senior System developer is $5,500, Team Lead Architect earns the most at $6,000. Full Stack developers were the only ones who lost in the median salary at the Senior level (last year’s median was $4,300). Machine Learning specialists have the highest median salary among developers of the Middle level. Mobile developers have the lowest median salary of Junior level.

Check out vacancies for developers: Back-End, Front-End, Full-Stack

Whereas last year we wrote about the narrowing of the median gap among large cities, we are witnessing decentralization this year. We have already noted in the respondent persona section that this year, due to Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine, many people, including IT workers, left the cities of the East, South, and Central regions to move away from the front. The overall picture of programmers’ salaries has become fragmented due to such relocations. For the first time, the highest salary in Ukraine was recorded not in Kyiv but in Uzhhorod – $4,750. This is given that in Kyiv, the median salary is $500 higher than last year and amounts to $4,500. The median salary is also above $4,000 in Lviv ($4,000), Kharkiv ($4,000), and Poltava ($4,250).

Most regional centers of Ukraine have a median salary of more than $3,000. Among them is Dnipro, where the median salary fell by 10% and now amounts to $3,200. A similar situation is observed in Odesa ($3025), although the median salary there dropped by 22%. While last year there was not a single regional center where the median salary was below $2,000, this year, we have two such cities: Mykolaiv ($1,950) and Rivne ($1,713). This year we also did not receive any filled-out surveys from Kherson.

The QA/QC sector has seen an increase in salaries. Senior Automation QA and General QA median salaries increased by 5% and 7%, respectively. Senior Manual QA retained last year’s median. Testers who use languages get more than testers without knowledge of at least one programming language.

Like last year, Automation QA makes up a quarter of all testers; 56.5% are engaged in manual testing. The most popular language among testers is Java (17.1%), followed by JavaScript (15.2%). Those who use Java have the highest median salary in Automation QA ($3,300). Those who do not use a language at all in their work have a total median of $1,500.

System Administrator earns the least of all professions in the Development category. Team Lead Sys.Admin has a median of $2,000, Senior – $1,366. Senior DevOps receives an average of $4,000 (this figure has not changed since last year’s survey). Team Lead DBAs can expect to earn approximately the same amount, with a median of $3,900.

UI/UX Designers this year have a higher median salary at the Junior and Senior levels; the median at the Middle level remained the same as last year. Middle 2D/3D Artists earn 12% more than UI/UX Designers, but at the Senior level UI/UX Designers are 11% ahead of them.

Check out these vacancies: QA / QC, QA Automation, Manual QA

Freelancers

2% of respondents indicated that they work exclusively as freelancers. To calculate the median salaries by occupation, we multiplied the hourly rate by the number of working hours per month for each trade and derived the median.

Freelancers work from 80 to 200 hours per month. Last year’s survey showed that freelancers work at least 100 hours. Last year, the most frequent answer was 160 hours per month; this year, the most frequent response was 100 hours, although the number of those who work more than 160 has increased. Thus, on average, freelancers who filled out our survey form, work 140 hours.

Most of the sample respondents are involved in Software Development. Their median salary was $3,800. UI/UX Designers again became the first in terms of efficiency, and they earn the most from freelance – $4,000 per month, which is 32% more than last year. Marketers began to make money solely from freelance a little less often over the past year, though their median has increased and now amounts to $3,000. Lawyers earn the least amount from freelance work ($700).

Check out the vacancies in this category: Remote

Other observations

Bonuses, shares, options, and additional earnings

5% of the surveyed specialists indicated that they own options and shares of companies. This figure has not changed since the last survey. Of these 5% holders, 65% hold options, and the rest hold options and shares or only shares. 31% of C-level professionals who participated in the survey indicated the ownership of shares and/or options. AIN.capital has already conducted a study on the topic, according to which options are more often issued in startups, starting from the first year of work. Although this practice is not widespread in Ukraine, most respondents would still prefer options to cash bonuses.

Fundraisers, M&As, and Sales Managers most often receive bonuses. Almost half of C-level also get bonuses, and their median monthly bonus is $2,250, the median of sales reps is $860 (14% less than last year), M&A – $900 (17% more). Specialists in the Content category, developers, and testers get bonuses the least often, and their median bonus ranges from $200 to $400.

16% of respondents indicated additional earnings. Most often, these are lawyers (33%), marketers (28%), and C-level (25%). Testers (9%) and HR/recruiters (7%) are the least likely to have additional income.

Salaries depending on the level of English

The level of English proficiency has increased this year, though not significantly. The number of respondents who are fluent in English has not changed. The number of those who speak English at the Advanced level has increased by 2.6%, the number of respondents with Upper Intermediate level has risen by 4%, and only 8% of respondents are fluent in English. Their number increased due to those who had Intermediate level and below.

For technical specialists, the knowledge of English, at least at the Intermediate level, allows counting on a higher salary. Starting from this level, Juniors have an advantage of $200. The median of Middle level with Intermediate English is separated from the median of Pre-Intermediate plus $700. For Senior developers to feel the difference, they need to have at least an Upper Intermediate level of English.

The situation is almost the same for non-technical specialists. Juniors and Middles need to have at least Upper Intermediate so that the difference in medians is noticeable. A Senior level professional can count on a median of more than $3,000, starting from the Advanced English level.

For clarity, we will examine the impact of English on the salary level across several occupations:
⦁ Senior recruiter with a Pre-Intermediate level of English earns on average $1,000, Junior recruiter with Upper Intermediate level of English can make the same amount. An advanced level of English allows you to earn an average of $2,000, even for Middle-level specialists.
⦁ Junior marketers do not depend on the level of English. Still, from the Middle level, the language plays a significant role: Intermediate level allows one to earn an average of $1,000, while the fluent level allows one to make $1,638 on average.
⦁ Like marketers, developers do not depend much on the knowledge of English at the Junior level. Only basic knowledge of English significantly reduces the level of salary expectations. Senior developers have the same median of $4000 for all who know English at the Elementary to Intermediate level. At the Upper Intermediate level, they already make an average of $1,000 more.
⦁ Senior employees of the Content category who know English at the Advanced level earn twice as much as those who know English at the Pre-Intermediate level. Those who speak the language fluently get three times more than the latter.

Salaries depending on the industry

24.9% of our respondents are engaged in E-commerce; this is the most popular industry in the field of IT, which is confirmed by the third survey in a row. FinTech again retained second place, followed by HealthTech. Gambling & Betting gave up fourth place to DataTech.

We were able to identify differences in median salaries depending on the industry.
⦁ Senior marketers in HealthTech, on average, earn $1,400, while in GameDev, the median salary of marketers is $2,600.
⦁ Middle and Senior Project Managers in GameDev have the lowest median ($1,750 and $3,000, respectively). And the highest median salary for PM is in the DataTech industry.
⦁ The highest median salary of a Junior Software Developer is in the field of HealthTech ($1,250), and the second highest median awaits a beginner developer in the field of GameDev ($1,150). The lowest median salaries of Middle and Senior Software Developers are in the HealthTech industry, and the highest – Gambling & Betting ($5,500 for Seniors).
⦁ The Content category has the largest spread of medians at the Middle and Senior levels. For example, a Senior level specialist in an E-commerce company will get an average of $925, in Gambling & Betting – $2,300, the maximum of this year is offered by GameDev – $3,088.

Salaries depending on the university

This year, graduates of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy reported the highest salaries among technical trades. The median remuneration for technical professionals (Software Engineer, QA, DevOps, UI/UX Designer, Cyber Security, DBA, Sys.Admin) at the Senior level is $5,100. The second and third places are shared by Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and National Aviation University, with a median salary of $5,000 for both. Among non-technical professions, same as last year, the highest salaries were indicated by graduates of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute ($3,400 at the Senior level).

The new data contradict last year’s conclusions about the insignificant impact of higher education on salary. Lack of higher education insignificantly affects the median of Junior and Middle levels. Lack of higher education negatively affects the median salary of Junior technical specialists and Middle-level non-technical occupations. At higher levels of seniority, this inequality is exacerbated. Both non-technical and technical Senior professionals have the lowest medians for those who indicated no higher education.

C-level salaries are also dependent on having a graduate degree. Top managers who indicated no higher education also indicated salaries in the bottom 30% of the lowest wages for employees of this level.

Check out vacancies suitable for university graduates or for starting a career in IT: No experience in IT and Junior Friendly

Salaries depending on the company size

The results of both previous salary surveys indicated that the amount of remuneration also depends on the company’s size. Namely, the larger the company, the higher the salary of employees, as is commonly believed. This has already been confirmed by the results of previous surveys and was again confirmed in the autumn 2022 survey. It is safe to say that the C-level salary depends on the company’s size.

Check out vacancies in Ukrainian startups: Startup

However, several exceptions do not fit the rule “Bigger company – higher salary.” The median salary of analysts does not tend to grow with the company’s size. The highest Senior Analyst median salary is reported in companies with 101-200 employees ($4,200) and 500-800 employees ($4,500). Senior UI/UX Designers earn the most in small companies with 21-50 employees ($4,100) and slightly less in huge companies with 1,500+ employees ($3,900). The median salary in companies of other sizes ranges from $3,000 to $3,500. Junior Sales Managers earn the least in large companies. In small companies with less than 20 employees, the median salary of a Junior Sales Manager is $800. In contrast, companies with 501-800 employees have an average of $400, and a $200 flat rate in giants with 1,500+ employees. However, it should be remembered that Sales Managers receive bonuses and allowances for meeting and exceeding sales targets more often than others.

Salaries depending on the type of company

This year, R&D offices lost first place in salaries and dropped to third place, putting product companies first and outsourcing and outstaffing companies in second place. The median salary of senior specialists in R&D offices fell from $4,950 to $4,250 in technical positions and from $2,750 to $2,500 in non-technical roles. In product companies, the median salary has increased to $5,000 for technical specialists and $2,950 for non-technical Senior specialists. The median salary of Seniors in outsourcing and outstaffing was $4,400 for technical specialists and $2,850 for non-technical specialists.

For Middle-level tech professions, the median salary in product companies, outsourcing companies, and R&D offices is almost identical; for non-technical specialists of this level, the median salary is significantly lower only in R&D companies ($1,100), product and outsourcing companies keep almost the same, much higher than in other types of companies, median salary ($1,750 and $1,700, respectively). The highest salary for Junior level technical professions is in R&D offices ($1,230), for non-technical jobs – in outsourcing and outstaffing companies ($1,000). We still have to state that non-technical specialists of all levels earn the least in specialized agencies.

he highest median among CTOs is in R&D offices ($7,190), the lowest is in technology departments of non-technical companies ($1,700). CMOs, CLOs, CAOs, CFOs, CHROs, and CPOs have the highest median in R&D offices ($4,400) and the lowest in agencies ($2,050).

Check out vacancies in Ukrainian product companies: Product

Support of employees in times of full-scale war and donations

Every fifth respondent had problems with the payment of salary. 8.7% of respondents indicated that their salaries were cut after the start of the full-scale invasion. Another 7% reported delays in the payment of salaries.
Chart

We assumed that the stability of salary payments and the possibility of keeping them at the pre-war level or even increasing them should increase along with the increase in the number of employees of the company. Indeed, the results of the survey showed that in small companies (up to 20 people), the number of employees whose salaries were neither delayed nor cut is 64.2%. In companies with a size from 21 to 500 employees, the percentage is higher: 74.2%-76.8%. Larger companies (501-1500 employees) offered stable payment of salary to 82.9%-83.8% of employees. The largest percentage of those who were paid salaries on time and in full or received a raise was in companies with more than 1500 employees at 91.2%.

The largest number of people who lost their jobs at the beginning of the full-scale invasion worked in companies with less than 20 employees (6.1% of all those who work or worked in companies with up to 20 employees). Companies with more than 500 employees had the least layoffs (0.5%-1.5%).

Depending on the type of company, the number of employees who had certain problems with compensation also varies. The largest number of those who have not been paid salaries for some time were among employees of retail companies (10.2%). 40.7% of Retail employees also faced salary cuts. Salaries were delayed most often in the tech departments of non-tech companies (17.5%), and they also had the highest percentage of layoffs (7.5% of employees of tech departments lost their jobs at the beginning of the full-scale military aggression of Russia). Agencies came second by the number of layoffs (4%). Salary cuts were also quite frequent in agencies (28.6%).

The invasion’s least tangible (financial) impact was on the employees of outsourcing and outstaffing companies (90.2% indicated that the pre-war salary was maintained or increased). R&D offices come second (86.3%), followed by product companies (80.8%). In product companies, the most frequent problem (10%) was salary cuts. Among respondents working in telecom, no one indicated that they had lost their job at the beginning of the invasion.

71% of respondents said that the company helped with relocation at the beginning of the full-scale war.

The survey results showed that IT specialists donate up to 10% of their salary to the Armed Forces of Ukraine:
⦁ 58.4% of respondents donate up to 10% of their salary to the Armed Forces every month.
⦁ 26.9% donate 10-25%.
⦁ 6.7% of respondents donate 25-50%.
⦁ 2.1% of respondents donate more than 50% of their income.
⦁ 5.9% do not donate at all.

11% of Junior level specialists do not donate, and the largest percentage of those who donate more than half of their income is among freelancers (9.7%).

By conducting a sizeable anonymous salary survey, the AIN.capital team helps to create a more transparent labor market. Based on the survey results, business representatives can navigate salary matters, and specialists can assess the level of their remuneration against over 10 criteria. Furthermore, the survey aims to determine the suggested salary for most of the positions in our recruitika.com vacancies section, which already offers over 9,000 technical and non-technical vacancies.

At the beginning of 2022, the financial media service Finimize conducted a survey among its community. Participants were asked to give predictions for this year. After the discussion, an arbitrary list of prophecies came out. Some of them looked a bit eccentric. Now we can see if they came true. 

Forecast №1: inflation will reach double digits by the end of 2022.

Of course, there was talk of rising prices at the beginning of the year. However, in the summer, the implementation of this forecast seemed unlikely to many. October inflation rates reached a historic high of 10.6% in Europe and a 40-year high of 11% in the UK. 

Forecast №2: tech companies will do great, and the meta world will take off.

It still did not come true. Let’s look at Meta. Mark Zuckerberg’s doubling of spending on the metasphere led to a sharp drop in the company’s shares in October. AR/VR technologies are still on the rise. However, we will have to wait many years, if not decades, before their introduction into everyday life.

As for the rest of the technology giants, their main problem is a significant slowdown in revenue growth. This may be partly due to short-term economic weakness, but investors also suspect that the aging of the companies. We will probably have to wait until at least the middle of next year before we know if this is actually the case. 

On the other hand, the slow growth of tech giants does not mean that technology is standing still. In recent days, probably everyone has tried ChatGPT to see the progress of AI technologies with their own eyes. Other technologies continue to develop, such as ClimateTech or bioinformatics. Every day, more and more progressive startups appear. In order to reduce the risk associated with investing in startups and increase the chances of success, you can join ICLUB Global / ICLUB Online, where you can invest together with TA Ventures, exclusively in companies selected by us.

Forecast №3: rising energy prices will hit the volume of cryptocurrency mining, which will increase the value of available digital coins. 

Unfortunately, no one could have predicted the collapse of Luna or FTX. Energy prices did rise. However, the cryptocurrency rate was falling. Perhaps there is a positive side to what happened. Regulators are likely to be forced to act more actively in this market. It seems that this is exactly what is needed now.

Forecast #4: global warming will lead to a powerful monsoon in South Asia.

Regional markets will collapse, long-term problems with supply chains will begin. India will start negotiations with Russia to buy land in Siberia. Extreme weather events are unfortunately becoming more frequent. It is not known whether this has already led to global supply chain problems. But it certainly hasn’t helped them.

The part that global warming will hurt regional stock indices has not yet been confirmed. The same Indian stock index has been a bright spot. Especially against the background of the dim Chinese one.

About TA Ventures

TA Ventures is an early-stage venture fund, backing companies in Europe and North America at Seed and Series A, alongside high-profile co-investors, across a wide range of tech sectors. Its typical ticket range is between $250,000 and $1 million. It also provides follow-on investments.

In December 2022, TA Ventures Ukrainian and Hypra, together with iClub participated in $5 million round of investment in Utorg, an Estonian crypto startup.

It is difficult to find reasons for optimism in the markets now. On the European ones — even more so. The continent is struggling with high inflation, a looming recession, and soaring energy prices. Despite this, we at TA Ventures continue to invest in Europe, which makes up about 50% of our portfolio. Among the investments, for example, Goin from Spain (savings app), Casc from Germany (home medical tests) and Party.Space from Ukraine (virtual events platform).

Here are three reasons why it is still worth investing in Europe:

1. Europe remains home to many quality companies.

Investing in the continent does not necessarily mean betting on its economy. More than half of the revenues that go to its companies come from outside the continent. Here are just a few examples of successful European companies from our portfolio that do business outside Europe.

• DeepL, a German neural machine translation service, supports 24 different languages and, by the way, is ahead of Google Translate in its accuracy.
• SumUp, a British fintech unicorn, now operates in more than thirty markets worldwide.
• Sheep Inc, a British clothing brand with a negative carbon footprint, sends its products worldwide.

Europe is home to international luxury clothing, spirits and car brands such as LVMH, Hermès, Kering, Richemont, Pernod Ricard, Ferrari and Porsche. The recent market downturn could be an excellent opportunity to buy their shares at a bargain price.

Of course, the luxury sector is not immune to the recession. However, its dependence on ultra-high-income consumers puts it in an advantageous position. These brands can raise prices without significantly affecting demand from their wealthy customer base. 

2. The second reason is that local companies have longer-term incentives to cut costs.

In the same industries as US companies, they have historically traded at lower price/earnings (P/E) ratios. The reason is that, all things being equal, European companies tend to have a more inflated cost structure than their American counterparts. All because of higher tax rates, labor costs and regulatory burdens. 

Rising energy prices will undoubtedly worsen the situation. But it is also a much-needed incentive for companies to focus on cutting costs. It will help to be competitive on a global level. 

3. The third reason is that Europe is also one of the leaders in the field of “green” technologies.

High gas prices and the urgent need for energy security will only accelerate the region’s transition to renewable sources.

At the same time, Europe offers better investment opportunities in the field of “green” technologies than any other market. For example, it is home to leading wind turbine manufacturers Vestas, Siemens Gamesa, and Nordex. And also leaders in producing “green” energy — Iberdrola, EDP, Enel, and Orsted. And the measures of the European Green Deal will continue to stimulate the growth of companies in this area for many years.

About TA Ventures

TA Ventures is an early-stage venture fund, backing companies in Europe and North America at Seed and Series A, alongside high-profile co-investors, across a wide range of tech sectors. Its typical ticket range is between $250,000 and $1 million. It also provides follow-on investments.

Previously in 2022, TA Ventures participated in a $17 million round closed by a New York-based biotech startup Gameto, together with private investor club ICLUB in a $125 million round of orthodontic Barcelona-based startup Impress, and invested in German fintech startup Forget.Finance.

Methodology

We applied the same methodology, as we used in preparing rankings of the most active Polish, Baltic, Finnish, Hungarian, and Czech venture capital funds. Firstly, to create the list of top Romanian backers, we analyzed the investment activities of all active VCs in this country for the period from January 2022 to June 2022. 

After that, we chose those that made one or more investments in startups in the first half of 2022, and conducted a survey among them. Relying on their answers, open source information, as well as Dealroom.com and Crunchbase data, we chose 6 backers that have led or joined at least one round in the six months of 2022. 

This ranking consists of profiles of the 6 most active Romanian VC funds and shows information on the number of investments they made in total and within the period mentioned above, funding focus, ticket sizes, management team, and recently closed deals.

1. Early Game Ventures

• Number of investments: 26 / 8 of them in H1 2022
• Founding and Managing Partner: Cristian Munteanu
• Fund size: €28 million
• Region: Central and Eastern Europe, Romania
• Industries: enterprise technology (Big Data, AI, ML, fintech, cybersecurity), consumer technology (e-learning, social platforms, gaming and e-sports, adtech), hardware & electronics (3D printing, IOT, robotics)
• Investment stages: Series A
• Ticket size: up to €4.5 million, sweet spot is €500,000

Early Game Ventures is a Bucharest-based early-stage VC fund that focuses on companies with the potential for building infrastructure for new industries in the emerging economies. The fund claims it can offer support that a growing team may potentially need, such as providing introductions for later-stage investments and opportunities for international expansion. The fund typically acquires from 5% to 15% of equity in its portfolio projects.

Recent investments: OxidOS, Instant Space, Meetgeek.ai.

2. Gapminder VC

• Number of investments: 70 / 5 of them in H1 2022
• Founding Partners: Dan Mihaescu and Sergiu Rosca
• Fund size: €26 million
• Region: CEE, Romania
• Industries: SaaS, cybersecurity, digital transformation, healthcare IT, medtech, fintech, ML, Deep Learning, AI, Advanced Analytics
• Investment stages: from pre-seed to Series A
• Ticket size: up to €1.5 million in seed, up to €6 million in follow-ons

Gapminder VC is a Romanian venture capital firm focused on early-stage investments into local and regional technology startups in IT software and service-related sectors. Apart from funding, the team of entrepreneurs is also willing to provide any advice and support in management for the portfolio companies.

Recent investments: Machinations, Cyscale, DRUID.

3. ROCA X

• Number of investments: 22 / 4 of them in H1 2022
• CEO: Alexandru Bogdan
• Fund size: €4 million
• Region: CEE, Israel
• Industries: educational technology, deep technology, and technology sectors
• Investment stages: early stages
• Ticket size: €170,000-€4 million

Founded in 2019, ROCA X operates as a privately funded venture capital with global reach. It supports early-stage businesses founded by young entrepreneurs with revolutionary ideas in the field of technology, in the stage of MVP or prototype, with the vision to have an impact on society.

Recent investments: Bunnyshell, Film Chain, xVision.

4. Sparking Capital

• Number of investments: 12 / 3 of them in H1 2022
• Founding Partners: Cristian Negrutiu and Vlad Panait
• Region: CEE
• Industries: industry agnostic
• Investment stages: pre-seed, seed
• Ticket size: up to €300,000

Sparking Capital is an early-stage industry agnostic fund. It preferably invests in consumer internet, marketing, supply chain tech, fintech, property tech, circular economy tech startups, disruptive business models, which have the potential to have strong national footprint and/or scale up fast internationally.

Recent investments: Instant Space, Hyperhuman, KFactory.

5. Catalyst Romania

• Number of investments: 15 / 2 of them in H1 2022
• Managing Partner: Marius Ghenea
• Fund size: €50 million
• Region: CEE, with focus on Romania
• Industries: Enterprise Software, Education, Health, Transportation, Gaming, Fintech, Marketing, Food
• Investment stages: seed to Series A 
• Ticket size: €1 million-€3 million

Founded in 2012, Catalyst Romania is a technology-focused venture capital firm. It focuses on investments in SMEs based in Romania and other countries in the region. Catalyst Romania typically invests in the range of €1 million-€3 million to support early-stage growth and development of the selected companies, and also considers larger investments partnering up with co-invested from across Europe, North America and Asia.

Recent investments: evoMAG, Hunch Ads, Adservio.

6. Cleverage VC

• Number of investments: 9 / 2 of them in H1 2022
• Managing Partner: Alexandru Popescu
• Region: CEE, Romania
• Industries: healthcare
• Investment stages: early stages
• Ticket size: €50,000-€200,000

Founded in 2019, Cleverage VC is a fund investing exclusively in the healthcare industry. As a dedicated and focused fund, apart from the investments, it provides portfolio projects with knowledge base, mentorship and access to an extensive network of contacts in the healthcare technology sector.

Recent investments: RepsMate, XVision.

Methodology

To create the ranking, we analyzed the investment activities of all active Finnish VCs that are introduced in the Dealroom.com database for the period from January 2022 to June 2022.

After that, we chose those that made one or more investments in startups in the first half of 2022, and conducted a survey among them. Relying on their answers, open source information, as well as Dealroom.com and Crunchbase data, we selected 15 funds that have led or joined at least one round in the six months of 2022. 

The ranking consists of profiles of the 15 most active Finnish VC funds and provides information on the number of investments they made in total and within the period mentioned above, funding focus, ticket sizes, management team, and recently closed deals.

1. Tesi

• Number of investments: 134 / 9 of them in H1 2022
• CEO: Jan Sasse
• Fund size: €150 million
• Region: Finland
• Industries: ICT / industrial digitalisation, healthtech, deeptech, and the circular economy
• Investment stages: A-C investment rounds and early stages on a case-by-case basis
• Ticket size: €2 million-€15 million

Tesi (Finnish Industry Investment Ltd) is a Finnish state-owned investment company investing in venture capital and private equity funds and directly in growth companies. Making the investment decisions, the firm considers such factors as evidence of international growth, expertise of the syndicate, and competencies of the team. Tesi always invests together with private professional investors, mainly Finnish and international venture capital funds.

Recent investments: Varjo, Innomost, Ruokaboksi.

2. Maki.vc

• Number of investments: 33 / 9 of them in H1 2022
• Founding Partner: Pirkka Palomäki
• Fund size: €100 million
• Region: global
• Industries: deeptech
• Investment stages: pre-seed-Series A
• Ticket size: €200,000-€2 million

Founded in 2018, Maki.vc is a seed-stage VC firm headquartered in Helsinki. It seeks to invest in deeptech, commercial products, commercial services, consumer food products, healthcare technology systems, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and technology sectors.

Recent investments: IQM, TILT Biotherapeutics, Huuva.

3. Inventure

• Number of investments: 70 / 8 of them in H1 2022
• Managing Director: Sami Lampinen
• Fund size: €110 million
• Region: the Nordics and the Baltics
• Industries: automotive, IoT, healthtech, SaaS,deeptech, fintech, e-commerce, and consumer internet brands
• Investment stages: seed and Series A
• Ticket size: €250,000-€2.5 million

Inventure is one of the most experienced Nordic venture funds that specializes in helping its portfolio companies with talent and expansion. Since 2005, the team has backed over 70 companies, including Wolt, Detectify, Blueprint Genetics, Swappie, and Insurello. The firm has about €230 million of assets under management and is based in Helsinki.

Recent investments: Starcart, ONEiO, Swappie.

4. Icebreaker

• Number of investments: 74 / 7 of them in H1 2022
• General Partners: Leo Giertz, Lasse Lehtinen, Aleksi Partanen, and Riku Seppälä
• Fund size: €120 million
• Region: Finland, Estonia, and Sweden
• Industries: fintech, edtech, deeptech, blockchain, SaaS, healthtech
• Investment stages: early stages, seed
• Ticket size: €150,000-€800,000

Icebreaker VC is a venture capital fund focused on backing early-stage teams in Finland, Sweden and Estonia. Icebreaker invests €150,000-€800,000 in teams with deep domain expertise and ambition to build the world’s strongest tech companies. Since the start in 2016, the fund has invested in over 70 startups built by founders of companies like Rovio, Nordea, Pipedrive, Eniram, IBM, and BCG.

Recent investments: reconfigured, Hoxhunt, Helppy.

5. Innovestor

• Number of investments: 90 / 5 of them in H1 2022
• CEO: Wilhelm Lindholm
• Fund size: €60 million
• Region: the Nordics
• Industries: technology, life science, and health startups
• Investment stages: pre-seed to Series A (with follow-on)
• Ticket size: €250,000-€2.5 million (initial)

Innovestor is an early-stage VC company based in Helsinki and established in 2014. The total AuM of its 4 funds is €190 million. With investments in 90 companies across various sectors of Technology and Life Science & Health, Innovestor manages one of the largest private venture-backed portfolios in the Nordics. The current portfolio includes e.g. FiksuRuoka, Ruokaboksi, Ogoship and Bioretec. Recent exits include e.g. Forendo Pharma, Ginolis, Bitbar and Beddit.  

Recent investments: Innomost, Synergy XR.

6. Lifeline Ventures

• Number of investments: 139 / 5 of them in H1 2022
• Founding Partner: Timo Ahopelto
• Fund size: €130 million
• Region: global with focus on Finland
• Industries: sector agnostic
• Investment stages: angel, seed, and Series A rounds
• Ticket size: €100,000-€2 million

Founded in 2009, Lifeline Ventures is a Helsinki-based venture capital firm. It works with early-stage companies in funding, sales, technology, strategy, and operations. The firm prefers to invest in the climatetech, consumer, financial, games, hardware, health, and software sectors. To date, it has already backed more than 100 companies.

Recent investments: Varjo, TILT Biotherapeutics, Huuva.

7. NordicNinja VC

• Number of investments: 18 / 5 of them in H1 2022
• Managing Partners: Marek Kiisa, Tomosaku Sohara, Shinichi Nikkuni, and Rainer Sternfeld
• Fund size: €101 million
• Region: the Nordics and the Baltics
• Industries: robotics, automation, healthtech, AI, and mobility sectors.
• Investment stages: pre-seed and seed
• Ticket size: €1 million-€6 million

Launched in 2019, NordicNinja VC is a €101 million fund focused on the scale-up startups in the Nordic-Baltic region. The fund invests in self-driving electric trucks and AI-driven identity verification, as well as brain scan analytic or reality headsets training astronauts.

Recent investments: Sensible 4.

8. Gorilla Capital

• Number of investments: 76 / 5 of them in H1 2022
• Managing Partners: Petri Lehmuskoski and Risto Rautakorpi
• Region: Finland, Estonia, Denmark, Sweden
• Industries: real estate, fintech, cybersecurity, e-commerce
• Investment stages: pre-seed and seed
• Ticket size: €50,000-€1 million

Gorilla Capital is a Finnish venture capital fund investing in early-stage companies that apply technology to solve real business problems of today. The firm typically invests during pre-product or market fit stages alongside business angels, and is an active investor with 20-25 new investments annually.

Recent investments: Xiphera, Pandatron, Upsy Company, Serviceform.

9. Sisu Game Ventures

• Number of investments: 55 / 4 of them in H1 2022
• Founding Partners: Samuli Syvähuoko and Paul Bragiel
• Fund size: $50 million
• Region: global with focus on the Nordics
• Industries: games
• Investment stages: pre-revenue and most often pre-product
• Ticket size: up to €2.5 million

Sisu Game Ventures is an early-stage venture capital fund focused 100% on games. It was set up in 2014 by Paul Bragiel, Moaffak Ahmed and Samuli Syvähuoko, and it focuses on the best gaming companies in the Nordic region, as well as globally. In addition to money, Sisu Game Ventures invest its time and expertise to help level up the company for the next phase, the fund claims.

Recent investments: Extra Dimension Games, Return Entertainment.

10. Voima Ventures

• Number of investments: 46 / 4 of them in H1 2022
• Managing Partner: Inka Mero
• Fund size: €50 million
• Region: the Nordics
• Industries: deeptech, biotech and medtech, imaging and optics, IoT and electronics, robotics, software and AI
• Investment stages: pre-seed-Series B
• Ticket size: €200,000-€300,000

Voima Ventures is a venture capital firm based in Helsinki that helps founders accelerate the growth of deep technology ventures to global markets. The firm is currently operating its Fund II, investing €200,000-€300,000 in 25-30 startups annually during pre-seed to series B stages. To date, it backed more than 30 deep tech startups, including companies like Solar Foods, Infinited Fiber Company, and Dispelix.

Recent investments: Cellfion, Adamant Health.

11. Vendep Capital

• Number of investments: 30+ / 3 of them in H1 2022
• General Partners: Sami Ahvenniemi, Jupe Arala, and Sakari Pihlava
• Fund size: €70 million
• Region: the Nordics and the Baltics
• Industries: SaaS startups
• Investment stages: early stages
• Ticket size: €100,000-€300,000

Vendepis a famous B2B specialist VC, operating from Espoo, Finland. Starting in 2013, the team matches founders with the SaaS expertise, industry experience, and global networks they need to unlock fast, sustainable growth. The firm has €111 million under management, with the recent Fund III size reaching €70 million.

Recent investments: Happeo, Videoly.

12. OpenOcean

• Number of investments: 70+ / 3 of them in H1 2022
• General Partners: Patrik Backman, Ekaterina Almasque, and Tom Henriksson
• Fund size: €92 million
• Region: Europe
• Industries: SaaS, AI, fintech, adtech, mediatech, deeptech, and Data Science
• Investment stages: early stages, mostly Series A
• Ticket size: up to €10 million

OpenOcean is an early-stage venture capital firm operating across Europe with offices in London and Helsinki. The firm engages with relentless founders who are creating the data economy of the future. It typically leads or co-leads €10 million Series A funding rounds. Since inception, the firm has raised three funds totaling €250 million.

Recent investments: IQM, Binalyze.

13. Superhero Capital

• Number of investments: 29 / 3 of them in H1 2022
• Founding Partners: Juha Ruohonen and Jakob Storå
• Fund size: €30 million
• Region: Finland and the Baltics
• Industries: B2B software and services, healthtech, fintech, IoT, and SaaS sector companies
• Investment stages: early stages
• Ticket size: €50,000-€1 million

Founded in 2015, Superhero Capital is a seed stage venture capital firm based in Helsinki. The fund prefers to invest in B2B software and services for industries, such as health technology, financial technology, the Internet of Things, and Software as a Service sector companies based in Finland and the Baltics.

Recent investments: Mx Labs, Sniffie Software.

14. Butterfly Ventures

1. Number of investments: 60+ / 2 of them in H1 2022
2. Managing Partner: Matti Kanninen
3. Fund size: €47 million (€100 million fund in process)
4. Region: the Nordics and the Baltics
5. Industries: deeptech, HW and HW interfacing SW
6. Investment stages: early stages
7. Ticket size: €300,000

Butterfly Ventures is a seed stage fund that was founded in 2012. It is known for a co-operative approach: the fund claims it prefers to interface with founders directly and work as a team. 80% of Butterfly Ventures portfolio companies do not have any revenue at the time of its entry. They typically start generating revenue in less than 6 months from the first investment. 

Recent investments: Naava, Uute Scientific.

15. Springvest

• Number of investments: 12 / 2 of them in H1 2022
• CEO: Päivi Malinen
• Region: Finland
• Industries: technology and life science startups
• Investment stages: growth & expansion stages
• Ticket size: up to €5 million

Springvest is an investment service company, which connects investors looking for interesting targets and is a company looking for efficient capital funding solutions. Generally invests in life sciences and tech growth companies operating in sectors like Hi-Tech & Diagnostics in Finland. 

Recent investments: Decentum.

The ranking includes 15 Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania-based backers that together made 87 investments during January 2022-June 2022. Metaplanet, Yolo Investments, Karma Ventures, and Specialist VC topped the list by closing 31 deals.

There is also Estonian Startup Wise Guys that made 29 investments in H1 2022 in our list. It is the most active accelerator in Europe that also supports startups with early-stage funding, so we purposely did not rank it first.

Methodology

To create the ranking, we analyzed the investment activities of all Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian VCs that are introduced in the Dealroom.com database for the period from January 2022 to June 2022. After that, we chose those that made one or more investments in startups in the first half of 2022. Relying on open source information, as well as Dealroom.com and Crunchbase data, we selected 15 funds that have led or joined at least one round in the six months of 2022.

The ranking consists of profiles of the 15 most active Baltic VC funds and provides information on the number of investments they made in total and within the period mentioned above, funding focus, ticket sizes, management team, and recently closed deals.

1. Metaplanet

• Number of investments: 154 / 15 of them in H1 2022
• Managing Partners: Rauno Miljand
• Region: global
• Industries: industry agnostic with focus on deeptech
• Investment stages: seed, Series A combined with subsequent follow-ons 

Metaplanet is a Tallinn-based early-stage investment firm owned by Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn. The fund is industry agnostic, but seeks to invest in artificial intelligence, biotech, cryptocurrency, healthcare, and transportation tech sectors. Metaplanet claims it supports mission-driven founders with long-term visions working on positively disruptive deep technologies.

Recent investments: WeatherXM, Posh, ALICE Technologies.

2. Yolo Investments

• Number of investments: 55 / 6 of them in H1 2022
• Managing Partner: Giles Lucas
• Region: global
• Industries: Web3, gaming, fintech
• Investment stages: seed, Series A 
• Ticket size: €500,000-€5 million

Founded in 2017, Yolo Investments is an Estonian firm that has already invested in more than 55 companies with a total capitalization of €375 million. Yolo claims to have created a thriving ecosystem with ventures across a variety of industries, including fintech, gambling, media, software development, crypto, and blockchain-related companies.

Recent investments: Jambo, Solid World DAO, eAgronom.

3. Karma Ventures

• Number of investments: 26 / 5 of them in H1 2022
• Founding Partners: Margus Uudam, Tommi Uhari, Kristjan Laanemaa
• Fund size: €100 million
• Region: Europe, the Baltics
• Industries: deeptech
• Investment stages: seed-Series A with follow-on investments in later rounds
• Ticket size: up to €5 million

Karma Ventures fund was created by spun out of the family office of the Skype founders. It invests in European early-stage technology companies creating innovative technologies in the ICT field, having initial commercial traction, and targeting global markets. The portfolio list consists of Realeyes, Sonarworks, and MeetFrank.

Recent investments: DRUID, Infermedica, Tuum.

4. Specialist VC

• Number of investments: 45 / 5 of them in H1 2022
• Founding Partners: Riivo Anton and Gerri Kodres
• Fund size: €50 million
• Region: the Baltics, Finland and Ukraine
• Industries: mainly invest in B2B, SaaS, fintech, marketplaces, software enabled hardware and deeptech
• Investment stages: pre-seed to Series A
• Ticket size: €250,000-€3 million

Specialist VC is a Tallinn-based venture capital fund formerly known as United Angels VC. Its LP base consists of founders or early employees of such fast-growing business, as Veriff, Wise, Bolt, Slack, Pipedrive, F-Secure, Kilo.Health and others. Specialist VC prefers to invest in B2B, SaaS, fintech, platforms, software enabled hardware, and deeptech, but doesn’t limit itself to those areas.

Recent investments: Kingdom Technologies, Vok Bikes, eAgronom. 

5. Iron Wolf Capital

• Number of investments: 17 / 4 of them in H1 2022
• Managing Partners: Kasparas Jurgelionis and Zygimantas Susnys
• Fund size: €21 million
• Region: Europe with focus on the Baltics
• Industries: AI, IoT, SaaS, deep-tech, fintech, and marketplaces
• Investment stages: seed to early growth
• Ticket size: €250,000-€2 million

Based in Vilnius and London, Iron Wolf Capital is a seed stage VC fund from the Baltics, investing in teams with a global mindset creating disruptive technologies in the region. The fund blends successful entrepreneurial and financial experience to help and navigate the challenges needed to build successful international businesses. The fund is also a member of the Lithuania Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, as well as Estonia Private Equity and Venture Capital Association.

Recent investments: Kingdom Technology, EyeVi Technologies, Traxlo.

6. Change Ventures

• Number of investments: 32 / 4 of them in H1 2022
• Managing Partner: Andris K. Berzins
• Fund size: €49 million
• Region: the Baltics: local Baltic founders in Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania, or Baltic diaspora globally
• Industries: fintech/regtech, e-commerce and retail, B2B, consumer and edtech, and a range of deeptech and AI startups
• Investment stages: early stages
• Ticket size: up to $500,000

Change Ventures is the first pre-seed/seed venture capital fund with completed investments in all three Baltic states. The firm focuses on helping founders make quick investment decisions, supporting further investments and business expertise. Its portfolio includes companies like Planet42, Veriff, and Fyma.

Recent investments: Werk, Aerones, Eurora Solutions.

7. Practica Capital

• Number of investments: 60+ / 4 of them in H1 2022
• Founding Partners: Silvestras Tamutis and Donatas Keras
• Fund size: €28.5 million
• Region: the Baltics
• Industries: cross-industrial
• Investment stages: pre-seed-Series A
• Ticket size: €200,000-€1.5 million

Practica Capital is a Lithuanian early-stage VC dedicated to backing Baltic founders since 2011. The firm manages three funds valued at €52 million, has more than 60 investments, and is the most active Baltic syndicate partner co-investing with local, regional, and international funds. Currently, Practica Capital is making investments from the €28.5 million fund, launched in 2019.

Recent investments: Favro, Montonio.

8. Tera Ventures

• Number of investments: 43 / 4 of them in H1 2022
• Founding Partners: Andrus Oks and Stanislav Ivanov
• Fund size: €45 million
• Region: CEE, the Baltics, and Nordics
• Industries: industry agnostic
• Investment stages: 
• Ticket size:  €200,000-€1.5 million

Tera Ventures is a Tallinn-based venture capital firm that supports early-stage born-global digital startups. Estonia is its home market, but the fund also invests in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and the Czech Republic. Tera Ventures is industry agnostic, but has preferences for investing in fintech and AI/ML.

Recent investments: 4Trans Factoring, SIQ Basketball, Montonio.

9. Trind VC

• Number of investments: 36 / 3 of them in H1 2022
• Managing Partner: Joel Aasmae
• Fund size: €23 million
• Region: primarily Northern and Central Europe
• Industries: multi-sector with a preference on ICT, B2B SaaS, and marketplaces
• Investment stages: starting from seed
• Ticket size: €100,000-€500,000

Trind VC is one of the oldest venture capitalists in the country, investing in financially sustainable businesses that don’t need a constant flow of funding rounds. The firm can support successful early-stage startups till their late stages, investing up to €3 million per company. Trind VC invests in up to eight companies per year. The portfolio includes Jobbatical, Wolf 3D, and NASDAQ.

Recent investments: My Telescope, eAgronom, Jobilla.

10. Superangel

• Number of investments: 52 / 3 of them in H1 2022
• Founding Partners: Veljo Otsason, Marek Kiisa, and Rain Rannu
• Fund size: €50 million
• Region: the Baltics and Nordics
• Industries:  AI and robotics, mobility and logistics, fintech and SaaS
• Investment stages: pre-seed, seed or occasionally later rounds
• Ticket size: €100,000-€500,000

Superangel is an Estonian venture capital fund best known as the investor of unicorns, like mobility app Bolt, identity verification startup Veriff, and intelligent revenue platform Pipedrive. The firm launched its second fund worth €50 million in June 2022. Collectively, the team behind the firm has now invested in more than 100 startups worldwide. Superangel offers founder-friendly terms and aims for around a 5% stake in the early stage.

Recent investments: Montonio, Kingdom Technologies, EyeVi Technologies.

11. Overkill Ventures

• Number of investments: 38 / 2 of them in H1 2022
• Managing Partner: Peter Marculans
• Region: the Nordics and CEE
• Industries: B2B tech, fintech, legaltech, cybersecurity
• Investment stages: pre-seed
• Ticket size: up to €220,000

Overkill Ventures is a Riga-based angel fund founded in 2018. The fund focuses on pre-seed B2B tech startups across CEE and Nordics. Its invests are similar to other angel investors, although they provide additional resources, know-how, and network to help startups get to product-market fit and scale from there. The fund has 35 startups in its portfolio, with FabControl, Meredot, and a recentle exited Axdraft among them.

Recent investments: MediNav, Agently.

12. Lemonade Stand

• Number of investments: 38 / 1 of them in H1 2022
• Managing Partner: Siim Teller
• Fund size:
• Region: the Baltics and Eastern Europe
• Industries: industry agnostic with a focus on B2B
• Investment stages: early stages, including pre-revenue and product stages
• Ticket size: €25,000-€300,000

Starting in 2019, Lemonade Stand is a Tallinn-based venture capital fund focusing on early-stage startups from the Baltics and Eastern Europe, regardless of the HQ location. The fund claims to invest in companies, saving the member investors either time or money, ideally both. Lemonade Stand has several successful companies in its portfolio, including Woola, Fyma, and Cachet.

Recent investments: Kwota.

13. ZGI Capital

• Number of investments: 38 / 1 of them in H1 2022
• Managing Partner:Normunds Igolnieks
• Fund size: €25 million
• Region: the Baltics
• Industries: crafting tech, food industry, logistics, IT, engineering, retail, and service exports
• Investment stages: seed, Series A
• Ticket size:  €500,000-€5 million

Latvian ZGI Capital is one of the most experienced venture capital firms in the Baltics that started its operations in 2005. The firm has already had three completed funds and is now operating the fourth one called ZGI-4 worth €32.5M. The fund aims to investment in companies with a high growth potential throughout the next ten years. ZGI’s portfolio includes Echoo Group, eAgronom, Royalty Range, and Bio Investments.

Recent investments: eAgronom.

14. 70V

• Number of investments: 34 / 1 of them in H1 2022
• Managing Partner:Per Moller
• Region: the Baltics and Nordics
• Industries: industry agnostic with a focus on SaaS, B2B, marketplaces
• Investment stages: pre-seed to Series A
• Ticket size:  €20,000-€400,000

70Ventures is a Vilnius-based VC and sales accelerator backing promising B2B entrepreneurs during pre-seed and seed, up to Series A rounds. Currently, the firm manages two funds — 70Ventures Accel (pre-seed tickets of up to €80,000) and 70Ventures Seed (up to €300,000 in funding for growth stages). The 70V portfolio includes over 50 companies targeting the global market.

Recent investments: walk15.

15. Startup Wise Guys

• Number of investments: 372 / 29 of them in H1 2022
• CEO and General Partner: Cristobal Alonso
• Fund size: €20 million (in process)
• Region: Global
• Industries: B2B SaaS, sustainability, fintech, cyber
• Investment stages: pre-seed, seed
• Ticket size: up to €80,000

Startup Wise Guys has been one of the leading investors in Central, Eastern, and Northern Europe since 2012. The accelerator focuses on early-stage startups in the SaaS, fintech, cybersecurity, and sustainability sectors. It is usually providing 5-6-month long program, upon which the company will also receive up to €80,000 as convertible loan. Startup Wise Guys has over 350 investments and 11 exits in its portfolio, including companies like Ondato, Ziticity, Katana, Simporter, and Bobu.

Recent investments: Novus Technologies Inc., Vado, Monkee.

Borys Musielak, Founding Partner at one of the most active Polish VC funds SMOK Ventures, supported the discussion and expressed his opinion about should VCs be still investing in Russian founders now. AIN.Capital publishes his LinkedIn post.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what to do as a VC in the current situation, especially that I’ve been reached out by a lot of Russian startups in the recent months. Their founders are desperately trying to raise by pretending to be Armenian, Serbian, Estonian or US startups now, but it’s usually pretty easy to track. A lot of those deals are potentially great deals, with very smart founders, so it’s not easy for me to say no, but I’m in no business of bailing them out.

We’re living in a black & white world. Especially in the times of war, there is no room for nuance. You gotta take a side.

So, if you are Russian, but don’t support Putin, you need to make it super obvious by either leaving the country, as a lot of smart people did in 2014 when Russia invaded Ukraine, or, if you’re living elsewhere, by loudly calling out the lies of Putin and supporting Ukraine / donating to its army and making it public.

I’m sure there are probably a lot of good anti-Putin Russians who still live in the country, scared to say anything. I feel for you. But I cannot take a chance as a VC to make business with you at the moment, I’m afraid.

Borys Musielak is a Founding Partner at SMOK Ventures, a Polish-American venture capital firm. AIN.Capital ranked it as the second most active VC fund in Poland. Having PLN 46.3 million under its management, the fund has already made 8 investments during the period from January 2022 to July 2022.

Check out the full ranking of top local backers here.

AIN.Capital has created a ranking of the most active Polish VC funds in 2022.

The ranking includes 25 local backers that together made 93 investments during January 2022-July 2022. LT Capital, SMOK Ventures, Movens Venture Capital, and Market One Capital topped the list by closing 33 deals.

Methodology

To create the ranking, we analyzed the investment activities of all 66 active Polish VCs for the period from January 2022 to July 2022 and chose those that made one or more investments in startups this year. Relying on open source information, as well as Dealroom.com and Crunchbase data, we selected 25 local companies that have led or joined at least one round in the seven months of 2022.

The ranking consists of profiles of the 25 most active Polish VC funds and provides information on the number of investments they made in total and within the period mentioned above, funding focus, ticket sizes, management team, and recently closed deals.

1. LT Capital

• Number of investments: 30 / 9 of them in 2022
• Managing Partners: Tomasz Jastrzębski andŁukasz Świercz
• Fund size: $13.5 million
• Region: CEE
• Industries: Industry 4.0
• Investment stages: early stages
• Ticket size: €250,000

LT Capital is a Krakow-based seed fund that supports products and services providers that contribute to Industry 4.0 development. It plans to invest in around 40 companies in Central and Eastern Europe, with Poland being the main site of our investments, in the upcoming years.

Recent investments: Labplus, Hydropolis, Fizen.

2. SMOK Ventures

• Number of investments: 21 / 8 of them in 2022
• Managing Partners: Diana Koziarska, Borys Musielak, and Paul Bragiel
• Fund size: PLN 46.3 million
• Region: CEE
• Industries: software and gamedev
• Investment stages: early stages
• Ticket size: €100,000-€1 million

SMOK is a Polish-American venture capital firm. As the fund claims, it is aimed to help early-stage startup founders build multi-million-dollar global software enterprises from Poland and CEE. Vue Storefront, inStreamly, and Stepapp are among its portfolio companies.

Recent investments: Bitskout, Heroify, ExplodedView.

3. Movens Venture Capital

• Number of investments: 14 / 8 of them in 2022
• Managing Partner: Artur Banach
• Fund size: $15 million
• Region: CEE
• Industries: fintech, martech, e-commerce support, logistics, medtech, industry 4.0, and deeptech, as well as sport & wellness
• Investment stages: seed and Series A
• Ticket size: €250,000-€1 million

Movens VC is a Warsaw-based early-stage firm investing in tech startups with global potential. As the fund claims, it focuses on the companies that will revolutionize traditionally large industries, mainly through the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence in process automation. Preferred business models are marketplace and SaaS.

Recent investments: Talkie.ai, fyrtel.market, Pixblocks.

4. Market One Capital

• Number of investments: 35 / 8 of them in 2022
• Managing Partner: Marcin Kurek
• Fund size: €45 million
• Region: Europe
• Industries: marketplaces / digital platforms and SaaS
• Investment stages: seed-Series A
• Ticket size: €200,000-€1.5 million

Market One Capital is a Warsaw-based venture capital firm that prefers to invest in early-stage tech startups building B2B, B2C, P2P marketplaces, digital platforms, and SaaS solutions across Europe. The fund invests both as a lead investor and as part of the bigger syndicate. Its portfolio includes Docplanner, Brainly, Booksy, Preply, and Tier Mobility.

Recent investments: More Growth, Symmetrical.ai, Mindgram.

5. Inovo Venture Partner

• Number of investments: 40 / 6 of them in 2022
• Managing Partner: Tomasz Swieboda
• Fund size: €54 million
• Region: CEE
• Industries: industry agnostic
• Investment stages: early stages, post-traction
• Ticket size: €500,000-€3 million

Inovo Venture Partners backs early-stage, post-traction startups with up to €3 million of initial investment and helps them build global brands while driving the growth of the local startup ecosystem. Booksy, Tidio, Infermedica, Zowie, and Preply are among its portfolio companies.

Recent investments: More Growth, Zowie, Tidio.

6. bValue

• Number of investments: 17 / 5 of them in 2022
• Managing Partner: Maciej Balsewicz
• Fund size: $14 million
• Region: Poland and Central Europe
• Industries: sector agnostic
• Investment stages: early stages
• Ticket size: €200,000-€1 million

bValue is an early-stage VC that started its first fund in 2016. Since then, it has become the first institutional investor in companies such as Tidio, Purella, PushPushGo, Senuto, Fluentbe, YourKaya, Deligoo, and many others. To date, bValue has under its management seed and growth funds of total €100 million dedicated to fast-growing tech-enabled and sustainable companies with a focus on B2B SaaS and e-commerce.

Recent investments: More Growth, Aggero.

7. OTB Ventures

• Number of investments: 25 / 5 of them in 2022
• General Partners: Adam Niewinski and Marcin Hejka
• Fund size: $60 million
• Region: CEE
• Industries: 
• AI & automation, fintech, spacetech & IOT, cybersecurity
• Investment stages: post-product
• Ticket size: $1 million-$15 million along the company’s funding lifecycle

OTB Ventures invests in B2B tech startups and early-growth-stage companies based in the CEE region or with a strong regional footprint. According to the fund, the key factors it considers are the companies’ potential for high growth and their willingness to scale internationally.

Recent investments: TurnKey Lender, kevin., ICEYE.

8. CofounderZone

• Number of investments: 8 / 5 of them in 2022
• Managing Partners: Tomasz Golinski and Michał Sioda
• Fund size: PLN 30 million
• Region: Poland
• Industries: software, cybersecurity, fintech, media, Industry 4.0, AI, robotics
• Investment stages: seed and pre-Series A
• Ticket size: up to €1 million

Started in 2019, CofounderZone is a Warsaw-based generalist fund that unites a group of private investors working in a wide range of industries. It focused on companies that have a defined product and generate early revenues or are characterized by dynamically growing traction. CofounderZone’s strategy includes deal-by-deal co-investments in the proportion of 50% of funds provided by CofounderZone and 50% provided by business angels.

Recent investments: fyrtel.market, Altera.

9. Czysta3.VC

• Number of investments: 32 / 5 of them in 2022
• Managing Partner: Szymon Janiak
• Fund size: PLN 50 million
• Region: CEE
• Industries: martech, fintech, proptech, HRtech, cloud or e-commerce
• Investment stages: seed
• Ticket size: PLN 1 million in average

Launched in January 2019, Czysta3.VC is an early-stage fund that invests mainly in the seed or pre-seed stages by putting an initial PLN 1 million. The common elements that connect all startups in the portfolio are software and the internet as the main field of activity.

Recent investments: Electronic KYC, SAT, R.S.O.M. 

10. Innovation Nest

• Number of investments: 69 / 4 of them in 2022
• Managing Partner: Piotr Wilam
• Fund size: €45 million
• Region: Europe
• Industries: industry agnostic
• Investment stages: early stages-Series A
• Ticket size: €100,000-€1 million

Innovation Nest is a Krakow-based venture capital fund that invests in top European teams building B2B SaaS businesses within various disciplines and sectors. The fields it rates most highly are martech, fintech, hardware management, video communication, HR, travel, biotech/medtech, and supply chain marketplaces.

Recent investments: Stream Sage, Enso.

11. Sunfish Partners

• Number of investments: 11 / 4 of them in 2022
• Managing Partners: Dr. Marcus Erken and Max Moldenhauer
• Fund size: PLN 65 million 
• Region: Poland
• Industries: deeptech
• Investment stages: pre-seed and seed
• Ticket size: €250,000-€500,000

Sunfish Partners is an early-stage VC firm with offices in Warsaw and Berlin, investing in Polish deeptech startups with global ambitions. It seeks to make investments in B2B business models and software.

Recent investments: Deepflare, Pergamin, Alphamoon.

12. Tar Heel Capital Pathfinder VC

• Number of investments: 34 / 3 of them in 2022
• Managing Partner: Radosław Czyrko
• Fund size: €25 million
• Region: global
• Industries: gaming, e-sports, cloud computing, Big Data, fintech, and martech, especially in SaaS & marketplaces
• Investment stages: pre-seed, seed and A rounds
• Ticket size: up to €1 million

Tar Heel Capital Pathfinder is a venture capital fund and an experienced venture builder, co-creating thriving global tech businesses. It invests in early-stage projects focused on innovative industries and emerging technologies. The fund currently has more than 40 companies in its portfolio, including Booste, GeekForce, and GRID.

Recent investments: Rating Capital, Selmo.

13. SATUS Starter VC

• Number of investments: 12 / 3 of them in 2022
• Managing Partners: Stanislaw Rogozinski, Łukasz Wąsikiewicz, and Bartek Knichnicki
• Fund size: €11 million
• Region: CEE
• Industries: AI & Big Data, SaaS, AR & VR, Industry 4.0, fintech, blockchain, cybersecurity and marketplaces
• Investment stages: seed, Series A, and follow-on investments
• Ticket size: $100,000-$1 million

SATUS Starter is a venture capital investment company focused on early-stage investments. Since its launch in 2007, it has invested in over 50 startups, and the Polish behavioral data analytics platform Synerise is one of them. As SATUS Starter claims, it also supports the startups in global expansion onto foreign markets and attracting next-round investors, particularly strategic ones.

Recent investments: Talkie.ai, Alphamoon.

14. Kogito Ventures

• Number of investments: 25 / 3 of them in 2022
• Managing Partner: Wojciech Niesyto
• Fund size: PLN 30 million
• Region: CEE
• Industries: Industry 4.0, fintech, e-commerce, especially in B2B SaaS & marketplaces
• Investment stages: pre-seed-Series A
• Ticket size: €250,000-€500,000

Kogito Ventures is CEE-focused early-stage VC fund operating in a venture-on-demand model. It builds syndicates with Angel Investors and often co-invest 50/50 with them and with other funds.

Recent investments: simpl.rent, Amano, Linker Cloud.

15. FundingBox Deep Tech Fund

• Number of investments: 7 / 3 of them in 2022
• Managing Partners: Iwona Cymerman and Tomasz Mazuryk
• Fund size: PLN 27.6 million
• Region: Europe
• Industries: deeptech, medtech, software, robotics, AI, Big Data, insurtech, Web3
• Investment stages: pre-seed and seed
• Ticket size: up to €1 million

FundingBox Deep Tech Fund is a Warsaw-based firm that provides funding to companies with clearly defined ideas, cooperative teams, and technological advantages on their side. Starting in 2020, the fund has been offering investment to early-stage European startups in industries ranging from deeptech to insurtech and Web3.

Recent investments: Talkie.ai, Pergamin, Quantee.

16. SpeedUp VC Group

• Number of investments: 48 / 3 of them in 2022
• Managing Partner: Bartek Gola and Arkadiusz Piechocki
• Fund size: €25 million
• Region: Europe, mainly CEE
• Industries: consumer internet, electromobility, energy, fintech, martech, adtech, medtech, IoT, and hardware
• Investment stages: early growth to Series A
• Ticket size: €50,000-€4 million

SpeedUp Group is a group of venture capital firms that invests in companies at the early stages of development, especially those entering foreign markets and scaling there. It cooperates with founders within the investment horizon of three to eight years. The group is interested in technologies like Machine Learning, Picture Recognition, and AI. 

Recent investments: Hintech, Solytic, CYCLE.

17. ATMOS Ventures

• Number of investments: 5 / 2 of them in 2022
• Managing Partners: Dominik Andrzejczuk and Sami Moughrabie
• Fund size: €15.5 million
• Region: Europe and North America
• Industries: AI, robotics & automation, infrastructure & cloud, quantum computing, hardware, IoT, Web 3.0
• Investment stages: seed and Series A
• Ticket size: up to €1 million

ATMOS Ventures is a US-Poland-based firm focused on investing, nurturing, and growing seed and Series A-stage European and North American startups with the potential to become global players. Specifically, the fund focuses on developers of “deep technologies” for large enterprise applications. ATMOS Ventures also specializes in the commercialization of scientific R&D through its global partnerships with universities, governments, and multinational corporations.

Recent investments: 4Trans Factoring, Solvemed Group.

18. Montis Capital

• Number of investments: 6 / 2 of them in 2022
• Managing Partners: Lukasz Dziekonski, Wojtek Szwankowski and Tomasz Poninski
• Fund size: €25.6 million
• Region: Poland
• Industries: Industry 4.0 and Life Science
• Investment stages: Series A and above
• Ticket size: €1.5 million-€5 million

It’s a Warsaw-based venture capital fund helping startups with great teams, scalable business models, innovative and already market-validated products to expand and grow capital. The fund focuses on two sectors: Industry 4.0, investing in robotics, AI, IoT, Big Data, and Life Science, including biotech, pharmaceuticals, and healthtech.

Recent investments: Talkin’ Things, Fresh Inset.

19. Black Pearls VC

• Number of investments: 52 / 1 of them in 2022
• Managing Partner: Marcin Kowalik
• Fund size: €15 million
• Region: Northern and Central Europe with a focus on Poland the Baltic States
• Industries: industry agnostic
• Investment stages: seed, post-seed, Series A
• Ticket size: €100,000-€1 million

Black Pearls VC is a Gdańsk-based fund with a focus on deeptech startups working across various sectors within globally-relevant niches or markets. It has a successful track record of investments in areas such as digital health, enterprise software, fintech, and others.

Recent investments: simpl.rent.

20. Alfabeat

• Number of investments: 21 / 1 of them in 2022
• Managing Partners: Bartosz Lipnicki, Jan Wyrwiński, and Radosław Białas
• Region: CEE
• Industries: Enterprise SaaS
• Investment stages: pre-seed, seed, Series A
• Ticket size: €250,000-€1 million

Alfabeat is an early-stage fund for Enterprise SaaS companies from Central and Eastern Europe, with a track record including a unicorn startup. The fund invests in companies with formed products, technology, and early revenue from large enterprise customers, striving to make a global impact. Alfabeat also supports portfolio startups with expertise from active board members and advisors.

Recent investments: DRUID.

21. Next Road Ventures

• Number of investments: 13 / 1 of them in 2022
• Managing Partners: Ewa Chronowska and Marcin Laczynski
• Region: Europe with an emphasis on Central & Eastern Europe
• Industries: multi-sector with a preference on ICT, Big Data, SaaS, marketplaces, fintech, Industry 4.0
• Investment stages: seed and Series A
• Ticket size: up to €1 million

Next Road Ventures is a Warsaw-based early-stage VC company. It primarily focuses on CEE-based startups in Saas and marketplace verticals but is also open to opportunities across all sectors and industries. Apart from capital, portfolio companies are provided with support tailored to their current business needs and goals from the fund’s affiliates: CEE Business Angel Network, deal flow platform Vestbee, a global network of VCs and corporate partners.

Recent investment: Amano.

22. Arkley Brinc VC

• Number of investments: 50 / 1 of them in 2022
• Managing Partner: Piotr Wasowski
• Fund size: $15 million
• Region: Poland
• Industries: agritech, medtech, food/biotech, industrial tech, energy/cleantech, robotics, IoT, and hardware
• Investment stages: early stages
• Ticket size: up to $1M

Arkley Brinc VC provides venture capital for hardware and IoT early-stage startups in Poland, helping them grow from prototype to IPO. On top of investment, the fund enables its portfolio projects to validate their products, connects them with distributors, and introduces them to its partners in Silicon Valley and Great Bay Region. 

Recent investment: Irmatiq.

23. Pracuj Ventures

• Number of investments: 9 / 1 of them in 2022
• Managing Partners: Pawel Leks
• Region: Poland and Ukraine
• Industries: HRtech and L&D tech
• Investment stages: seed and Series A
• Ticket size: €200,000-€500,000, but the amount can be up to €1 million

Pracuj Ventures is the first corporate innovation fund in Poland and one of the first in the CEE region to focus on investing in HR Tech and L&D tech areas. It is co-owned by the Polish Pracuj Group. Pracuj Ventures invests in early-stage companies that have already found their first commercial clients. The fund’s portfolio includes Gamfi, Gymsteer, Inhire.io, Kadromierz, SeniorApp, Sherlock Waste, Wandlee, and Worksmile.

Recent investment: PeopleForce.

24. TDJ Pitango Ventures

• Number of investments: 9 / 1 of them in 2022
• Managing Partners: Daniel Star and Wojciech Fedorowicz
• Fund size: $50 million
• Region: CEE
• Industries: AI/Big Data, healthech, B2B software, mobile technology & digital media, and IoT
• Investment stages: seed-growth stages
• Ticket size: $1 million-$5 million

TDJ Pitango Ventures is a Polish-Israeli venture capital fund that invests in technologically innovative startups with global potential. It invests using the smart money formula and supports the founders in scaling their startups globally. The fund’s growing portfolio includes Tylko, CallPage, and StethoMe.

Recent investment: Neptune.ai.

25. RTAventures VC

• Number of investments: 40 / 1 of them in 2022
• Managing Partner: Piotr Kulesza
• Region: Europe and the USA
• Industries: healthcare
• Investment stages: late-seed, early-series A rounds
• Ticket size: up to €1.5 million

RTAventures VC invests in online businesses at their early stages with a special focus on healthcare-related products and business models like SaaS (software-as-a-service) and marketplaces. Its portfolio includes such notable investments as DocPlanner, Typeform, Boosky, Preply.

Recent investment: MNM Bioscience Inc.