Who is the richest in the IT industry

• 8th place in Top 100 richest Ukrainians in 2021 is taken by the co-founder of the UK-based fintech startup Revolut, Vlad Yatsenko. His net worth is estimated by NV at $1.277B. In July of 2021, Revolut raised $800M, and its valuation increased sixfold: from $5.5B in 2020 to $33B.
• 14th spot is occupied by the founder of the aerospace firm Firefly Aerospace, Max Polyakov, with a fortune of about $540M. In May of 2021, Firefly Aerospace raised nearly $200M, and its valuation went way beyond $1B.

According to AIN.UA’s estimates, the ranking takes just one of Polyakov’s assets, Firefly Aerospace, into account. It was valued at more than $1B even before its launch. The worth of his other aerospace companies and all the IT businesses are not factored in.

• 17th place is held by the owner of Rozetka Vladyslav Chechotkin. According to NV, Chechotkin’s net worth is $472M.

The share of Vladyslav Chechotkin is often miscalculated, with the total attributed to Chechotkin alone. But this includes shares of two entrepreneurs, Vladyslav and Iryna Chechotkin, who own the company that the stake in Rozetka belongs to. Thus, according to AIN.UA’s own calculations, the figure of $472M reported by Novoye Vremya is in the range of $359M to $526M but should be attributed to both stakeholders.

• Spots 23, 24, and 25 are taken by Alex Shevchenko, Dmytro Lider, and Max Lytvyn, the co-founders of Grammarly, an online spelling and grammar checker. NV estimates each one’s net worth at $386M.

In calculating the wealth of the co-founders of Grammarly, the valuation of the company at $2.3B should be factored in, as cited by PitchBook and confirmed by the American Forbes magazine. Considering that the latest round took place back in 2019 (the co-founders’ shares have remained the same) and their cumulative share being 76%, the valuation of the fortunes of Alex Shevchenko, Dmytro Lider, and Max Lytvyn, according to AIN.UA, should be about $582M each, which is $196M more than cited by Novoye Vremya.

• The founder and CEO of Ajax Systems, Aleksandr Konotopskyi, is in 26th place, with a net worth of about $380M.
• No. 30 is occupied by one of the co-founders of GitLab company, Dmytro Zaporozhets, with a fortune of approximately $375M. On October 14, 2021, Gitlab went public on Nasdaq. Today its shares are listed on the market at $113.75 per share, and its total capitalization exceeds $15B. Dmytro Zaporozhets owns 2.5% of the firm’s stock, hence his high position in the ranking.
• 37th spot is taken by the founder of People.ai, Oleg Rogynskyy. NV estimates his net worth at $279M. In August of 2021, People.ai raised $100M as part of a new investment round and was valued at $1.1B. As such, the company became a unicorn. Besides, Oleg Rogynskyy has mentioned that, given the current size of the company, it is time to think about an IPO.
• 42nd and 51st positions are held by the co-founders of the IT company SoftServe Taras Kytsmey ($245M) and Yaroslav Lyubinets ($199M). Taras Vervega ($167M), Yuriy Vasylyk ($131M), and Oleh Denys ($130M) are ranked 63rd, 77th, and 78th, respectively.
• 48th place in Top 100 richest Ukrainians in 2021 is taken by the founder and director of Terrasoft company, Katherine Kostereva, with a net worth of $207M, according to NV.

The calculations by AIN.UA show that the value of Katherine Kostereva’s share is significantly lower. At the time of leaving Terrasoft, Alexander Popov owned a 44.75% stake, valued at $51M. Based on the information that he and Kostereva had equal shares, hers should be valued at $51M too, instead of the $207M cited in the NV ranking.

• Oleksandr Kosovan, CEO and founder of MacPaw, is ranked 52nd. His net worth is estimated at $196M.
• Spots 53, 98, 99, and 100 are taken by the co-founders of Fintech Band, the developers of monobank Dmytro Dubilet with $196M, Oleg Gorokhovskyi — $100M, Yevheniya Kryvenko (Yatsenko) — $100M, and Mykhaylo Rogalskiy — $100M.

Who else has made it into the Top 100 richest Ukrainians in 2021

• 22nd place is occupied by the director general and co-owner of Fozzy Group, Volodymyr Kostelman. His fortune is estimated at $388M. Beside him, the ranking also features Roman Chyhir ($175M) and Oleh Sotnykov ($175M), ranked 58th and 59th, respectively. Fozzy Group also has an IT subdivision, and recently, they have tested a service to compete with zakaz.ua.
• The net worth of $346M has earned 32nd place to Stepan Chernovetskyi, head of the investment company Chernovetskyi Investment Group having some IT projects in its portfolio.
• No. 39 and No. 40 are taken by the co-founders of Nova Poshta, Volodymyr Popereshnyuk and Viacheslav Klymov, with a fortune of about $273M each.
• The developer Vasyl Khmelnytsky with a net worth of $223M is ranked 43rd. His main asset is UFuture Investment Group.
• 91st spot is occupied by the owner of the multistore Comfy, Stanislav Ronis. His net worth is estimated at $111M.

The richest five

At the top of the ranking, like in the last year, comes Rinat Akhmetov, whose fortune is valued at $11.5B (to put this into context: last year, Akhmetov’s wealth was estimated at nearly just half as much, $6.6m). The top 5 also include Viktor Pinchuk ($2.6B), Vadym Novynskyi ($2.44B), Petro Poroshenko ($1.52B), and Kostyantyn Zhevago ($1.497B).

The leader of the rating, same as in the past year, was the Morshinska company – the value of its brand is estimated at $533 million. Nova Poshta took the second place ($285 million), and the third place was taken by Rozetka ($244 million). Compared to 2017, the brand value of both companies increased by more than 30%.

The top 100 includes such telecom operators: Kyivstar ranked 10th ($ 155 million), Lifecell is 18th ($104.8 million), Volya is 92nd ($5.5 million). The Vodafone brand is not taken into account in the rating, and Ukrtelecom dropped out of the list this year.

The rating also includes companies that Novoye Vremya places in the e-commerce category: Citrus took 28th place ($73 million), Foxtrot – 36th place ($51 million), Allo – 38th place ($46 million), Comfy – 61st place ($17.5 million), Prom.ua – 67th place ($12.5 million). It is noteworthy that the price of the Prom.ua brand rose the most in the top 100 – by 190%.

Compilers of the rating note that the methodology for their assessment is based on the financial results of the companies that own the brands, as well as factors that may affect the brand value: the geographical coverage of sales, the technological component, the output, and the investment attractiveness of the industry.

The top ten most expensive brands are the following:

1. Morshinska – $533 million
2. Nova Poshta – $285 million
3. Rozetka – $244 million
4. PrivatBank – $237 million
5. Sandora – $231 million
6. Hortytsya – $229 million
7. Roshen – $206 million
8. Nemiroff – $196 million
9. ATB – $157 million
10. Kyivstar – $155 million

The ranking mostly consists of raw materials businessmen who control enterprises of production of products with low added value. The first place belongs to the owner of SCM (which includes Ukrtelecom) Rinat Akhmetov, who, thanks to growing demand for metals, increased his wealth by 76% up to $12.2 billion. In absolute figures, Akhmetov became richer by $5.3 billion.

Speaking about sphere of technology and e-commerce, only Vladislav Chechetkin, the founder of “Rozetka”, entered the top 100. He has taken the 29th place in the ranking. His estate was estimated at $165 million by “Novoe Vremya”. It is noteworthy that in just a year it grew by 124%.

In April, a similar rating was released according to the Focus magazine, in which Chechetkin’s estate was estimated at $87 million.

The creators of the company “Nova Poshta” – the leader among private delivery operators – Vyacheslav Klimov and Vladimir Popereshnyuk also appear in the rating. The estate of each of them was estimated at $102 million (in April “Focus” estimated their estates at $121 million each). The growth dynamics could not be measured, because businessmen were ranked for the first time and immediately acquired 55th and 56th places.

The President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko ranks as 6th. Vasily Khmelnitsky, chief investor of UNIT.City, ranks as 36th in the rating ($125 million), Comfy owner Stanislav Ronnis ($94 million) is 62nd, Vladimir Tsoi ($68 million) and Sergey Bashlakov ($51 million), owners of IT-distributor MTI, are 79th and 91st, respectively.

The former owner of UMH, Boris Lozhkin, is at the end of the ranking with estate of $48 million. According to the creators of the research, his estate has decreased by 20% over the past year (“Focus” has estimated it at $139 million).

As it is noted by “Novoe Vremya”, all of the people from this ranking can be confident in tomorrow’s day since the world economy is growing, consuming more raw materials and finished products and goods made in Ukraine every year. Ukraine’s GDP growth, according to the NBU forecasts, will increase by 3,4% by the end of the year, and by 2019 will add another 2,4%, and also will naturally affect the richest people.