Lifestyle Camper currently employs 16 people: 9 assemblers, operators, designers, logistics specialists. Pavel Volkov supervises the technical part, Andrey Pilyavskiy – the logistics: this is a very huge bulk of work; more than 400 items of component parts, which have to be ordered from abroad, are used in campers production.

Lifestyle Camper has also a new CEO Anatoliy Burbeza. Anatoliy learned about the company by chance – he was fond of camping for a long time, and once a friend, Dima Yurinov, asked him to give an assessment of Ukrainian mirror campers. “I looked and realized that guys are doing the right product, they work very hard, but they do not have enough resources. I decided to help,” recalls Anatoliy. Today he leads Lifestyle Camper, deals with the administrative part and marketing.

Production works 6 days a week, the schedule is not standardized. However, employees, according to Volkov, have no objections.

“We do not force people to stay at work late – they just like to work here. We built a system of result-driven motivation, but money is far from being at first place in their value system. These guys are just eager to do the job to achieve great results”.

According to Volkov, no one has left Lifestyle Camper since the foundation of the company.

Lifestyle Camper founder Pavel Volkov

They tried to create all the conditions for the employees: they made showers, locker rooms, Lifestyle Camper branded boilersuits and hoodies. The guys visit exhibitions, where they present the results of their work – for them this is another motivation. “Some have changed the professions of sellers, managers and came to us, because they wanted to create something by their own hands. They were like me and Andrey used to be.” Pavel says.

Production

Earlier trailers were assembled in the Volkov’s garage. Now Lifestyle Camper has its own production on the territory of the former plant at Beresteyskaya.

The room in 400 square meters was repaired: we poured new floors, made ceilings, reconstructed overhead-track hoists, installed economical heating with smart on-off system and temperature support. “We spend UAH 6,000 per month on heating. We invested about UAH 200,000 in the system, but it’s worth it”, says the entrepreneur.

Music is constantly playing in the shop, mostly rock’n’roll. “We are cheerful guys, we like to make parties. In the evenings, the room turns into a disco in 5 minutes – we have 2.4 kW of music, there are light chaser and amplifiers. We like both working and relaxation.”

First of all we get into the design room. Here, the details of future campers are cut out from plywood. All drawings are made electronically. The operator starts the program and the CNC machine starts sawing.

Today, the French plywood delivered from Paris is used. This special lightweight plywood is a third lighter than Russian, Lithuanian and Ukrainian counterparts are. But in truth, it is 3-4 times more expensive than the one we used previously. “In return, the camper has become much easier and more environmentally friendly. There is practically no waste,” says Volkov.

Constructor constantly improves something in terms of the assembly speed. As of today, the team manages to assemble 6 trailers per month, but in half a year plans to reach 10.

Constructive change, which accelerates the assembly by 15 minutes, gives 4 working days for a year.

The Company does not have a separate salon where campers are exhibited. “There were proposals to exhibit in TSUM, but we did not have a free trailer for installation at that time,” told Volkov.

Today, campers are sometimes exhibited in car dealerships. It is free: “We have such a product that draws attention to the very car dealership. Therefore, the accommodation is free of charge.”

Model range, equipment and characteristics

In addition to the “drop” or SteelDrop that the Company started with, today they also produce a model for X-Line off-road vehicles. It has a higher clearance, a slightly more powerful frame and wheels, roof rails, additional lockers (luggage compartments) for hunting, fishing, sports and camping equipment. There are marquises stretching into the canopy in three minutes: you get a ready camp with a full kitchen (gas stove, washbasin with a water reserve of 50 liters, refrigerator).

Unlike its mirror “sister”, it has a more wear-resistant polyurea coating: it is a two-component polymer applied by a hot method. “This is an anti-vandal coating. It cannot be scratched, it cannot be broken. The trailer is poured into it without seams and joints – there is no access to moisture, dirt, there is no corrosion. It is produced to be almost everlasting”.

Coating is carried out using outsourcing. We have just ordered the delivery of the finished case, which was personally meticulously inspected for the coating quality by Volkov.

In campers there is a heater working on diesel or gasoline. Consumption – 100 g per hour. “2 kW of power is enough to allow you to stay in a camper overnight at -30 °С. The 100 Ah battery can work for 2-3 days, when using electrical appliances economically – 4-5 days,” says Pavel.

There is also a possibility of devices recharging from solar panels: the trailer has a controller of solar power from the panels, which can be set out in sunny weather. In long journeys to the wild places, a portable generator is useful, and in journeys to Europe you won’t have to worry – camping sites are usually equipped with 220V charging stations.

Batteries are German-made. They are light-weight (battery short weight is 2.4 kg) and at the same time powerful enough (100 W, 6A voltage). “We have a Kvazar plant, but such a compact solution from Ukrainian developers does not exist yet,” says Volkov.

A sleeper is with lamellas and foam mattress. The size is 140 * 200 cm. Inside there are: music, light, TV, audio system, sunroof with fan with temperature sensors, 5 USB outlets, 3 sockets for 220 volts, so you can use any electric appliances (hair dryer, electric shaver, etc.).

Inside the camper, there is a 296 meters wire. It is installed using automotive method: firstly, the correct length to a centimeter is measured on a special scheme, only then it is cut off and tighten into a protective corrugation. Each device has its own color of wire.

As explained by Pavel, component parts in Ukrainian campers have been changed by 80% within a year – previously, many of the details, including door handles, sunroofs, drawbars, were produced by themselves. Now they are bought in Europe (Italy, Germany, and France). Accordingly, the camper price went up. “And still, our products are two times cheaper than European counterparts,” the founder says. Also, whereas previously they cut out the stainless steel body of a mirror camper by themselves, now it is done using outsourcing with a laser. Due to this, the fitting of parts is highly precise and correspondingly the quality is higher.

Before applying the outer coating, the plywood case is covered with a varnish in a separate room. This gives it water-proof properties and protects from the negative effects of the environment.

Trailers have a rubber braided torsion-bar suspension of AL-KO production, a critical suspension travel is up to
80 mm. There is an alternative reinforced suspension manufactured by Knott company and designed for movement on the off-road – an independent, spring-loaded one on the A-shaped levers.

Technical and maneuvering qualities have been improved since our first material: we optimized the weight distribution, added the possibility of shock absorbers installing – according to Pavel, trailers are always ready to overcome any impassability.

Sales & Certification

The main market of Lifestyle Camper is Europe. Firstly, because the purchasing power in the West is several times higher. Secondly, in Ukraine the culture of camping is almost not developed, as well as the infrastructure for it.

In Europe, people have spent decades traveling with children. Children grow up and go with their children. In Ukraine, campers are interesting for hunters, fishermen, and people driving to festivals in Europe.

Lifestyle Camper has sent about 30 exhibition trailers to different countries in Europe: Germany, France, Belgium, Spain, Slovakia, and the Netherlands. Two Ukrainian campers left for New Zealand.

Ukrainian campers are appreciated abroad not only because they are cheaper than Western analogues, but also for the high quality.

We are proud of our product. Dealers from Western countries, who sell trailers from other manufacturers, come to us and say that our trailers are better in quality than the western ones. Some expressed an opinion that “this trailer could not be done better.”

The delivery costs about 500 euros, the buyer pays. Sometimes, of course, it takes a lot of time. For example, the trailers were sailing to New Zealand for two months.

“Nowadays we send campers to Kazakhstan, and considering our relations with Russia, they will be delivered there across the Black Sea to Turkey, then over the Caspian Sea – in general, they will make a good detour,” Pavel .

In 2017, “drops” were more popular, at the moment X-Line is the leader. “Now we are assembling four trailers simultaneously – they have already been ordered. Perhaps because in Ukraine, in principle, the purchasing power of people is higher on larger cars and maybe because of our roads,” Volkov comments.

The Europeans, in their turn, order SteelDrop – people there change their vehicles to mini-cars, and the Ukrainian “drops” are very competitive for these vehicles, because it fits by the weight and size even into the strict rules of operation of the Volkswagen Polo (up to 35 kg).

We’ve brought our trailer to such a level that it could be carried by the smallest cars.

Ukrainian campers abroad are sold via European dealers with a good markup at a price of 12,000-14,000 Euros. “Of course, VAT is included here, and we do not return it, and there are lots of nuances, but we are pleased that this price is set by a European seller who sees the product and values it more than some European counterparts,” Volkov says.

Basically, the orders are brought by the Internet: advertising on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. The company continues to participate in all kinds of exhibitions: hunting, fishing, tourism, cars and motorcycles, bike shows, etc. throughout Ukraine. This does not bring much orders – more likely recognition of the brand and understanding of the product.

When I drive with a trailer, people see me and still ask what it is?

Warranty and maintenance

In Ukraine, maintenance is carried out on schedule in the workshop of the company. In Europe, Lifestyle Camper, together with dealers, is building a spare parts warehouse and is developing a remote service system – so that clients do not have to go to Kyiv for this purpose.

Warranty lasts one year. “Most manufacturers give warranty only for their product, and the component parts are warranted by their manufacturer. We take care absolutely of everything: our warrantee extends both to the plates and to the TVs. Considering that the product is technologically complex, there are a lot of component parts, and we bear the cost – as long as such a guarantee exists. Perhaps in the future we will expand it,” says Pavel.

Investments and plans for the future

Pavel and Andrey produced the first “drops” for their own money, further they were developing partly on the means of pre-sales: the client paid for the trailer, thereby financing the assembly. This led to the creation of the first X-Line – there was a buyer who came to the guys and wanted to get a model for an off-road car and agreed to finance it.

Soon the lineup of Lifestyle Camper will be replenished with another model – this time by a winter-warmed camper, which can be used in the harshest conditions. It is slightly larger and wider, with an expanded set of functions. Once again, it is newly custom made.

In the spring, the company managed to attract an investor who helped Lifestyle Camper to move from the garage and reach a new level.

“With this money, we were able to settle down fully, consolidate the technological base, focus on the warehouse, hire people and go deeper into the development, because we no longer needed to struggle to transfer the manufactured campers to customers as soon as possible,” Volkov shares his thoughts.

The only constraint is the international certification of Ukrainian Lifestyle Camper trailers, this certification will fully open the doors to the rich Western market for the company. Now the team is already at the final stage of its obtaining – according to Volkov, the process was slightly delayed because of the constructive changes in the campers, which had to be re-written in the already prepared documents. “I think it will be a 30 cm stack of paper,” Anatoliy says.

The only authority – the Ukrainian State Enterprise “State Road Transport Research Institute” – carries out a certification. The process is rather complicated: the company works out technical documentation in accordance with the UN regulations, then trailers are tested at the Institute, following with the direct certification of production.

We are the first company in Ukraine, which passes the official certification of the vehicle under the 6th amendment for obtaining the EU certificate.

Despite the fact that it is customary in Ukraine to complaint about such organizations, the impression of Lifestyle Camper team from the cooperation with the Institute is the most positive. “I did not feel any obstacles, extortion or corruption. On the contrary, they cooperate with us, help, even suggest something we did not know,” Pavel says. The cost of passing the entire process in Ukraine is also within the bound of reason. The founders estimate the official payments for the entire certification to be up to UAH 30,000.

Who are the investors

The company’s investors are Almaz Capital Venture Fund, TMT Investments, and Zubr Capital. The capitalization of 3DLOOK is not disclosed. The co-founder and CEO of the company, Vadim Rogovskiy, told AIN.UA that it has grown 2.5-3 times since the previous round in July 2020.

The company has raised a total of $11.2 million to date, $7.9 million of which was raised during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company’s investors include Boost VC, 500 Startups, ICU Ventures, and U Ventures (part of Horizon Capital).

How the quarantine affected the process

According to Rogovskiy, all communication was online during the lockdown, and therefore the work was more efficient.

“We managed to communicate with more investors because we didn’t have to spend time flying and scheduling face-to-face meetings. We were able to attend important negotiations at any time and from anywhere: for example, I participated in online meetings from a ski resort or during the holidays.
Thanks to that, we closed the round in just five months, which is fast enough for a Series A round. In three months, we chose and signed the best deal out of several options, and in another two months, we negotiated all the details of the deal,” says the company’s CEO.

Use of funds raised

The funds will be used to expand the top management team in the US, as well as for opening new R&D centers in the US and Western Europe. Also, the money will be spent to develop a new product that will allow customers to virtually try on clothes using AR.

Company performance indicators

The company is working on body scanning technology that allows capturing human body measurements with just two casual photos using computer vision and three-dimensional statistical modeling. Such technology can be used, for example, to help a customer choose the right size of clothes.

Among the company’s clients are about 100 brands worldwide, including Dickies (a subsidiary of VF Corporation), Tailored Brands (a major US retailer from the Fortune 1000 list), and major players in the uniform market – 1822 Denim, RedThread, Safariland, and Fechheimer Bros (Warren Buffett’s company).

Since April 2020, the company’s ARR has grown 5.6 times larger and has now exceeded $1 million. Customers were able to reduce returns on items by 30%, and conversions have increased fourfold year-on-year.

The company plans to work not only with clothing manufacturers but also to enter other markets. For example, it wants to make solutions for the furniture industry, custom-made car seats, health monitoring, video games.

In November all rooms were commissioned and officially opened. Now it is Ukraine’s largest coworking in terms of area and potential capacity.

It was not made by novices. Spaces is a Dutch brand, one of the divisions of IWG Corporation, the world’s largest office real estate operator. In Ukraine, the company previously worked only under the Regus brand with locations across 8 business centers in Kyiv.

Spaces’ spaces are bigger and more affordable. The company puts emphasis not only on attracting large residents but startups as well. Journalist of AIN.UA explains how the first Ukrainian Spaces is organized from within and what you need to know about it.

Organization of space and pricing policy

Kyiv’s Spaces features floor-by-floor zoning.

• The first floor is reserved for general use. There is an area for residents without a fixed workplace, the so-called hot desks. In addition, everyone who pays for offices can relax or work here. There is also a reception, cafes, meeting rooms and Skype-rooms, and a closed coworking.
• The second floor houses a capacious event hall that can accommodate 100 people, meeting rooms (for 10 to 40 people), and only a handful of offices.
• The third floor and above are completely occupied by team offices.
• The eighth and ninth floors are entirely available for rent for one customer.The eighth floor already has a resident – a large IT company, whose names have not yet been disclosed. The ninth floor at the time of writing of this article was vacant.

In total, by early December, the occupancy rate at Kyiv’s Spaces was 40%. The company plans to bring the figure to 100% within one year. According to estimates of the company’s representatives, full occupancy of each of the office floors will be about 100-120 workplaces.

• The price of the offices starts at $700 + VAT. Further rates vary greatly. The price already includes furniture, utility bills, Internet, telephony, daily cleaning.
• There are many offices, as well as planning options: most are designed for teams with 3 to 40 people. The fee is based on the area, not the number of employees.
• If a client is ready to sign a contract for a long period, discounts are possible. If a long-term contract is terminated prematurely, a penalty must be paid.

But permanent residents with their offices are not the only visitors. Below are other ways to work in Spaces:

• Flexible visits. You can work in Spaces for a few days without long-term commitments. You will have to pay $19 + VAT for a day, and $86 + VAT for a working week.
• Business club. It is a member’s card that gives access to all IWG spaces all over the globe: over 3,500 locations across 120 countries. However, you can use it to work only in hot desk mode from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., in other words, you won’t have a fixed workplace. You can buy this card in the Ukrainian Spaces starting $89 + VAT. Residents of offices and coworking get it for free as a bonus.
• Fixed workplace. Spaces has two closed coworking areas. It is an intermediate option between a hot desk and a standard office. There a client is given a separate workplace and a locker, 24/7 access, the ability to register the legal address of the company in Spaces. The cost of this option is $369 + VAT per month.

You need to pay separately to use a meeting room (there are options that can accommodate 6 to 40 people). Price: starting at $27 + VAT per hour.

Anyone can book a meeting room, but Spaces residents can get a small discount. To do this, make a reservation through a proprietary mobile application.

Although, as one of the residents shared in a comment to AIN.UA, the process is not fully automated. If you book later than 6 PM and on weekends, you need to receive confirmation at the reception. If you are busy the entire day attending meetings, it’s not always convenient.

The look of Spaces coworking

Spaces has universal visual standards around the world: light colors, simple furniture, plenty of space and details.

The design of the Kyiv location was approved by the parent company from the Netherlands, furniture was also brought from abroad. Inside there is a lot of free space, greenery, and light wood. And also books in English and Russian, which were selected by the Ukrainian team.

Due to the peculiarities of the architecture of the building, the Spaces on the first and second floors are particularly spacious: the ceiling height exceeds 3 meters, and the ventilation is not covered by decorative panels.

Offices above do not boast that much space – the ceilings are much lower. There are other features that the building dictates. Offices overlooking Independence Maidan and the Central Post Office building are more expensive. Those on the other side face the courtyard and the construction site.

The offices are separated by frosted glass partitions and wide corridors. Each floor has its own small kitchen, print area, and toilets.

In the offices they rent, residents can make minor changes, install new equipment or, for example, attach their logos to walls. To help teams in Spaces there is a dedicated manager, he helps with maintenance and organizational issues.

According to Yulia Litvinenko, head of Spaces and Regus in Ukraine, brands have different positioning. They differ visually and exude different vibe:

Regus is a more enterprise business and shapes a more business style. Spaces also attracts large corporations, but it is especially effective for startup companies that feel freedom to act because they have the opportunity to choose the format of work: a plethora of Skype rooms, sofas, armchairs of various shapes and windows that offer different views, areas for negotiations and meetings.

She also says that Spaces puts a big emphasis on community and communication between residents. In the future, weekly Friday events will be launched for that purpose: traditional happy hours with wine and networking or speeches by inspiring speakers.

Spaces also hopes that their customers will exchange contacts with each other and create new projects together.

Details and prospects of Spaces project

So far, Spaces is working on filling the space. But there remains work on the amenities. Thus, in 2020, the team plans to open the roof for free visiting, as well as make a terrace on the 5^th floor.

In addition, Kyiv Spaces collaborates with U-Cycle, the Kyiv Cyclists Association. Coworking is certified by the Bike Friendly Company program and is marked on the pam of bike-friendly locations. There is a bicycle parking, and in the summer they will open a shower, put a washing machine and a dryer.

This will help residents who travel by bike. The parking for cars is already working: there are 13 spaces, a permanent rental will cost $350 + VAT per month.

Yulia Litvinenko says that the company plans to launch other Spaces locations in Kyiv and other cities. They are on the lookout for technically equipped buildings, in which the residents will feel comfortable.

What kind of project is it?

Anna Osipenko, the founder of the project, traveled around Asia and from there she brought the idea of a capsule hotel, where instead of rooms, guests are offered pods. Similar hotels began to appear in Tokyo back in the 70s of the last century: there it is the cheapest way to spend the night.

Here and after photos by Olha Zakrevska.

In Kyiv, the first Monotel location was launched on 9/28 Shevchenko Boulevard. It is a small room of 150 square meters, where there are 12 capsules for men, 10 for women, and 4 capsules for couples. In total, the hotel can accommodate up to 30 people. Check-in – every day at 3:00 p.m., check-out – at 12:00 a.m.

The hotel is decorated in a futuristic style: white walls, minimal decoration, colored neon lights. So far, there is not much embellishment to make it easier for visitors to navigate in the building, the company explains. Later, the team is going to redesign the hotel in space style.

According to COO Lilia Zayats, the hotel is already working and receiving its first visitors, and the official launch and opening party are scheduled for October 4.

“We wanted to check how this format would work in our country. It seemed to us right away that basically we would be staying for a night or two, but we already have the first order from the client for a month,” she says.

How do the capsules look like?

These are white capsules made of refractory ABS plastic, made in China, 220 cm long and 150 cm wide, designed to withstand 150-200 kg of weight. Rooms with capsules are separate for men and women, but there are also capsules for couples. They can be opened with a plastic key card and the lock from the inside.

Monotel’s “trick” is silent service: you cannot make noise here, come with children or pets, guests are asked to switch their smartphones to silent mode, and are given headphones, towels, slippers, and pajamas.

Inside the capsule, there is a mirror with color illumination, a TV, an air supply system, a bed that occupies the entire width of the capsule, a charger, a power outlet, USB ports, Wi-Fi, a fire detector, and adjustable lighting.

How much does it cost to spend a night at Monotel

A single capsule costs $40 per night ($46 with breakfast), couple capsule – $60 (or $72 with breakfast). Breakfast is provided by a chain of restaurants by Dmytro Borisov (Chiken Kiev, Lyubchik and others). You can pay for hotel services in cash, card, or cryptocurrency.

What else is there besides the capsules?

Right at the entrance, visitors are asked to wear shoe covers, and inside the guests are walking in slippers which they receive in guest bags. Besides capsules for sleeping, there is a mini-shop with essentials: travel packs, exercises, selfie sticks, lamps, cups. Guests can leave their belongings in lockers that are locked and opened by fingerprint, or a digital code.

There is also a kitchen with a coffee machine, vending machine, tea, and desks for working with laptops for guests. There is a lounge area, toilets, showers and a room where you can iron your clothes. But there is no parking, so you will need to look for a parking place yourself.

It is forbidden to bring children, pets, smoke, or drink alcohol on site. You can’t eat in capsules. There are signs everywhere asking guests to put their smartphones in silent mode: according to Lydia Zayats, the hotel’s idea is to let the guests to “recharge.”

Where will the next Monotel’s project be opened?

The next location is planned on Bohdan Khmelnytsky street. It will be a Monohub coworking + coliving on an area of ​​500 sq. m. (it will be possible to pay for working hours and overnight). They also plan to open a hotel in the building of the Golden Gate metro station.

Project investments, which the company disclosed earlier, are estimated at an average of $1,200 per sq. m. The company also wants to expand through franchising: they offer monocapsules $4,000 apiece for franchisees, with an estimated payback period of 2-3 years.

The following capsule hotels are planned to be launched in Odesa and Lviv. The company also intends to sell colored monocapsules for children.

Here and after – photos by Olha Zakrevska for AIN.UA

In Ukraine, this format appeared relatively recently. Comic Con Ukraine is held in the capital for the second time. Last year it gathered over 20,000 participants. This year, according to preliminary estimates, this number is over 30,000. This year the festival was held on the territory of 37,000 square meters in Art factory “Platforma”.

A bright side of any comic con: participants-cosplayers who often make costumes of their favorite movie, comic book, anime or game heroes with their own hands.

A standard set of materials for a cosplay costume: various fabrics, embroidery, leather, cardboard, PVC, metal parts, wire. Manufacture of a detailed costume may take months or even years.

This year around 1,200 cosplayers participated in the event. The prize fund for winners was 100,000 hryvnias. In a single cosplay-runway walk, the winner was Moon-ka with a costume from the universe of the World of Warcraft, in a pair cosplay runway walk – Adventure team with costumes from Warcraft, in group runway walk – Star Pride with costumes from Devil May Cry 5 game. Grand-Prix of the festival was given to cosplayer Kano_rika with Sakizou costume.

Also, there was a separate competition of dog’s cosplay that was won by an English cocker spaniel wearing a costume of Thor.

The comic con also featured celebrity autograph sessions: actors Christopher Lloyd and Danny Trejo, as well as a legend of game development John Romero who took part in the creation of Doom and Quake.

The festival featureв board games areas where you could buy yourself a game or sit at the table and play a set. There also were areas with all kinds of themed goods ranging from T-shirts and cups with symbols of the “Game of Thrones” to a plush cacodemon.

We should separately mention photo zones: here you could take a picture on the background of a door from Fallout shelter, next to Rick and Morty, in a car that was just crashed by raging Hulk, with a huge Thor hammer, in a room of friends-physicists from the “Big Bang Theory”, etc.

A separate zone was dedicated to the museum of the “Star Wars”. One of the “participants” of the festival was a full size 12-meter fighter T-65 X-Wing brought from Germany.

Our tour is given to us by Ragnar Sass, co-founder of Pipedrive and a chain of Lift99 startup centers. The first such center opened in Ragnar’s homeland – Tallinn, Estonia. Kyiv became his second homeland.

Photo: hereinafter – Olha Zakrevska, AIN.UA.

“Kyiv boasts great potential in terms of the development of startup community. That is why we picked it for our second Lift99 location. Speaking about numbers, Kyiv has 4.3 developers per hundred population. By comparison, it’s 2.3 in London. At the same time, Great Britain’s investments are 4 times higher than that of Kyiv,” Ragnar explained.

Lift99 is an international community of accomplished startup founders that help each other. It was established in 2016. You can join the community only by invitation. Lift99’s primary mission is to enable local and global entrepreneurs to meet and collaborate. For that end, Lift99 will bring successful startups, large investors and experts to Kyiv.

Sass himself has invested into two Ukrainian startups – AxDraft and Nuka. And he is determined to continue his angel activities in Ukraine. He intends to make at least three more investments in the nearest future.

The first time Ragnar set his foot in Kyiv was back in 2011. He was invited by Maks Ishchenko, DOU’s founder. “It was winter and it was freezing,” he recalls. Since then, he has been frequenting Kyiv, participating and organizing events, hackathons, including his own Garage48.

“Today, I feel myself at home in Kyiv. And I witness all the positive changes you have.”

Last year, Lift99 raised $2.3 million investments to develop a software platform for startuppers and announced its plans to scale up across the entire Central and Eastern Europe. In the future, the team plans to create a pan-European startup community with offices in various countries.

Ragnar does not rule out a possibility of launches in other cities of Ukraine: “let’s see the results of the first space.”

Lift99 Kyiv 

Sass announced Ukrainian location of Lift99 last summer. Back then he said that the opening would not kick off before winter. In reality, the space opened a bit later – the official opening was held on April 24.

Sass had a number of tough requirements to the location selection process: it had to be downtown building well placed for public transport allowing you to quickly commute to an airport. “We will bring here foreign investors, and they value every minute,” he explained.

Ukraine had quite a few pitfalls prepared for Estonians. These included rent and repair issues among others.

“It wasn’t easy for us to make people meet the deadlines. I mean construction workers. We had to put pressure on them, and even scream at them… In Estonia, is there’s an agreement with fixed terms, everyone is working diligently to meet the deadlines. It’s different in Ukraine,” Ragnar explains.

Nevertheless, they managed to kick off the space on time, despite the fact that renovations in some rooms are still on the way.

Yellow means Ukraine

Lift99 occupies 1,800 sq. m. spread across two floors (3, 4) in the building of the new business center “Senator” at Volodymyrska 101. They are also going to have a location on top of the roof by summer. The details of the new location are not disclosed. Perhaps, it would be a lounge area with a space for cocktail parties.

The hall area features a special pride of Ragnar – a Ukrainian military helicopter that was purchased from the military, not without difficulty.

“That is why we are here. Everything is possible in Ukraine, even a helicopter in office!” Ragnar laughs.

The deal almost fell apart when martial law was introduced in November. However, the Estonian managed to locate a middleman who helped buy the helicopter, and Sass eventually got hold of this precious piece of interior. Admittedly, the purchase is only half the work, as it had to somehow fit inside the space. For that, the helicopter had to be disassembled into parts and then reassembled again.

Lift99 has a clean design with graphic puzzles on walls. Each is associated with prominent inventors from Ukraine and Estonia that changed the world with their inventions. The main color of the interior is yellow – the color of the Ukrainian flag.

Hub’s spaces bear the names of the inventors. For example, lounge area featuring the helicopter is called Sikorsky – in honor of Igor Sikorsky, a famous Ukrainian aviation pioneer, inventor of single-rotor helicopter and the first transatlantic hydroplane.

Next to it is the largest event area Mriya, named after the legendary Ukrainian aircraft that, for the record, is 36 times larger than the area of this room.

The third floor features conference rooms for 10 people called Prymachenko (in honor of Ukrainian artist Mariya Prymachenko) and Amosov (in honor of scientist Mykola Amosov).

Offices at Lift99 are designed to accommodate up to 4-6 people: Koum (Jan Koum, Whatsapp), Wozniak and Levchin (in honor of Steve Wozniak and Max Levchin – cofounders of Apple and PayPal, both of Ukrainian ancestry), as well as Ukrainian engineers Korolev (legendary Sergei Korolev who put the first person in space) and Romankiw (inventor of hard drive Lubomyr Romankiw).

The shared coworking space is called Puluj to honor the prominent Ukrainian physicist and inventor Ivan Puluj. Next to it is a workspace of Lift99 employees – Lina Kostenko. The third floor also accommodates skype rooms named after Ukrainian cities Kharkiv, Odesa, and Lviv.

The fourth floor features only office spaces. The shared coworking area here bears the name of the Ukrainian car Zaporozhets, and the other one is named after actress Milla Jovovich.

Office rooms that accommodate 6-8 people bear the names of Ukrainian actors, islands, inventions, and even historic and cultural symbols and artifacts. For instance, Camouflage, Sonyashnyk, Chaika, Vulyk. There’s even a Stalker game room named after the famous computer game.

In total, the 4^th floor accommodates 8 offices, two skype rooms and 4 conference rooms, and several thematic areas.

Stubborn tenants

One of the offices has a mysterious inscription: “No dog, no deal”. There is an interesting story behind it.

When Sass was negotiating the lease terms for Lift99, he told that he was planning to allow entrance with dogs. The developer was against the idea of dogs allowed inside.

“And then I said: no dogs, no deal! And we included a provision in our lease agreement allowing to have up to 10 dogs inside at any given time. So it is officially allowed to enter with your dog.”

Lift99 is positioned as a “place like home”, i.e. a place where you can live (the coworking has kitchens, showers, sleep and rest areas). That is why on the day of opening the guests were asked to wear slippers.

The coworking works 24/7, and the landlord didn’t like it either. But we managed to change his mind. “We explained that our target audience is people working without weekends and often burning the midnight oil,” Sass recalls.

“All in all, making something happen in Ukraine takes twice the effort than in Estonia. It applies to anything. But we like it here. So many talents here!”

Residents

According to Ragnar, 50% of offices are already taken by residents, including Ukrainian startups (AxDraft, Nuka, Dooge and others), as well as teams of overseas companies. Some residents are here at Lift99 temporarily (3-6 months) and free of charge.

“This is not our primary business. We charge for residence, but we also have a chance to accommodate pre-seed stage startups free of charge. It is our contribution to ecosystem development, and we will benefit from it, including financially, in the future,” Sass says.

Prices start at $20 per day or $200 per month without a fixed desk ($275 with a fixed desk). The monthly price for an office is $350 per desk. It is not cheap, but Ragnar does not fear competition from Kyiv coworking spaces like Chasopys, UNIT.City, Platforma, and others. He intends to cooperate with them. We all pursue the same mission, which is the development of the startup community and creative economy in Ukraine. The only exception is Creative Quarter.

“Ethics is paramount for us. I did not investigate the details, but in my opinion, Ilya [Editor’s note: Kenigshtein.] was pushed out of business. Everything went the wrong way, it should not be like that. Similar things cannot happen in Silicon Valley.”

Lift99 raised over $1M from investors. The return on investment period is set to 5-6 years. According to Ragnar, it is a long-term project.

Ukraine is politicized through the eyes of an Estonian entrepreneur

Ragnar’s experience of dealing with Ukrainian public authorities has also been somewhat frustrating. Sass came to register his company back in August, but the red tape dragged the process for 8 months. “3-4 weeks to open a bank account, 3-4 to coordinate money transfers from Estonia to Ukraine – it is, undoubtedly, beyond reasonable,” entrepreneur laments.

That being said, they never paid a single bribe:

“I have to say that Ukraine has really changed in terms of corruption. We have never faced corruption here. And that in view of the fact that when you start something, you need a lot of permits.”

Nonetheless, our country still needs to work on many things. In particular, we need to improve the business climate. So far, according to Sass, the environment does not encourage an increase in investment flow into Ukraine, at least as far as startups are concerned.

“Ukraine is teeming with robust startups, but Western investors are reluctant to invest because they are concerned about Ukrainian legislation, courts, and prosecutors… That includes me. I cannot invest in Ukrainian companies. It is too big of a risk. If you have property here, you cannot rely on the law.

That is why Ukrainian startups prefer not to tell that they are from Ukraine. Instead, they say “We are a London startup” or “we are a company with headquarters in Washington.” No such thing in Estonia. Estonian startups proudly declare – we are from Estonia! I sincerely hope that the president-elect will keep his promise to change Ukraine’s justice system.

Here’s an example: you need to go through hell and high water to get a business visa to Ukraine. We really hope that the new government will pay heed to startups and change legislation to benefit them. Other governments have been doing it for a long time – they initiate special programs, etc.”

Maxim Bakhmatov commented, “We went out from VDNG, because we realized that we would spend a lot of time with uncertain result due to many unclear things, which take place in the legislative environment. For the same period of time here we will finish construction. It is a private business and private territory, and we can do here whatever we want based on the concept that we now develop and improve.”

We are going to make considerable investments to the project: for the period of four years the main and sole investor Vasiliy Khmelnitskiy intends to spend up to $200 million on UNIT.City. He said, “In the world such projects are commonly referred to as innovative parks. However, we would like to create something more than that – the whole innovative city that will become a unique ecosystem for companies, operating in the sphere of high-tech and creative industries.”

UNIT.City project goal is to integrate educative, business, cultural, medical, sports and entertainment facilities, aiming to provide small and medium-sized innovative business with access to all infrastructure and expertise, required for rapid development, in the same territory. Something like that was described by Dave Eggers in his book “The Circle”. This book will soon be filmed in a movie starring Emma Watson.

A city within a city

Now we have opened five facilities in UNIT.City, which will be described below. According to Maxim Bakhmatov’s evaluations, it is about 2% of the future city. The total area will cover around half a million of square meters.

By the way, the first stage of UNIT.City already makes quite strong impression. The territory with its buildings and decorative elements reminds well-known campuses of Google, Apple and other Silicon giants.

Total area of future innovative city is rather impressive – about 25 ha of the old Kyiv motorcycle factory, which is going to be fully built up. Construction works are in progress and, for today, the work is humming just behind the building of business campus.

Meanwhile, the team of UNIT demonstrated already finished facilities. Business campus, sports complex (free for residents) and café are located on the area of 4,000 square meters.

Another 3,000 square meters are occupied by free of charge programming school named UNIT.Factory that we were talking about earlier. It is the key educational element of the city that, in fact, UNIT.City started from. Here they also have one more educational project -Bionic University (course of studies started on March 1, 2017).

It is noteworthy that when AIN.UA had a tour of the school, all these new buildings in high-tech style were absent around the school. The city is growing with really high speed.

Who are those that UNIT.City is built for?

The center for entrepreneurship creative development, as partners see it, is primarily intended for representatives of innovative business: small Ukrainian and international product companies, R&D-centers and startups.

A building with mirror walls is the first business campus on the territory of the city, but not the last one. For today, 25 residents, including the well-known Ukrainian startup Concepter, the companies Forland and SmartFarming, the associations Hi Tech Office Ukraine, two laboratories: virtual reality (Sensorama) and 3D-prototyping (FabLab Fabricator), have settled in this campus.

The infrastructure is provided to the residents by a partner of UNIT.City —Technology Companies Development Center (TCDC). It is a project, focused on technological transformations of resident companies. TCDC render them assistance in search for ideas, talent management and team building. Project partners are represented by Kyiv-Mohila Business School and Hi Tech Office Ukraine.

Concepter will move to UNIT.City in May and will occupy the entire floor in business campus. Oleg Malenkov, a cofounder and COO of Concepter, told: “We have chosen UNIT.City, because it offers all required conditions to the companies, which create innovations in Ukraine and sell it throughout the world. We met these guys and grasped their vision. It is similar to ours. We also found out who our neighbors would be. We came here, viewed this place and liked it.”

Previously, office of Concepter was located in the notorious business center that the team was forced to move out. Today, the team of 30 people temporary works in coworking space.

Ukrainian creative agency Fedoriv, which, by the way, is engaged in brand development, communications and design for UNIT.City, will also become the resident of UNIT.City

Andrey Fedoriv, a founder and CEO of the agency, told: “We understand that there is a number of tools that we would like to work with, but have no skills to do it – it is not about classics, like SMM, but about certain experiments. Therefore, we decided to open here a new digital segment Fedoriv Digital Lab, and the experiments will be carried out within the framework of this segment.

Initial office of Fedoriv in UNIT.City will cover an area of 150 sq. m. Andrey Fedoriv shared his vision, “We are not going to make a classic office where people come in, sit at the desk and do their job. It will be like in case with Fedoriv Hub —multifunctional space. Fedoriv Hub proved that it is justified and makes a good story. In “Arena” we already have 1,000 sq. m, and we will continue building up capacities there and, at the same time, will make progress here.”

Andrey Fedoriv also added that it is important for the agency to stay within UNIT.City, in order to remain an innovator in their sphere. He explained, “The clients have divided into two categories: those, who are in the future or seek to be there, and those, who stay in ultratraditional categories. We can cooperate with the companies, which deal with cheese and alcohol in Ukraine and Belarus, as well as with startup, incorporated in Germany and focused on Swiss market. Although, these companies are very different mentally. That is why we need to have faster speed of our internal changes in the agency than the speed of external transformations.”

How campuses work

Business campuses work in the format of club offices under sharing principle. Max Yekover clarified, “Imagine, you have a small company intended for 10 employees. In fact, all that you need is a small premise. You don’t need all other office infrastructure – meeting-rooms, etc. Therefore, you share this infrastructure with other companies. WeWork operates according to the same principle.”

Sharing principle is one of the key ideas of business campus organization in UNIT.City. Therefore, it is not so important how the offices are built in here, but it is much more critical who dwells in these offices. Yakover exemplifies, “Upon completion of repair works, Fab Lab will move in. It means that the opportunity to prototype will be provided in UNIT.City.” Accordingly, presence of Sensorama provides the residents with access to their own VR- and AMR-laboratory.

What is next?

By the end of 2017 they promise to open 20,000 sq. m more for business campuses on the territory of UNIT.City. If the first premises of UNIT.City are the reconstructed buildings of motorcycle factory, the new ones are built from scratch. These facilities will have high ceilings, special ventilation system, required for hardware laboratories, and other constructive solutions, taking into account demands of future residents.

The first building of the second stage is half-finished – the construction completion date is scheduled for June. A huge coworking space will be located on the first two floors and club offices – on the third floor.

Nearby they lay foundation for one more object, much larger in scale. According to Max Yakover, it will be a seven-storied campus with an area of 11,000 sq.m. Old buildings of motorcycle factory will be demolished. On this place they will build a few more facilities that will be finished approximately in November and January next year.

Max Yakover states, “All this will be completed during the next 12 calendar months. Now we hold negotiations with those who will become residents of these spaces. We have a lot of interested people. One building has already been sold for leasing.

UNIT.City expects to become the key location for creative layer of Ukrainians, particularly, those who are engaged in IT sphere. In fact, it will make the project a competitor for such projects as “Chasopys”. However, Max Yakover, being the owner of “Chasopys”, does not worry about it. He explained, “In “Chasopys” I have a management team and here – I am a management team. We will compete, but it is absolutely different scales. “Chasopys” is a nice place in the downtown of Kyiv. And here we are building the city! We also don’t worry about Creative Quarter. We wish them good luck and are ready to cooperate, cooperate with everyone.”

What does the government think?

According to evaluations of Khmelnitskiy, UNIT.City will contribute to creation of up to 15,000 high-paid jobs and will provide the talented youth with an opportunity for self-realization within their own country, thereby reducing brain drain.

Such aspirations and noble intentions, of course, draw attention of senior state officials. On the day of official opening of UNIT.City, Vladimir Groysman, the Prime Minister of Ukraine, visited the territory of the city. He personally inspected the facilities and declared that the government will create all conditions for development of the innovative city.

As for now, the team of UNIT.City is just doing its job. Max Yakover promises that we have a lot of interesting discoveries ahead.