Among current investors of Love&Live are Ukrainian VC firm SMRK and founder of Ajax Systems Aleksandr Konotopskyi.

About Love&Live

Love&Live is a Ukrainian group of fashion brands. It includes clothing, footwear, and accessories brands Love&Live, Katarina Ivanenko, Zuzu, Pure, and others. The company is represented in the markets of Ukraine and Poland.

The company’s founders are Ukrainian entrepreneur Oleksii Omelianchuk and designer and photographer Kateryna Ivanenko.

According to the founders, the startup’s revenue grew 3.5 times during the year, and the company’s evaluation – 6 times in a year and a half. Love&Live plans for 2021 include entering the markets of Germany and the UK.

“It is a non-core investment for me. But Love&Live has such impressive growth figures and other operational performance metrics that it wasn’t hard for me to decide. I expect that my experience in management, marketing and IT will be useful for the project and will allow it to succeed not only in Ukraine but also abroad,” Dmytro Dubilet commented on the investment.

“It is extremely valuable for us to welcome on board such a bright professional as Dmytro Dubilet. His deep expertise in building large-scale B2C projects is exactly what we need for fast entry and growth in international markets. Now we have on board a dynamic dream team of investors and advisers. In my opinion, it consists of the best entrepreneurs of the country Dmytro Dubilet and Aleksandr Konotopskyi, as well as SMRK, the most successful VC firm in Ukraine,” said Oleksii Omelianchuk, co-founder and CEO of Love&Live.

About the project

Carbominer is a hardware startup, which develops technology to produce carbon dioxide (CO2) from open air. The startup plans to sell the resulting CO2 to greenhouse operators that use carbon dioxide to accelerate the growth of plants, and other companies as well.

The founders of the startup are Mykola Oseiko and his daughter Viktoria. Mykola has over 25 years of experience in the finance and HR field, and Viktoria has 3 years of experience in digital marketing.

Last year, the startup won the national final of ClimateLaunchpad and then entered the world’s top 16 projects of this contest in Amsterdam.

Where will the investment go?

As Carbominer told AIN.UA, the startup is going to use the raised funds to create industrial modular units for CO2 capture using its technology, as well as to expand the team. Currently, the company recruits production workers.

Carbominer plans to produce the first units of equipment and place them for testing in greenhouses by the end of 2020.

The company is also looking for partners to enter Western markets. First of all, the company is interested in Spain, Holland, Turkey, and other countries with a developed greenhouse industry.

SMRK comment

“We got to know the startup and were very inspired by its technology to capture CO2 directly from the open air using modular units. Carbon Capture is one of the most promising ways to reduce CO2 levels, and we believe that Carbominer can innovatively solve this problem. Understanding the importance of the problem to be solved, the market prospects, and considering the first results of the team – we decided to support the project with financing,” commented in the company.

• According to Andriy Dovzhenko, SMRK Managing Partner, for the first time, the firm invested in Preply in 2015.
• In 2017, the Ukrainian startup Preply sold its stake for $4 million. The lead investor was Point Nine Capital, a Berlin-based venture capital firm. Among the others was the Ukrainian SMRK VC Fund.
• In 2020, Preply closed a $10 million round, the total amount of funds raised amounted to $15 million. The founders did not disclose the valuation of the startup at the time, but according to Andriy Dovzhenko, SMRK’s exit was based on that valuation.
• Polish INOVO acquired SMRK’s stake. Moreover, it also invested directly in Preply. The amount of the deal was not disclosed.
• According to Dovzhenko, the exit multiple is 3.2x, and he said it is “a good result.”

“Preply is doing well now, and we’ve decided to make the profit. SMRK VC Fund continues to invest actively in startups at an early stage, and we need funds, so we managed to get them through the good exits,” Dovzhenko explained the reason for leaving Preply.

Andriy Dovzhenko, SMRK

In 2019, SMRK had already made a partial exit. In 2019, SMRK had already made a partial exit. In March 2019, Horizon Capital invested $10 million in Ajax Systems by partially acquiring SMRK’s stake. The firm invested $1 million in the Ukrainian manufacturer of security systems back in 2015 and remained the only investor until Horizon Capital came. Then Dovzhenko said that “the firm has a very successful exit from the partial sale of previously bought shares, and the long-term goal is to bring Ajax Systems to the IPO.”

Previously, the group has already attracted investments from the fund. The last round of $200,000 was raised in December last year. At that time, the total amount of all investments in the project was $600,000.

About Love&Live

Love&Live is a Ukrainian group of fashion brands with an office in Kyiv. It includes clothing, footwear, and accessories brands Love&Live, Katarina Ivanenko, and others, as well as a marketplace of Ukrainian brands Shopping Mall. The company’s products – clothing, footwear, and accessories – are sold via Ukrainian and Polish online shopping retailers.

The company’s founders are Ukrainian entrepreneur Oleksii Omelianchuk and designer and photographer Kateryna Ivanenko.

Where will the investment go?

The company will direct the raised funds towards scaling up on the Polish market and strengthening its positions in Ukraine. It also plans to enter the markets of Germany and Great Britain already this year.

“The main thing is that during the crisis the project started selling on the Polish market. We decided to help scale Love&Live growth on the new market,” said Andriy Dovzhenko, SMRK Managing Partner.

According to co-founder Oleksii Omelianchuk, starting from April 2020, the company has reached profitability.

About the project

Seadora allows you to order fish and seafood, which are delivered directly from the place of catch under the customer’s order. Thanks to this approach, the delivery time is reduced to 2-3 days instead of 10-14 days.

The startup has partners all over the world, and once the orders have been placed, they catch fish and then arrange for air freight. The seafood is not frozen, but only cooled and stored at a temperature of +3-5 degrees Celsius.

• The list of fishing countries includes Iceland, Greece, USA, Canada, Japan, UAE, New Zealand, Netherlands, and Scotland.
• It is possible to buy whole fish as well as by weight.
• You can track your order by QR code.

The founder of Seadora is Ukrainian Andrii Drohobytskyi.

Project goals

The company supports the protection of world ocean resources. Thanks to the format of Seadora’s work, seafood losses are next to nothing. In addition to the reduction of waste, seafarers receive direct bonuses instead of resellers.

So far, Seadora operates only in Kyiv. The project plans to enter the EU and North American markets. He is also the CEO and co-founder of the LeBoutique shopping club.

Investment details

According to Andriy Dovzhenko, SMRK VC Fund is the only investor of the project. The amount of the deal and other details are not disclosed.

Details of the investment are recorded in open sources.

• In Ukraine, Seadora operates as LLC “Sidora” (ТОВ «Сідора») with a share capital of ₴10 million.
• The founder of the company is Marinita Limited, Cyprus-based company; its ultimate beneficiary is Andrii Drohobytskyi.
• The Cyprus company was registered in March 2019. The deal with SMRK VC Fund was closed in July, as evidenced by the increase in the share capital and redistribution of shares.
• According to Dovzhenko, the investment was not publicly discussed at the request of the project.

About the project

The total investment in the Love&Live Fashion Group has reached $600,000. In June, SMRK raised $400,000 in seed round funding. This was an experiment for the fund, as IT is not the company’s main focus.

• Love&Live Fashion Group is a Ukrainian group of fashion brands with an office in Kyiv.
• It includes brands of clothes, shoes, and accessories Love&Live, Katarina Ivanenko, and others, as well as the marketplace of Ukrainian brands Shopping Mall.
• Founders of the company: Ukrainian entrepreneur Oleksii Omelianchuk and designer, photographer Kateryna Ivanenko.

Application of the funds raised

Andriy Dovzhenko, SMRK partner, told AIN.UA about how the new funds will be spent:

Love&Live received additional investments from us to test the concept of an offline store and prepare to enter overseas markets.

The first round was conducted to fund expansion on the local market and the growth of online sales.

Love&Live Fashion Group is a Ukrainian group of fashion brands with headquarters in Kyiv. It includes the brands of clothing, shoes, and accessories Love&Live, Katarina Ivanenko, and others, as well as the marketplace of Ukrainian brands Shopping Mall. Founders of the company: Ukrainian entrepreneur Oleksii Omelianchuk and designer, photographer Kateryna Ivanenko

Why did the investor pick this company?

According to Andriy Dovzhenko, managing partner of the fund, they have not previously invested in e-commerce projects or in those projects that are not pure IT.

“In this regard, Love&Live project is a kind of experiment for us. The main factor that made this investment possible is a high level of creativity. We saw here an analogy with software companies that develop their own products,” Dovzhenko says. According to him, the team contacted the fund looking for help to tap into overseas markets.

Where will the funds go?

The funds raised will go towards scaling in the Ukrainian market, increasing online sales and going offline. Also, the funds will be needed to launch a Premium segment of the fashion brand and for the company’s international expansion.

Aleksandr Konotopskyi. Photo: Ajax Systems.

It is reported that the fund bought out a part of Ajax Systems share from the first investor, SMRK (the fund invested $1 million in 2015 and still remained the only investor of the company), as well as a part of the shares from the company management.

“We are honored to become partners with Aleksandr Konotopskyi, the talented founder of Ajax Systems and his impressive management team, and we look forward to working with them over the coming years for the success of the company. We were attracted by Aleksandr’s vision, exceptional results of the company, its innovative product line, and success in serving customers in Ukraine and in international markets,” comments Olena Kosharna, founder and CEO of Horizon Capital.

“Ajax Systems is growing at a very fast pace, with more than 70% of revenue coming from export sales in more than 75 countries, mainly the EU. We are happy that the core of our team is Ukrainian engineers and world-class developers, we are proud of the results of their work,” commented Aleksandr Konotopskyi, founder and director of Ajax Systems.

Andriy Dovzhenko, the managing partner of SMRK, noted in his commentary to AIN.UA that the fund made “a very successful exit from the partial sale of previously bought shares,” and the long-term goal is to bring Ajax Systems to the IPO:

“This agreement gives a strong and clear signal about investment opportunities in Ukraine, both for venture investors and for private equity funds. We hope that the example of Ajax Systems will encourage even more Ukrainian entrepreneurs to create new companies and achieve even greater success,” added Dovzhenko.

Recall, Ajax Systems was founded in 2011. Today, the company’s products are sold in more than 75 countries around the world. The company employs over 500 people, 20% of whom are in R&D. The company has 5 patents. Wireless security system Ajax Systems is one of the most high-tech in the world. According to the company, by January of this year, Ajax has already sold more than a million devices.

The Ajax Systems product line includes more than 20 devices for protecting the premises and surrounding areas, fire safety, flood protection, as well as devices for home automation equipment. Products are designed and manufactured in Ukraine.

Superorder is a tool for cryptocurrency sales. This service makes it possible to automate trading. For instance, it enables configuring crypto portfolio sales in case of drop in the bitcoin rate below a certain level or altcoin purchases in case of increase in the rate. It is possible to create ready-to-use sequences of operations and to distribute them among other users, making money on referral fees.

Superorder makes money on fees, charging 0.1% of the amount of money, paid for sales in the system. If the trading scheme was used by the other users, 30% of the fee is paid to the creator. Every new account is awarded free-of-charge credit in the amount of $10. This amount is sufficient to cover costs on sale of cryptocurrencies, equivalent to $10,000.

The project has been at the stage of open beta-version since February. Monthly turnover of deals on the platform amounts to $15 million.

According to Andrey Dovzhenko, Co-Founder of SMRK, in the fund they believe in cryptocurrency market growth:

In our opinion, cryptocurrencies have already been functioning as means of payment. Therefore, there will be a growing need to exchange it into fiat currencies and exchange between cryptocurrencies that, in its turn, will entail further development of cryptocurrency market in the form of increase in trading volumes and amount of transactions. In the course of developing this market, there will be a growth of players, who will seek to gain profit on fluctuation of rates. The above-mentioned players, in their turn, will need the tools, which facilitate such exchange transactions.