A Swift Takeoff. 6 Ukrainian Startups that Received Investments in 2021
The companies plan to conquer new markets, improve products and scale their operations

February 8, 2021

Kristina Zamostyanova

2021 has barely begun, yet some Ukrainian startups have already received investments. How did this affect their work and future plans? A brief history of Augmented Pixels, Propertymate, Hirio, ChoiZy, Kivi and Careerist in a list from Adsider.
Augmented Pixels

On February 1, augmented reality technology developer Augmented Pixels closed a $2 million financing round. The company has received investment from existing and new investors and plans to use the proceeds to further research, development, and to expand the team in the United States.

Earlier, in July 2020, AP received an investment from the ICU financial group. Then the company's CEO Vitaliy Honcharuk explained that additional funding will help avoid painful layoffs during the crisis and will allow more active development of new products.

The team has many plans ahead: with the help of CorpMap.AI, which was announced by the AP last November, the startup intends to "break" the digital map market, in particular, significantly reduce the cost of operations in logistics, facility management and more.
Memo
  • Augmented Pixels, founded in 2013 by Ukrainian Vitaliy Honcharuk, has been based in California since 2014.

  • AP specializes in augmented reality navigation and 3D display for mobile phones, drones and robots.

  • Since 2015, AP has attracted $7 million in investment.

  • Augmented Pixels works with LG, National Geographic, Intel and others.
Propertymate

The first month of 2021 for the Propertymate real estate platform was eventful. Initially, the startup was included in the three-month acceleration program Techstars, under which the team will receive $120,000 investment. Soon Propertymate raised $1 million from the Pragmatech Ventures fund, which will be spent on the expansion in the US — the startup is working in Austin currently.

Propertymate was founded in 2018 by Bohdan Hnatkovsky and Sofia Vyshnevska. The AI-based service allows you to analyze information about buyers and real estate, predicting which objects are most likely to interest customers. The commission consisting of developers is collected only if a purchase agreement has been concluded with customers.

According to CEO and co-founder Bohdan Hnatkovsky, during the pandemic, they felt even greater demand for their service, as the primary real estate market is experiencing a real boom. Since March 2020, the number of their customers has increased 65 times. The success is also due to the fact that Propertymate began to provide services not only to real estate agents, but also to buyers.
Hirio

In late January, HR startup Hirio received a $400,000 investment in a pre-seed round led by the unicorn group Pipedrive. The founders will use the funds raised for more rapid development in international markets, including the United States.

Startup CEO Kostya Miska said that they initially planned to raise $300,000, but decided to increase the amount to $400,000 due to the interest of investors. By the way, the round was closed in just 5 days.
Memo
  • Hirio was founded last year by Kostya Miska and Artem Dudynsky.

  • The service allows you to automate and accelerate the process of hiring a large number of employees, as well as to ensure the flow of individual applications.

  • Hirio's existing customers include Rozetka, Metro, Synevo and others.
ChoiZy

An ed-tech startup ChoiZy recently managed to attract investment from a Ukrainian business angel. Representatives of the company did not disclose the amount, but said that it corresponds to the European pre-seed rounds. Currently, the round is still open and the startup is planning to attract one or two more investors.

ChoiZy plans to release an English-language application based on AI to enter the market of Great Britain and other English-speaking countries. The startup is going to spend the funding raised from an anonymous investor primarily on marketing in the UK.
Memo
  • ChoiZy was launched in 2019.

  • ChoiZy is a career guidance platform that helps teens choose their future profession through testing, counseling and expert advice.

  • The platform has more than 18 thousand registered users and 65 thousand different professions.

  • The estimate of the startup in the round is $1 million.
Kivi

Ukrainian smart TV developer Kivi has signed an agreement with Shenzhen MTCб one of the world's largest electronics manufacturers. Kivi representatives did not disclose the terms of the agreement but said that over the next five years, the partners will implement many innovative projects.

The Chinese giant will invest $ 13 million in the development of a line of Kivi smart TVs in 2021. The funds raised will be used to develop hardware and software solutions, as well as to implement design innovations and improve sound and image quality.
Memo
  • Kivi is an international company, smart TV developer and manufacturer, and TV services provider.

  • In 2020, the company released its millionth TV.
Careerist

Educational startup Careerist recently raised $1.25 million in a seed round with a market capitalization of $21 million. Investors include Russia's FRII Foundation, the SmartHub syndicate and Silicon Valley business angels. The startup will use the proceeds for further product development and growth.

Careerist is an educational platform that allows beginners without proper experience to find a job in an IT company. In exchange for the opportunity to get a dream job, the platform user must give the company part of his future salary — usually 15% for two years + downpayment formed depending on the program chosen.
Memo
  • Careerist appeared on the startup map in 2019. Maksym Hlubochansky, one of the founders, is a Ukrainian.

  • Currently, the platform has more than a thousand graduates.

  • The company's profit for 2020 increased by 500%, up to $2 million.
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