12% of Ukrainian startups closed due to russian invasion – survey

What happened? 64% of startups that still operate in the Ukrainian market are reoriented to the international character of work. At the same time, 12% of startups closed their activities after the russian invasion. 

Source. This is evidenced by the research by the Polish-Ukrainian Startup Bridge team in partnership with the Warsaw Stock Exchange and the Ukrainian Startup Fund.

Details. A third of startups closed due to drop in sales of products and services in the Ukrainian market. Another quarter – due to the inability to move abroad in order to continue operation and loss of capital that would allow the company to maintain its financial liquidity.

Almost half of the surveyed companies are located in Kyiv. Lviv, Kharkiv, and Vinnytsia oblast are also important points on the startup map of Ukraine.

Problems in the operation of Ukrainian startups are reflected in markets far beyond the country and are an obstacle for all entities that cooperate with them or buy their services and products. At the same time, for some of the analysed companies, the fact of working with foreign clients and cooperation with them is a chance to survive in a very difficult economic, political and social situation in the country.

43% of the surveyed startups are going to return to the Ukrainian market or continue staying there after the end of the war and the victory of Ukraine. Almost a third of the sample consists of people who would like to move their company to the EU market, less (only 5%) – to the United States. Some companies (16%) were already outside Ukraine at the final stage of the survey.