Our folks in California: What Ukrainian startups will conquer Startup Grind Global 2023 with
Metaverse for remote work, electronic planner for airports and other interesting domestic developments
On 11-12 April, the international conference Startup Grind Global 2023 takes place in Silicon Valley. The organisers announced that this year's event would be attended by about 4000 startup authors, scalers, and investors from all over the world. Among the guests are Accel, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Y Combinator, Index Ventures, Techstars, Walmart, LinkedIn, 23andMe, Reddit, Draper Associates, Upfront Ventures, etc.
It will be the third trip to Startup Grind Global for Ukraine. This year, Startup Grind Kyiv selected 15 Ukrainian teams to represent our country at the conference. Mature startups were invited to participate, including those with a ready-made technology product and a history of attracting investment from well-known business angels or funds. Mind selected five projects from different industries that our media outlet had not previously covered in detail.
Fuelfinance
The team develops solutions that make it easier for startups to manage their finances: from accounting to creating profit and loss statements and financial planning scenarios. The startup was founded in 2019 by Aliona Mysko. Later, in 2021, Yaroslav Azhniuk joined the company as a co-founder.
The system integrates with Quickbooks, Hubspot, Stripe, bank accounts, and other applications. The product is based on Google spreadsheets as an external interface for displaying information. Fuelfinance operates on a subscription model: the cost starts at $1199 per month.
"38% of startups die because they run out of money. Imagine throwing away 38% of the food or any goods we produce. Fuel's mission is to protect companies from financial mistakes that shouldn't have happened," said Aliona Mysko.
Fuelfinance's clients include Reface, Petcube, and Awesomic. In January 2023, the startup raised $1 million in a seed round. Investors include Marcus Villig, CEO of Bolt, John S. Kim from SendBird, as well as San Francisco-based Stratmind and BADideas.fund.
As a result of the deal, the investors received less than 10% of the company's stake, but the exact figure was not disclosed
INPUT SOFT
The INPUT SOFT team is working on a SaaS platform to optimise the usage of human and technical resources and data analysis at airports. The startup was founded by Anastasiya and Andriy Smyk and Valentyn Zavadsky in February 2021. Prior to starting their own business, the founders worked in aviation.
The platform works like an electronic planner, where data from all departments of the company responsible for flight operations can be entered. They have access to the necessary information and can interact with each other. "Our client uploads staff qualifications and certain requirements to the programme.
For example, they want their employees to have lunch for one hour, not two. Domestic regulators in different countries, such as the State Aviation Administration, may also have certain rules. We collect all of this as a construction set, add flight schedules, and get an algorithm that automatically provides all the information," says Anastasiya Smyk.
The company's clients are airports and ground handling companies. The startup is currently working with two companies from Italy and Poland. In the autumn of 2021, the startup received $25,000 from USF. In January 2022, it was selected for the Techstars accelerator in Turin. As part of the accelerator programme, it received $120,000.
Aspichi
The team is creating a VR platform for the real time interactive streaming of 360-degree spatial video and audio in a VR helmet.
This technology will transport you to the location from which the broadcast is being made. One of the team's activities during the war was cultural diplomacy through VR and recording russian crimes in 360-degree video.
The startup was founded by CEO Viktor Samoilenko and CTO Max Goncharuk. They have over 15 years of experience in international companies. The startup plans to provide services to the corporate segment in telemedicine, video security, construction, online education, and manufacturing. In particular, the product is aimed at teaching complex skills. For example, surgical or prosthetic skills.
In March 2023, the startup raised $500,000 from the Ukrainian venture capital fund SMRK, and the team did not disclose the valuation in this round. The product is currently at the advanced MVP stage, ready for pilot application. Several medical and educational institutions are already testing Aspichi's technology.
Zeeon
Zeeon's product is a metaverse for remote work and public speaking. The startup creates virtual office buildings that are 'inhabited' by people's avatars. Initially, users are given a random avatar, but it can be edited. The startup was founded by Dmytro Lylyka and Oleg Zlobin.
The team is focused on three types of metaverse use: virtual offices for online meetings and collaborations; speeches, conferences, meetups, and hackathons; programming, marketing, design courses, and accelerators/incubators.
Zeeon's audience is not gamers, but company employees. At Zeeon, users can continue to communicate after the meetup: they can go to a shared virtual room or join an after-party to meet and talk to other teams.
In total, the company invested about $30,000 of its own funds in the project. Zeeon raised investments from two American angels – $15,000-20,000 each. They also won a $25,000 grant from the Ukrainian Startup Fund.
Party.Space
It is a virtual platform for corporate events, seminars and after-parties. The startup solves the problem of team communication in a remote work environment by gamifying meetings, video communication and 3D.
Party.Space analyses the duration of people's stay at an event, their behaviour, who they communicate with, and what content they prefer. The startup was founded by Yuriy Filipchuk, Dmytro Zavada and Arthur Ostapenko. Before that, the founders worked in venture capital funds, blockchain projects, and game development.
The company's clients include Scania, Wargaming, Grammarly, Epidemic Sound, Plug'n'Play and DevGamm, and Roosh. Initially, the team started with a simple web service where you can get together with friends. "It's an analogue of a hookah or bar meeting," Ostapenko said.
The startup raised $180,000 in angel investment. And in September 2020, it found its first major client. Party.Space does not disclose who it is, but calls the client "the largest European music startup." The company ordered a virtual New Year's party for 5000 people. Later, in October 2021, Party.Space raised $1 million from TA Ventures, the ICLUB angel club, and the Hungarian fund Day One Capital.
The team develops solutions that make it easier for startups to manage their finances: from accounting to creating profit and loss statements and financial planning scenarios. The startup was founded in 2019 by Aliona Mysko. Later, in 2021, Yaroslav Azhniuk joined the company as a co-founder.
The system integrates with Quickbooks, Hubspot, Stripe, bank accounts, and other applications. The product is based on Google spreadsheets as an external interface for displaying information. Fuelfinance operates on a subscription model: the cost starts at $1199 per month.
"38% of startups die because they run out of money. Imagine throwing away 38% of the food or any goods we produce. Fuel's mission is to protect companies from financial mistakes that shouldn't have happened," said Aliona Mysko.
Fuelfinance's clients include Reface, Petcube, and Awesomic. In January 2023, the startup raised $1 million in a seed round. Investors include Marcus Villig, CEO of Bolt, John S. Kim from SendBird, as well as San Francisco-based Stratmind and BADideas.fund.
As a result of the deal, the investors received less than 10% of the company's stake, but the exact figure was not disclosed
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