Made in Ukraine Tech Startup Edition, interviews with top Ukrainian entrepreneurs

eō Business Incubators are a newly launched seed-stage, mentor-driven incubator program in Ukraine. They are facilitated by the USAID Competitive Economy Program (CEP). In this interview with Charles Whitehead, one of the founders of eō Business and the Director of the Law, Technology and Entrepreneurship Program at Cornell Tech in New York City, he talks about the program and its plans to help Ukrainian tech startups. https://www.facebook.com/eo.in.ua/

Originally from Ukraine, Oleg is the founder and CEO of People.ai. Under his leadership, the company's Revenue Intelligence System (RIS), powered by AI, automates the capture of all contact and customer activity data to provide valuable insights across sales, marketing and customer success teams. Oleg is one of the industry’s most authoritative experts in data science, machine learning and text analytics, and known for successfully building and leading multiple start-ups from inception to scale. Comparably, which offers compensation and culture information for companies, recently named Oleg 2018’s Best CEO and he was recently accepted as a member of the Forbes Technology Council. https://people.ai/

Hideez Group specializes in cybersecurity and authentication devices and services. The company has offices in Kyiv, Ukraine and Reston, Va. In this update interview (Hideez staff members were originally interviewed in January 2017) CEO Oleg Naumenko discusses the current focus on the B2B market and the healthcare industry. https://hideez.com/

Marta Proksa is the Chief Operating Officer with Arkley Launchpad. The business acceleration program provides support for seed- and early- stage startups. Several prominent Ukrainian tech startups have participated in it. Ms. Proksa talks about the program and the just-launched new VC fund Arkley Brinc VC. For more information go to: http://arkley.ventures/.

Founded in 2010, Augmented Pixels has created proprietary software that enables drones and robots "to see". CEO and Founder Vitaliy Goncharuk talks about how he founded the company, who its clients are and plans for the future. https://augmentedpixels.com/

Preply is a global, online place for language tutoring founded in 2012 with offices in Boston and Kyiv. CEO and cofounder Kirill Bigai talks about the establishment of the company with its focus on learning language for business. https://preply.com/

In 2016, Ukrainian tech entrepreneur Ivan Pasichnyk was included in the Forbes “30 under 30" in Europe list of top leaders and talented innovators. His startup company, Ecoisme, is a home automation and smart home company. Its product is an energy monitoring unit that is attached to the main electrical panel in a home where it can monitor and sense appliance use throughout the house and pinpoint how better efficiency can be achieved. CEO Pasichnyk talks about his company, some of its recent challenges and where it is heading.

Kyiv-based Concepter began as a consumer product design company in 2013. Today in addition to its core business, the firm offers consulting advice to tech startups and runs a hardware accelerator. CEO and founder Vlad Tislenko discusses the company, its challenges and plans for the future. https://concepter.co/

BIOsens is an an IoT biosensor to detect mycotoxins in food. CEO and founder Andrii Karpiuk talks about how the company was founded, the current state of its product prototype and plans for the future. http://sens.bio/

An interview with Anna Pryjmak, CEO and co-founder of Sirocco Energy. Headquartered in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sirocco Energy has developed a wind panel which is a linear wind generator for distributed energy production. It is especially designed to operate in an urban environment. Anna talks about how the company was founded, its product and plans for growth. www.sirocco.energy/

JetBridge cofounder and CEO John Sung Kim talks about his career as a serial entrepreneur and his efforts to establish a part of his San-Francisco-based company in Kyiv, Ukraine. JetBridge helps marketing managers hit their growth targets faster through automation. The company was cofounded by software architect Mischa Spiegelmock. https://www.jetbridge.com/

MacPaw is an app development company with a number of successful macOS, iOS, and Windows applications in their portfolio. Headquartered in Kyiv, Ukraine, MacPaw has gained solid recognition among over 30+ million customers all over the world. Since 2008, the company has been developing apps with a strong focus on design and functionality to ensure exceptional user experience. CEO Oleksandr Kosovan talks about his company, its products and plans for the future. https://macpaw.com/

Vimes is a boutique consultancy focused on trade and investment opportunities between Ukraine and UK. Dmitriy Gilgur, director and founder of the firm, talks about the major activities of the company and its efforts to put Ukrainian tech startups in front of British and EU VC's. https://vimesvc.com/

PatentBot CEO and co-founder Nataly Vladimorova discussed the company's Facebook Messenger bot that helps you to register a trademark in 5 minutes in multiple countries.

Ring Ukraine, the home security products company, was acquired in 2018 by Amazon, the e-commerce retailer, for more than $1 Billion. A key piece of Ring’s success story is the August 2016 opening in Kyiv, Ukraine, of a small R&D office to work with computer vision and machine learning technologies. Ring Ukraine COO Kira Rudik talks about how this happened, the growth of the operation from a staff of 10 to 500 and plans for the future.

PromoRepublic offers content automation for social media for the SMB market. CEO and a co-founder Max Pecherskyi talks about how the company was started and the activities that have led to its market success. https://promorepublic.com/en/ For additional information, please contact Michael Buryk at: [email protected] . Copyright (c) 2018 by Michael J. Buryk. All Rights Reserved

Cardiomo is a wearable technology device that monitors heart functions and shares the data in secure AI-powered cloud storage for review by family, care-givers and doctors. CEO Ksenia Belkina and her husband Roman co-founded the company Cardiomo Care in 2016. She discusses the product and their efforts to introduce it into the consumer and B-to-B markets. For additional information, please contact Michael Buryk at: [email protected] . Copyright (c) 2018 by Michael J. Buryk. All Rights Reserved

YouTeam provides Ukrainian and other Eastern European software engineers to startups and SMB's. CEO Anton Mischenko discusses the growth of the company, which has offices in Lviv, London and Mountain View, Calif. https://youteam.io/ For additional information, please contact Michael Buryk at: [email protected] . Copyright (c) 2018 by Michael J. Buryk. All Rights Reserved

CoreValue is a major Ukrainian IT software consulting firm with headquarters in Lviv and offices around Ukraine and in the U.S. Igor Kruglyak, President of CoreValue, discusses how the company started and why major companies worldwide utilize its software outsourcing services. https://corevalue.net/ For additional information, please contact Michael Buryk at: [email protected] . Copyright (c) 2018 by Michael J. Buryk. All Rights Reserved

Anryze Founder and CEO Anton Gera discusses his AI-powered tracking and analyzing software service for business calls. The Anryze Distributed Network offers natural language processing. It allows companies to transcribe their voice communications into a text with a single click and offers a simple and inexpensive solution for speech recognition. For additional information, please contact Michael Buryk at: [email protected] . Copyright (c) 2018 by Michael J. Buryk. All Rights Reserved

TechNovator is a Ukrainian-Polish startup that has developed a system for charging smart devices located up to 17 feet away from a base station. CEO and co-founder Leszek Sawicki discusses how the company was founded and what the future holds for its XE wireless charging system. The company web site is located at http://technovator.co/ . For additional information, please contact Michael Buryk at: [email protected] . Copyright (c) 2018 by Michael J. Buryk. All Rights Reserved

The BrainBasket Foundation facilitates the training of Ukraine’s IT specialists and enhances the technology education ecosystem. Program Director Illia Onyschenko discusses how the non-profit organization was established and what programs it offers to the technology community in Ukraine. For additional information, please contact Michael Buryk at: [email protected] . Copyright (c) 2018 by Michael J. Buryk. All Rights Reserved

Roman Zinchenko, a co-founder of the Ukrainian Greencubator, discusses how and why the NGO was founded. He also reviews their Climate Innovation Voucher program to help companies develop and enhance technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lessen the use of energy in selected industries. For additional information, please contact Michael Buryk at: [email protected] . Copyright (c) 2018 by Michael J. Buryk. All Rights Reserved

The U.S. Ukraine Foundation (USUF) is a U.S. (Wash., D.C.) based nonprofit, nongovernmental organization launched in 1991 to support democracy, a free market and human rights for Ukraine. John Kun, Vice Pres. and COO at the foundation, talks about their various programs including those focused on economic development in Ukraine. For additional information, please contact Michael Buryk at: [email protected] . Copyright (c) 2018 by Michael J. Buryk. All Rights Reserved

Gotyu is a global, live tracking device for use by children, seniors and pets. Nataliya Stelmakh, CEO and founder of Gotyu, talks about the wearable technology product and her efforts to market and sell it globally. She also recounts her experience trying to get on the ABC TV show "Shark Tank". http://www.gotyu.tech/ For additional information, please contact Michael Buryk at: [email protected] . Copyright (c) 2018 by Michael J. Buryk. All Rights Reserved

Hushme is a wearable technology device that improves the privacy of smartphone voice conversations. In this interview with Roman Sakun, CEO and one of the founders of Hushme, he talks about how the product was developed and when it will be available for purchase. http://www.gethushme.com/ . For additional information, please contact Michael Buryk at: [email protected] . Copyright (c) 2018 by Michael J. Buryk. All Rights Reserved

Senstone is wearable technology that serves as a digital recorder. The product is produced by Senstone Inc. Nazar Fedorchuk is the founder and CEO of the company. His product will be available for purchase in the Spring of 2018. In this podcast interview, Mr. Fedorchuk talks about how he came up with the idea for the product and his plans to market and sell it globally. The product web site is senstone.io/ . For additional information, please contact Michael Buryk at: [email protected] . Copyright (c) 2018 by Michael J. Buryk. All Rights Reserved

In 2014, Estonia launched a unique program to help non-EU entrepreneurs gain access to global markets. And Ukrainians are among the major users of it. It is called "e-Residency". https://e-resident.gov.ee/ In this January 2018 interview, Alexey Voronkov, who is currently the country manager for Ukraine, talks about the program and its major benefits for Ukrainian tech entrepreneurs and business people. For additional information, please contact Michael Buryk at: [email protected] . Copyright (c) 2018 by Michael J. Buryk. All Rights Reserved

Delfast CEO Daniel Tonokopiy discusses his innovative e-bike which can travel up to 236 miles on a single charge. The bicycles are manufactured in Kyiv, Ukraine. He also reviews plans to compete in the U.S. and EU markets. https://delfastbikes.com/ For additional information, please contact Michael Buryk at: [email protected] . Copyright (c) 2017-2018 by Michael J. Buryk. All Rights Reserved

PassivDom Corp is a manufacturing company which uses advanced 3D-Printing technology to produce autonomous modular homes. The homes utilize solar power for all energy needs. PassivDom is one of 10 companies selected to exhibit at the January 2018 CES trade show in Las Vegas. The company was among the winners of the UVCA Challenge: CES-Edition contest held by the Ukrainian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association in Kyiv, Ukraine. Founder and CEO Maxim Gerbut talks about his company, its product and his plans to reach a global market. For additional information, please contact Michael Buryk at: [email protected] . Copyright (c) 2017 by Michael J. Buryk. All Rights Reserved

Quintagroup provides consulting, programming and support services to organizations interested in deploying web-based solutions on the open platform base. One of its projects is ProZorro, a hybrid electronic open source Ukrainian government e-procurement system developed through a partnership between business and government. In this July 2017 interview, CTO Myroslav Opyr and CEO Volodymr Cherepanyak discuss the company and its projects. For additional information, please contact Michael Buryk at: [email protected] . Copyright (c) 2017 by Michael J. Buryk. All Rights Reserved

Lviv IT Cluster is a network of major information technology companies in Ukraine. This group is working together with universities and local authorities to improve and develop IT in this key business and cultural hub in Western Ukraine. In a July 2017 interview, CEO Stepan Veselovskyi talks about what the group has accomplished and plans for the future. For additional information, please contact Michael Buryk at: [email protected] . Copyright (c) 2017 by Michael J. Buryk. All Rights Reserved

Readdle develops and sells productivity apps on the IOS platform globally. Founded in 2007 in Odessa, Ukraine, the company has had 75 million downloads of its software. Its software apps have been highly acclaimed by Apple. The company has offices in Odessa and Kyiv, Ukraine, and in San Jose, Calif. Denys Zhadanov talks about how the company started and grew to be a major player in the IOS apps market. For additional information, please contact: Michael Buryk at [email protected] . Copyright (c) 2017 by Michael J. Buryk. All Rights Reserved

Petcube is a global leader in the connected pet market. It was founded in 2012 in Kyiv, Ukraine, and now also has offices in San Francisco, Calif., and Shenzhen, China. Its first product, the Petcube camera, enables pet owners to see, talk to and play with their pets remotely from their smartphone. Yaroslav Azhnyuk discusses the company's products and efforts to grow the business. For additional information, please contact: Michael Buryk at [email protected] . Copyright (c) 2017 by Michael J. Buryk. All Rights Reserved

An interview on 6/28/17 with Yevgeny Sysoyev, CEO and co-founder of AVentures. AVentures is one of the major players in the venture capital market in Ukraine. He discusses venture capital funds in Ukraine, tech startups and the evolution of the country's IT economy. For additional information, please contact: Michael Buryk at [email protected] . Copyright (c) 2017 by Michael J. Buryk. All Rights Reserved

Olga Afanasyeva is the executive director of the Ukrainian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association based in Kyiv, Ukraine. The association promotes investment in Ukraine and works with Ukrainian tech startups to help them market and sell their products to a global audience. For additional information, please contact: Michael Buryk at [email protected]. Copyright (c) 2017 by Michael J. Buryk. All Rights Reserved

An interview with Hideez CMO Gennadiy Kornev and Director of Global Business Development Iulia Shykalova. Hideez Group is an electronic hardware manufacturer specializing in cybersecurity and authentication devices and services. They are headquartered in Kyiv, Ukraine. For additional information, please contact: Michael Buryk at [email protected]. Copyright (c) 2017 by Michael J. Buryk. All Rights Reserved

Jooble is an online search engine to help job candidates find a new position in 64 countries around the world. This is an interview with Serge Litvinov, who is responsible for strategic sales development and growth at Kyiv-based Jooble. For additional information, please contact: Michael Buryk at [email protected]. Copyright (c) 2017 by Michael J. Buryk. All Rights Reserved

This is a January 30, 2017 interview wit Andrey Sevruykov, CEO and a co-founder of Agrieye, a 2016 technology startup in Odessa, Ukraine. Agrieye provides the tools for small-to-medium sized farms to utilize precision agriculture. The company is headquartered in Odessa, Ukraine. For additional information, please contact: Michael Buryk at [email protected]. Copyright (c) 2017 by Michael J. Buryk. All Rights Reserved

Ecoisme is a smart home and home automation company. Their product is an energy monitoring unit that can sense appliance use throughout the house and pinpoint where better efficiency can be achieved. The company is headquartered in Kyiv, Ukraine. For additional information, please contact: Michael Buryk at [email protected]. Copyright (c) 2017 by Michael J. Buryk. All Rights Reserved