UK restricted companions Venrex and Samos Investments are this week supporting the launch of a brand new enterprise capital enterprise aimed primarily at investing in Ukrainian-led startups inside and out of doors the war-torn nation. The LPs are identified for being among the many first institutional traders in profitable early-stage startup funds akin to Seedcamp and Entrepreneur First.
1991 Ventures is the brainchild of Ukrainian brothers Denis and Viktor Gorsky, who’re identified for operating incubation and accelerator applications inside Ukraine.
The UK-based VC agency will launch with a £15 million ($18.8 million) fund to spend money on rising expertise in Ukraine and Central Jap Europe (CEE).
Though some would possibly say that investing in Ukrainian startups is loopy when the nation is within the battle of its life in opposition to a brutal invasion by Russia, as we not too long ago lined, two years after the invasion, Ukrainian-born startups are nonetheless doing nicely.
The Gursky brothers have beforehand backed greater than 200 startups between 2016 and 2024, via their incubator Social Increase and Accelerator in 1991.
Many of those have been exterior their hometown of Mariupol, which turned well-known after its heroic battle in opposition to Russia and from which its staff managed to get to security. Startups backed to date embrace authorized tech startup AXDRAFT, European cost app eTolls, and cybersecurity firm Osavul.
Throughout an interview, Denis Gorsky, co-founder of 1991 Ventures, instructed me: “There’s a wealth of untapped expertise in Ukraine and Central and Jap Europe… My brother Viktor and I need to create a high-quality deal move pipeline for that.” “.
The fund’s LP backers are “very inquisitive about tapping into Jap Europe and Ukraine particularly,” he mentioned.
Gorsky additionally mentioned: “It is vitally tough for Ukrainian founders to learn from London. So we wish to present them with seed or seed funding in order that they’ll entry bigger rounds sooner or later and perceive how the UK is usually a springboard for world funding.”
However 1991 Enterprise will not be the one Ukrainian-born fund vying for the eye of its fellow founders.
There’s additionally Ukrainian enterprise capital fund Roosh Ventures, which beforehand backed Reface AI, a face-swapping app with greater than 250 million downloads, and Deal, a payroll answer that permits corporations to pay folks in additional than 150 nations.
Moreover, SID Enterprise Companions was launched by the co-founders of outsourcing corporations Sigma Software program and IdeaSoft and product Datrics.
SMRK – which was launched in 2013 by Oleksandr Kosovan, founding father of MacPaw, and Andrey Dovzhenko – has invested in Osavul, Deus Robotics, Aspichi, and Prengi.
Then there’s Flyer One Ventures, which has backed Vochi, Allset, and PromoRepublic, amongst others.
Lastly, maybe the best-known and most internationally lively Ukrainian enterprise capital agency is TA Ventures, headed by the just about ubiquitous Viktoria Tigipko.
It has invested in additional than 200 startups, together with 15 Ukrainian corporations, and has carried out 42 exits, in accordance with Crunchbase.
Lots of the expertise corporations that Ukraine will produce within the coming years are more likely to be both dual-use or defense-related. For instance, practically 200 corporations produced drones in Ukraine final yr, up from seven in 2022.
