Young innovative companies from Ukraine are not slowing down, despite the difficult situation in the country. They are among the top three fastest growing in Central and Eastern Europe – reports “Rzeczpospolita”.
Ukrainian startups, despite the war, are developing dynamically, and the Russian invasion not only did not hinder, but actually fueled the industry, which focused on so-called dual-use technologies – according to statistics from Civitta. They also show that the local ecosystem is among the top three fastest growing in Central and Eastern Europe, and its value ranks fourth in the region, after Poland, Estonia and the Czech Republic.
Boom in the technology industry
From 2013 to 2024, the IT sector's share in Ukraine's GDP increased almost sixfold, and its share in the export of services reached 41%. During this period, eight local startups reached a valuation of $1 billion, achieving unicorn status. They included Grammarly, GitLab, and Creatio. Ten more companies are close to achieving this success, according to The Recursive.
In 2022–2023, over 2.3 thousand IT companies operated beyond our eastern border, generating over 14 billion dollars in revenue. In 2017, the startup market in this country was worth 2.9 billion euros, and today it is already around 23 billion euros. The war does not discourage investors, who have “put” over 310 million dollars into Ukrainian technology companies.
They remain on the surface
In turn, the Polish-Ukrainian Startup Bridge report shows that 90% of startups see great growth potential in the future. Meanwhile, UkraineInvest data indicates that the IT industry has grown from 4.5 to 6% of GDP since 2021.
According to Alexandra Govorukha of Sigma Software Group, quoted by The Recursive, the IT sector is one of the few industries that “remained afloat” after the invasion, even though its specialists have been working during power outages and air raids.
KW
