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Ukrainian Startup Awards 2019 recognized the most impactful activists and fastest-growing Ukrainian startups in 9 categories. Whom did the community nominate, who won, and what does it mean for Ukrainian startup ecosystem for 2020? Read all about what happened at the awards ceremony at LIFT99 Kyiv Hub on January 24th, 2020!
15 startups on the Wall of Fame are marking the beginning of a new chapter for the Ukrainian startup ecosystem. Among the locomotives is a widely-known unicorn Grammarly, which raised $90M in 2019. Readdle with their 100M product downloads. And People.ai, which raised $60M with a valuation at about $500M. Who else is on the Wall and is there landscape for the next unicorn?
Ukrainian startups are the heroes of this story. They are the ones creating massive opportunities for themselves, and if they succeed, for the whole country in general. That’s why we’ve created a list of 400+ Ukrainian startups - to gather into one place the core of the Ukrainian startup ecosystem, the most important ingredient, the startups themselves.
Raising your first round might seem like a mission impossible. Raimonds Kulbergs has put together a list of the most active Estonian angel investors, including their investment focus and ticket size. May this be a piece of the starter-kit for all the young founders out there… so they wouldn’t “half-ass through the process”. Like Raimonds did.
Yuriy believes that if you don't have any high level professional experience, you can’t build a great company – unless you are a true prodigy. The idea for AXDRAFT is based on some real struggles he was facing as one of the top lawyers in Ukraine, the same unnecessary hassle that all lawyers experience daily. His idea took off and today he’s a YC graduate, sharing his story and practical tips with others founders, in person, via our Salto network, and in Ukraine in general.
The morning after the LIFT99 Kyiv Hub TAKEOFF – the grand opening party of our Kyiv hub – a message popped up on our team’s Slack channel: “Guys, did anyone go on the roof last night?”. After long silence another message popped up: “Well, there might have been around 20 people on the roof... including some famous journalist, some hot shot investors, and startup founders. Oopsy daisy!”
Yes, Houston, we had a party!
Ahti Heinla is considered to be the grandfather of #EstonianMafia. In the last 15 years, he has co-founded several startups, amongst others Starship Technologies and Skype. We refer to him as a great example of a humble leader. In May 2018, he was the special guest of Startup Grind organized by LIFT99.
![Ukraine's Top 15 Startups Launching the Wall of Fame [2019]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59e0ec65b1ffb652c49849db/1572097928331-HDCOLCYKN4LPPYHS91TV/OG_20191024_286511_Small.jpg)
