These Ukrainian companies have become internationally acclaimed, their products and services are being purchased abroad, and crowdfunding campaigns have attracted backers from all over the world. Some of them have won in contests and awards. Here is a list of some of Ukraine’s best startups which came to be known in 2017, compiled by Voice of America.
1. PassivDom
PassivDom is the first autonomous house in the world which works exclusively on solar energy. It was developed in Ukraine and can be set up in one day, placed on any ground, and, if the need comes, be transported to another location in a few hours. Clients order the house in the morning and can have the homewarming party in the evening.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUKE3rHnCNY
The house is created with the help of a 3D printer. People can test out the buildings in Kyiv. PassivDom started working in the spring on 2017 and has received 8,000 orders from the USA already.
2. Delfast
Created in Ukraine, Delfast electric bikes can go 367 km – further than Tesla Model 3 – on one charge, and this is a world record.
The Delfast delivery service created a hybrid of a motorcycle and mountain bike in order to deliver goods in one hour, and after several years of using them themselves decided to share their product with the mass consumer. The startup gathered $165,000 on the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform. Most bikes were ordered from the USA.
3. Grammarly
The Grammarly online grammar-checking startup was founded in Kyiv, but its main office is now in Silicone valley, and it gathered $110 mn of investments. Grammarly’s funding round is among the largest initial investments for a technology startup recently, Bloomberg wrote. One of the investors called it the most dynamic company in San Francisco.
The company was founded 8 years ago, but hasn’t attracted foreign investments yet, although it was profitable from the beginning. It offers an online program which corrects the grammar of English-language texts. More than 600 leading universities and corporations use Grammarly. Altogether, over 7 million people are active users of the program.
4. Go To-U
The business-idea of the Ukrainian eco-startup Go-To-U was selected as one of the top 10 at the contest of clean technologies ClimateLaunchpad, which was held on Cyprus. The project promises to revolutionize the charging infrastructure for electric cars.
The Go To-U company presented an online-platform which connects environmentally responsible businesses which offer electric car charging services to their clients. The Go-To-U network of electric charging stations is developed in Ukraine and abroad – in Poland, Austria, Kazakhstan, Georgia, and Thailand. With the help of a phone app, a person can book a charger that will only be turned on for a specific time period, and pay for the service at the business that installed the charger.
A total of 105 teams from 35 countries took part in the contest. The company received an invitation to an accelerator, where it will have the possibility to improve its product.
5. Ugears / “Ukrainian Gears”
The startup Ugears / “Ukrainian Gears” produces unusual 3D puzzles for children and adults and was founded in 2014 in Kyiv. Now people on five continents assemble their unique models. Neither nails or glue are needed to assemble it – one of the methods of connecting the parts is a patented invention.
This year, the company gathered $288,000 on Kickstarter to produce a model of a unique playable musical instrument.
6. UniExo
The Ukrainian startup UniExo won in the international contest of innovations and robot technology Robot Launch 2017 and received the change to take part in the accelerator program in the Silicone valley to attract investments. This will be the next step to launch serial production of exoskeletons – devices which will give people with problems of the musculoskeletal system the possibility to move independently.
Unlike products of their competitors, the exoskeleton of Ukrainian inventor Anton Holovachenko is a modular construction which is controlled by a neurohelmet or neurobracelets and is significantly cheaper than foreign analogues.
7. Hochu Rayu
News about this device, developed by the Ukrainian company Hochu Rayu, was shared by many English-language technological blogs and generated lively interest in American companies which wanted to try out the miracle helmet in their offices.
The invention called Helmofon promises to become a solution for companies where companies need to conduct teleconferences: the helmet with a telephone inside blocks sounds from inside and within; in this way, a person can talk aloud and not interfere with others’ work.
8. Senstone
Another device by Ukrainian inventors which was successful on Kickstarter is Senstone. This pendant which converts speech into text notes managed to gather $270,000.
Sentsone allows capturing your thoughts easily and with comfort. All audio and text notes are synchronized in cloud storage. Senstone recognizes 12 languages, allows editing texts, sending them to other applications, organizing them with hashtags, searching by key words or places of recording, creating to-do lists and reminders.
9. People.ai
The startup People.ai, founded by the Ukrainian Oleh Rohynskyi, attracted $7 mn of investments. The company’s offices are located in Kyiv and San-Francisco, and it offers solutions for managing sales departments based on artificial intelligence. The software created by People.ai helps increase the effectiveness of teams by analyzing their productivity and recommending changes in the workflow.
10. Petcube
The Ukrainian technological company Petcube, the creator of popular videocameras for pet owners, received a prestigious award at the technological show of smart accessories Wearable Technology Show in London. у Лондоні. Petcube won in the nomination “Smart home.” Apple Watch 2, Android Wear 2.0, and Snapchat are among the winners in the other nominations.
Petcube’s videocamera, which allows pet owners to communicate and play with their pets at a distances with the help of a mobile app became an innovation on the international market in 2013. This summer, the company released its new product – the app Petcube Bites: this is a camera with the help of which a person can treat their pet being far away from home.
In one of her interviews, British actress Emma Watson admitted she can’t live without the Petcube mobile app.
The startup was founded by three Ukrainians. The company has offices in Kyiv, San Francisco and Shenzhen, and its products are sold at the largest American retailers such as Amazon, BestBuy, Petco.
Read also:
- Ukraine’s top-10 startups of 2015
- Kyiv opens innovative park to boost startups and technologies
- Ukraine’s revolutionary technology startups hit the UK
- Ukrainian startups awarded $200,000 by Cisco
- Ukrainian startup creates Lego-like smart module houses for $40,000
- Two young Ukrainians invent Smart Travel Cup
