We launched LIFT99 Kyiv Hub exactly one year ago today, on 24th April 2019, with a mission to build up the next generation of Ukrainian startup community. In this one year, we’ve helped startups in our community to emerge, pivot, fundraise, grow and exit. And we are happy to share what we learnt and did over these 365 days.
In one year, we discovered so many crucial things that set our course for the future. Did you know: Ukraine had over 600 tech startups – yet undiscovered by the world. Startups focused on technology and aimed for an in-depth product. Some founders lacked business skills, needing mentorship & advice. Investors were sometimes perceived as the Gods, waiting for founders to sacrifice their startups from early on (low valuations = small investment = big bite from the startup, ratchet clauses).
On the other hand, it was clear Ukraine has come a long way over the past years. With its tech products surprising the World and people being in top-10 hiring demand, Ukraine was obviously a place to be. And we were happy to join the movement to accelerate the next generation of Ukrainian startups.
Table tennis is a must at LIFT99 Kyiv Hub
“Best pivots come with pingpong”
LIFT99 Kyiv Hub’s first campaign was a Free Membership Campaign. We engaged hardworking founders in the entrepreneurial environment we had created in Kyiv Hub. Thanks to the campaign, our community was joined by nuka, GiftHub, Kattana, CalmPath, Camtouch, Doge Codes. They were fierce and passionate about their products - launching, pivoting, scaling. The only distraction for young founders was occasional table tennis game.
Doge Codes pivoted into Pizdata Inc and had its first paying customers already in a month, in April 2020, they have 50+ paying customers.
Nuka baptized the Hub with the first Kickstarter launch of its product (even today, you can find their pencils in the different corners of the Hub).
Camtouch turned the sales mode on, added up in people, and started conquering international markets.
GiftHub, Kattana, CalmPath dissolved their startups. It takes wit and guts to close down your startup. We are following their team members’ individual stories & cheering up for their wins.
The Helicopter has landed
Lift99 Kyiv Hub chill area
In one year, our community members had: 16 product launches, 7 startups raised funds, 293% of growth in new startup team members
After our launch campaign and fresh blood inside LIFT99 Kyiv Hub, we started to speed up and could outreach to more Ukrainian startups. During the next months, AXDRAFT, Neyra, Raply, MatterLabs, AttractorAI joined, which made LIFT99 Kyiv Hub alive 24/7. Meeting startup founders at 11pm in the elevator going back to the office became a usual thing; sleeping room turned out to be a necessity.
Thanks to Flawless App, Kyiv Hub community has had its first exit experience. Just a couple of months before they had informed the rest of the world of the successful exit, Flawless App founders approached us saying they would like to join the Hub, but could pay only in chairs. We didn’t need the chairs, but we surely wanted to have this brave team onboard. In February 2020, they were acquired by Abstract, and decided to stay LIFT99 community members.
We can’t build a successful community without diversity! We invited international startups in! Teams of MemSQL, Jones, Legatics, InRecovery and others joined the Hub; people with different backgrounds, geographics, mentality, but a common set of values and principles. Our first “sales call” with Carl, Senior Architect, Office of the CEO @ MemSQL, turned out to be a talk about the importance of strong team culture. Just like that: people from different parts of the world were sharing the same values. Our LIFT99 handpicked community is the key to becoming stronger together.
Besides having international members in our community, we wanted to involve more experiences from others. Thus, we welcomed StartupLive, StartupWiseGuys, partnered up with Facebook Developers Circles, Startup Estonia, Startup Grind. It seems like at some point we had startup related events every day.
As promised, we started inviting international investors to Ukraine & matching them with Ukrainian startups. We welcomed Atomico, Mistletoe, Index Ventures and others.
Winners of Ukraine Startup Awards 2019
Raccoon Recovery
Pizdata
nuka
Grammarly
MacPaw
Restream
And of course community events. We love our members, and they love pizza (and us, we hope). We mingle, match-make, mentor, teach and share. Would you believe that the first ever Freedom Business Summit started off in LIFT99 Kyiv Hub, when two members of the community, Pavlo Pedenko & Denis Dovgal, met up in the kitchen?
We landed in Ukraine to help build up the next generation of Ukrainian startup community. And to do it, we are expanding our impact beyond the Hub. We opened Ukrainain Startup Wall of Fame to highlight major startups players, united by the mission to give back; kicked-off the first ever Ukrainian Startup Awards to celebrate the achievements of 2019. Now after covid-19 is influencing our normality, we have launched LIFT99 Online Community membership to unite even more startup-minded entrepreneurs without borders.
Any of this wouldn’t be possible without the most hardworking and dedicated team, in Kyiv and Tallinn.
And we are moving forward. We don’t age - we level up!