Startups in Ukraine are developing despite the war

Ukraine ranked 42nd in the Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2025 ranking prepared by the Startup Global platform. It achieved a advanced growth rate of 26.22%, which means a promotion of 4 positions compared to 2024. Despite the hard situation associated with the full-scale war with Russia, fresh projects supporting innovation are launched, including a discipline park for start-ups or a Brave1 platform.

– In war conditions, start-ups make rather well, both in Poland and Ukraine. This is mainly due to greater dynamics in the absorption of global measures or opportunities for cooperation. State institutions mostly require more permits and another administrative procedures to establish cooperation with abroad partners, and start-ups on this issue are more dynamic – says Newseria Mateusz Białas, manager of Representation of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Kiev.

According to the Civitta and u.ventures study "Scaling Up: Accelerating Ukraine's Tech Sector", last year there were 2.6 1000 start-ups in Ukraine, and their value has tripled since 2020. The industrial division of Ukrainian start-ups reflects global trends and includes, among others, e-commerce, fintech, edtech, agritech, as well as health- and militaritetech.

– The start-up ecosystem in Ukraine works rather well. These are usually well-organised teams of young, highly educated people, who sometimes truly do miracles, especially erstwhile it comes to fresh technologies or drone technologies. They are besides very curious in developing cooperation with abroad partnersand – says Mateusz Białas.

According to the survey "Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2025", the most awesome start-ups with Ukrainian roots include People.ai, Grammar, Gitlab and Ahrefs. Talented programmers, many of whom work remotely or are employed by abroad companies, played an crucial function in their success. Much of them decide to make their own ventures.

In the light of the Civitta and u.ventures report, 12 percent of start-ups had to end their activities in connection with Russia's full invasion of Ukraine. The reasons were, among others, the failure of the marketplace for sale in Ukraine, the failure of capital resources, the inability to grow abroad, the inability to operate or the failure of funds for production. 45 percent of start-ups described their situation as bad or very bad, and 38 percent as good or very good. Importantly, most of them are curious in participating in the reconstruction of the Ukrainian economy.

– The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine has just launched a fresh task called Academic.City. It will be a discipline park with start-ups and another innovation companies. The trial is in progress. We cooperate with city authorities, the Ministry and act – Says Dr. Anatoly Zagorodny, president of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

Project Academic.City is implemented by the Center for Academic discipline and Technology of the University of Kiev with the support of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Ministry of Education and discipline of Ukraine, the State Municipal Administration in Kiev and the Berlin Technology Park Adlershof. It focuses on deep tech technologies specified as biotechnology, green energy, quantum computers, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology or innovative synthetic materials. The task brings together 13 investigation institutes, 35 institutions, about 2.4 1000 discipline doctors and about 14 1000 researchers.

– We are preparing our proposal to rebuild the economy based on advanced technologies. We have besides prepared and communicated to the government our concept of how this should be addressed. We are besides committed to solving very applicable problems, especially in relation to our atomic power plants or advanced communication technologies. We started investigation on artificial intelligence and technologies and quantum materials – stresses Dr. Anatoly Zagrodny.

In 2024 the Ministry of Education and discipline of Ukraine launched a pilot task to make a network of start-ups schools – incubators – accelerators located in higher education institutions and investigation institutions. The initiative aims to make an innovation ecosystem supporting the creation, improvement and scaling of start-ups through the commercialisation of research, the engagement of early-stage investors and the provision of financial and expert support. The task was joined by leading Ukrainian universities and investigation facilities, including the State University of “Kijowski Institute of Aviation”, Kiev University of Academic Sciences, Ukrainian Catholic University, Kiev School of Economics or the National University “Politechnics of Lviv”.

– Start-ups, but besides the investigation we conduct in our institutes, are very crucial for the defence. At the academy we have a peculiar program on safety and defence of our country – says president of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

One of the most crucial Ukrainian initiatives is Brave1, a multi-agency platform created by the Ukrainian government. It supports innovation in defence technologies by providing funding, coordination and method knowledge. Another crucial programme is the Ukrainian Startup Fund, which finances projects with possible both during the war and in the future reconstruction of the country.

– In the context of the most urgent needs of Ukrainian discipline and innovation, it is essential to make any changes to the rules to guarantee that start-ups and innovative companies can benefit from the results of our research. So we are trying to make our proposals for legislative processes – explains Dr. Anatoly Zagrodny.