REUTERS
Ukraine is now home to nearly 2,000 high-tech start-ups, with their number growing, a Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Stepan Kubiv, said at the forum on innovation market in Kyiv.
"In Ukraine, an epicenter of high-tech solutions can be created that will change the world. Today we have about 2,000 start-ups, and their number is growing," Kubiv said.
According to the minister, in 2016, about 80 investment agreements with innovative companies worth $88 million were concluded in Ukraine, and also worth over $400 million over the past five years.
"The government supports in every possible way the establishment in Ukraine of an ecosystem of innovation development. We are working to create a solid business-oriented architecture to support the sector," the official said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, according to the Ukrainian Venture Capital and Direct Investments Association (UVCA), the total amount of investments in Ukrainian startups in the field of information technology last year amounted to $88 million, which is 33% less than in 2015.
According to the UVCA study, in Ukraine, some 17 venture capital funds, six private equity funds and a corporate fund are involved in investing startups at different stages of their development.
As a rule, the funds are ready to invest in the development of the project somewhere between $50,000 to tens of millions of dollars, depending on the stage of the project and the type of fund.
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The volume of private and venture investments in Ukrainian companies in 2015 totaled $132 million, which is more than 3 times higher than the figure in 2014. In total, 66 deals were concluded in 2015, 48% of which were sealed with the participation of international funds.