You're reading: Billionaire philanthropist George Soros invests in Ukrainian software developer Ciklum

Billionaire philanthropist George Soros bought an equity stake in Ukrainian software developer Ciklum on Nov. 18.

The Ukrainian Redevelopment Fund headed by Soros acquired an
undisclosed stake in Ciklum from Danish founder Torben Majgaard and private equity
fund Horizon Capital. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of
2015.

“I am very excited about my investment in Ciklum. It is a
very dynamic company in an industry that represents the future of Ukraine,” Soros
said in the statement. ”It’s an investment in what I call the ‘New Ukraine’ –
Ukrainians who are young, well educated, and eager for their country to break
from the past and to build an open society.”

“I hope that my investment serves as an example to other
investors,” he added.

Ciklum is a global
software engineering and solutions company. Ciklum delivers software engineering
services to organizations across various industries. In the last two years,
Ciklum has opened new offices in the USA, Israel, Poland, Spain, and Romania,
along with additional offices in Ukraine. Majority of Ciklum clients are the
companies that are developing their own products and have chosen Ciklum to be
their technology partner.

“Over the past 13 years, we have built Ciklum into an
award-winning, innovative global IT service provider, with strong engineering
capabilities and solid relationships with some of the world’s biggest brands,”
Ciklum CEO and founder Majgaard. “We are truly excited to bring the Ukrainian
Redevelopment Fund on board to support us in significantly expanding our
company, both organically and through strategic acquisitions.”

According to Andrey Kolodyuk, founder and managing partner of AVentures Capital, the deal will enhance the company’s reputation.

“Importantly, the Soros’ team will be not only investors,
but also strategic partners,” Kolodyuk told the Kyiv Post. “With such a
financial partner, the company has all the chances to build a large global
company.”

Kolodyuk thinks this may be a watershed for the country. “This
is a turning point for Ukraine: new investors will come and people will look at
us not only in the context of political scandals and military actions.”

Soros also contributes heavily to the development of Ukraine’s civil society through his Open Society Foundations.

Kyiv Post staff writer Denys Krasnikov can be reached at [email protected]. The
Kyiv Post’s IT coverage is sponsored by
Looksery, Ciklum, Steltec
Capital
and SoftServe.
The content is independent of the donors.