There is a war on. The overall economy is shaky. But Ukraine’s tech industry is booming.
Ukraine has seen its IT service and software research and development sector grow by double-digit figures for the last two years, and the country already has 90,000 IT professionals – more than any other country in Europe.
Moreover, IT outsourcing accounted for about 4 percent of the country’s total exports in 2014 – or about $2.3 billion. Ukrainian IT freelancers earned $60 million in 2014 working for international companies around the globe.
All those figures come from a new industry factbook created by key people in the Ukrainian IT industry. The publication is a valuable resource for anyone thinking of starting and running an IT business in Ukraine or investing in the latest bright tech idea to come out of the county.
A pre-release version of the latest factbook was posted on Dec. 14 on social networks and on the Ukraine Digital News website by Yevgen Sysoyev of AVentures, a venture capital firm in Kyiv. Entitled “The Rise of a Tech Nation” the aim of the publication is to enlighten and inform readers from around the world about the shape of the Ukrainian IT market in 2015.
The 210-page factbook was compiled by the CEO of Mitten Pay , Yuliya Sychikova, who was its lead author, Ukraine Digital News Chief Editor Adrien Henni and AVentures’ Sysoyev. Its six sections chart out the Ukrainian IT ecosystem, and lists the precise number of software and outsourcing companies in the country.
In addition to a comprehensive set of data, including detailed analyses of industry segments and regions, the book features fascinating case reports of international software R&D collaboration.
The factbook also includes testimonials from a variety of Western companies that have used Ukrainian programmers’ services, analysis from Ukrainian experts of key global market trends, and an exclusive interview with Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Dmytro Shymkiv, a former Microsoft Ukraine GM.
The factbook is also free. “It will be updated regularly and kept available gratis to all interested parties in order to draw to the vibrant Ukrainian innovation scene the attention it deserves,” the book’s blurb reads.
“Why is (George) Soros investing in Ukrainian tech? Because he really believes in the rise of new Ukraine as a technology nation,” Sysoyev wrote on his Facebook, referring the recent acquisition of Ukrainian software developer Ciklum by the billionaire philanthropist Soros on Nov. 18.
The factbook “Ukraine: The Rise of a Technology Nation” posted on Dec. 14 on LinkedIn by Yevgen Sysoyev, managing partner at AVentures Capital.
The official release of the factbook is to be on Dec. 16 in New York. The pre-release version is available in .pdf format on the Ukraine Digital News website.
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.
