You're reading: Ukrainian startup AirSlate raises $40 million from US heavyweight investors

Ukrainian tech startup AirSlate has attracted $40 million to grow its business and enter new markets, the company announced on Jan. 12.

Developing  tech to digitize and automate document workflow for businesses and governments, the startup will use the investment money to ramp up sales to $100 million a year, expand functionality and start operating in new countries.

The money has come from U.S. private investment companies Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, General Catalyst and HighSage Ventures, bringing the total funding of the startup to $80 million to date. 

All these investment firms specialize in early-stage and growth investments.

General Catalyst had already invested $20 million in AirSlate. The firm is known in Ukraine for investing in Grammarly, a startup with Ukrainian roots that is currently worth over $1 billion. General Catalyst has also put money in giants like Airbnb and Snap.

AirSlate CEO Boris Shakhnovich told the Kyiv Post that the company wasn’t actively looking for investors.

“Usually, investors find us themselves,” Shakhnovich said, adding that the money itself doesn’t mean success — but trust and support from such investors do matter. “It’s about people who believe in your business.”

Pete Chung, head of Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, believes that the technology the startup develops is currently in high demand around the globe. “AirSlate (is) positioned at the right stage to achieve and maintain significant momentum in this space,” said Chung, who will join the startup’s board of directors.

Founded in Ukraine in 2008 under another brand name, PDF Filler, AirSlate has been based in the United States since 2011. The company changed its name to try to reflect the variety of services it provides — mainly managing documents online, in cloud storage, according to Shakhnovich.

Currently, AirSlate employs 700 people and has over 20 million users worldwide. Their customer base includes U.S. energy provider Eversource Energy and the government of Australia.

The company hasn’t specified what new markets it plans to enter in the future.