Russian attack Yuri Kozik from Ukraine came to Finland a year ago with a startup visa. Now he is trying to help his fighting coders in Kiev get bulletproof vests.

Yuri Kozik moved to Finland in March 2021 with a startup visa. He founded a company in Finland and received support from Business Finland for early-stage companies. Last year, the company received a small seed funding From Peter Vesterbacka and a few other private investors.

Now Kozik is about to start a new round of funding.

At the same time, however, he is trying to arrange bulletproof vests and other assistance for his small startup for three software developers who are on the front lines in Kiev.

We look at the map on the map of the location of Mykolaiv, the hometown of Kozik. It is just over an hour’s drive from the besieged city of Kherson in southern Ukraine by Russian troops.

These things seem to be from two different worlds.

“Of course, raising funding is now difficult. Already last fall, the tense situation affected our psychological well-being when our thoughts were on how we can help our relatives, ”says Kozik.

Ukraine the startup ecosystem has grown rapidly in recent years. Still in 2021 it looked good. Technology giants such as Amazon, Apple and Lyft opened offices in the country, and Ukraine’s IT sector grew 36 percent a year.

Ukrainian according to an industry association, worked in the IT sector 2021 already 285,000 people. That is why many European technology companies have set up product development points in Ukraine and employed the country’s software specialists.

“Already during the Soviet era, a lot of training and know-how in technology and software was created here. Many have worked for international software companies, ”says Kozik.

In November, Ukrainian growth firm Grammarly reached $ 13 billion in a $ 200 million round of financing. Admittedly, like many startups founded by Ukrainians, it has moved its headquarters to the United States.

Statistics on start-up funding rounds According to the Dealroom site in Ukraine During 2020–2021, the companies holding the head office raised a total of only about 150 million euros in financing. It’s a little.

According to Kozik, it has been typical for Ukrainian startups to keep product development domestically, but to set up a company legally in countries where the regulatory environment is more familiar to investors.

“In addition to Silicon Valley in the United States, many have set up a business in an EU country like Estonia because it’s easier. Before the war, it started to change, and many started their businesses in Ukraine, ”says Kozik.

Now the whole well-developed development in startups, as otherwise in the Ukrainian economy and people’s daily lives, has crumbled.

In In 2016, Yuri Kozik started working for a Ukrainian startup that developed software to help the deaf. The team participated in the Startup Sauna 2017 program of the Aaltoes student organization in Helsinki.

“We were impressed with the Finnish startup ecosystem and how different parties from banks to universities worked together. We wanted to create something similar in Ukraine, ”says Kozik.

Shortly afterwards, he was involved in several projects developing the Ukrainian startup ecosystem, some of which also involved Finnish partners. The goal was to help entrepreneurs connect with international customers and partners.

During the pandemic, Kozik felt that accelerator programs often failed to handle practical arrangements. How to bring entrepreneurs and the people mentoring them remotely and ensure that meetings are smooth and useful?

A new tool would be needed for this, Kozik estimates. He decided to move to Finland and set up a new company to develop software for startup accelerators.

“We already had networks here, and we knew how startups could get public support here, for example. Slush is known around the world, and Helsinki is a large growth business center in Europe, ”Kozik justifies moving to Finland.

The first paying customers of Advicera startup are two Finnish and one US business accelerator.

Cozine according to the previous night had been relatively calm in Mykolaiv. There had been battles in the city, and many buildings were damaged. According to him, the aim of the parents is to escape, but it is difficult in a large country in the midst of fighting.

The mother has its roots in Russia, the father in Belarus. Russia is spoken of at Kozik’s home, but he describes his family as apolitical – and at least not pro-Russian. The war quickly turned them against Russia.

“None of us could believe that was going to happen,” he says.

The second founder of Startup Daria Sazonovan the mother and little brother came to visit Finland just before the war began. When the war started, they decided to stay and seek asylum in Finland.

Kozik is 32 years old, and many of his peers and friends are now defending their country with guns. Many Ukrainians living elsewhere have now returned to their homeland to fight. Has Kozik thought about that?

“Ukraine has no shortage of people who want to fight. There is a shortage of supplies, ”he replies.

“And I haven’t completed military service. Instead, I have experience in project management. ”

So instead of fighting, Kozik is trying to help its country get the other help it needs. She and Sazonova have also donated money to the Ukrainian army and charities.

“We are organizing an organization that would bring together experts in the field of technology and different fields to help. I believe we can help by combining our expertise, ”says Kozik.

When the war finally ends, Kozik believes that startups are still needed.

“At the heart of startups is problem solving. After the war, we need to help Ukrainians start new businesses, and that may be the way to build new ones. ”