Ukraine presented 10 fintech startups at the UK-Ukraine Fintech Summit

Now the IT industry with an annual growth of more than 20% has become a great breeding ground for young talent! Today, they are realizing their potential to the fullest: they are technically implementing ideas whose time has come. Proof of this is the international recognition and awards from the most authoritative global organizations, such as: Global Innovation Index, Gartner, Outsourcing Journal, Tholons Services Globalization Index, PwC, Skillvalue.

Thousands of new startups are born in Ukraine every year. And now the top ten of fintech direction entered the finals of competition at the UK-Ukraine Fintech Summit. This indicates an increase in the level of expertise and unique experience of Ukrainian developers. An equally important task lies ahead: to develop education in order to further increase the growth rate of the Ukrainian IT industry, — Kostiantyn Vasyuk concluded.

The participation of the Ukrainian side was coordinated by the member company of the IT Ukraine Association, Sigma Software Group. Oleksandra Govorukha, Head of International PR at Sigma Software Group, became a producer of the event.

Without a doubt, our startups can successfully compete with startups from the UK, USA or other developed countries. The ideas of Ukrainian founders are often very cool. And so there are already a number of examples, — Oleksandra comments.

Here’s what Oleksandra recommends our startups to work on:

• Learn more about the markets in which the product is positioned and its competitors there. On pitches I often hear things like: We have no competitors; we develop a unique product. Unfortunately, or fortunately, there are always competitors — maybe not with the same product, but with its substitute. It’s important to do thorough homework.
• Presentation skills. And it’s not even about the ability to properly pitch your product in English. It’s about another thing: I know this editor-in-chief of technology media from the UK, he often jokes about the differences in the cultures of startup founders from Eastern Europe and the United States. Eastern Europe startups spend a lot of time developing the product, focusing on the technological part. They improve the product but forget about marketing and PR. As a result, the money runs out, and the product never enters the market. Startups from the U.S., on the contrary, start promoting from the square one, when all they have is an idea. They test the idea, and actively attract investments when there is no product yet. Of course, the reverse side of the sell first model sometimes looks like they raised money and could not develop a product. But in general, this approach allows you to make a product based on the feedback from the market and understand what users need and what properties of this product are important.

• Develop your network not only in Ukraine, but especially in those markets that they plan to enter. Attend business events there, get to know each other, join communities, associations, look for mentors and meet new people. It’s great to accelerate in a country where the field in which you work is strong. For example, London and Singapore are historically the centers of financial institutions. Sweden is the homeland of sustainable development and Tech for good is actively developing there. Israel, Germany — are the centers of scientific innovation, health care products. A cool accelerator can provide both networking and funding, and knowledge for further development of your product.

That is why Sigma Software Group and our business incubator Sigma Software Labs initiates such projects as UK-Ukraine FinTech Summit, Ukrainian Tech Days in Israel 2020, Ukrainian Tech Days in London 2019, a series of Accelerate Change webinars, a startup pitch session at Ukrainian Israeli Innovation Summit 2020 and many others. I am sure that only by constantly developing and keeping our eyes open to opportunities, startups can grow quickly, Oleksandra says.

Summit organizers: Embassy of Ukraine in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Sigma Software Group. Co-organizers: TheCityUK, London Stock & Exchange Group. With the support of FinTech Week London, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, FinTech Scotland, the National Bank of Ukraine, TiE London, Sigma Software Labs, the Ukrainian Startup Fund, UTEW Tech Tribe and the IT Ukraine Association.