Grammarly, an IT company with Ukrainian roots, has attracted more than $200 million in investments from venture capitalists Baillie Gifford and BlackRock, according to a press release from the company.According to the announcement, Grammarly has reached a valuation of $13 billion.Grammarly plans to use the investment to accelerate product innovation and team growth.“Grammarly’s latest funding round underscores the importance of our mission and the broad need for effective communication,” Grammarly CEO Brad Hoover was quoted as saying.The company will also continue to promote its natural language processing and machine learning technologies to provide personalized feedback to users around the world.“We’re delighted to partner with the team at Grammarly to democratize effective communication. As the world has digitized, people communicate more than they ever have – yet it has never been so difficult,” Peter Singlehurst, Head of Private Companies at Baillie Gifford said.“What attracted us is the company’s vision and the team’s ability to drive the product forward to help more people in more situations communicate better. Grammarly’s long-term and ambitious approach also aligns with our approach to investing. We look forward to many years of partnership with Grammarly,” he said.The company also said that the number of Grammarly employees has almost tripled since 2019, and thanks to the recently announced hybrid model of remote work, the company is hiring employees in the United States, Canada and Ukraine.Grammarly was founded in 2009 by Kyiv residents: Max Lytvyn, Alex Shevchenko, and Dmytro Lider. Its offices are located in Kyiv, San Francisco, New York and Vancouver.Grammarly is an online grammar checker service created by Grammarly Inc. It automatically detects potential grammatical, spelling, punctual, verbal and style errors. The service is available in a web editor, desktop app, as well as extensions for Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge browsers, mobile keyboards, and an add-in for Microsoft Office.
Quotes of interbank currency market of Ukraine (UAH for $1, in 01.10.2021-39.10.2021)
The Verkhovna Rada plans to launch a nationwide targeted social program to provide Ukrainians with water through the development and reconstruction in 2022-2026 of centralized water supply and drainage systems in settlements throughout Ukraine, its total cost is estimated at UAH 57 billion. Corresponding bill No. 5723 on the nationwide target social program “Drinking Water of Ukraine” for 2022-2026 at first reading at a parliamentary meeting on Thursday was supported by 328 MPs with the required 226 votes.The existing issue of providing the inhabitants of Ukraine with high-quality drinking water is planned to be resolved through the construction, reconstruction or overhaul of water intake, water supply and treatment facilities, water supply networks and drainage systems, the construction and installation of post-treatment stations for drinking water, the creation of laboratories for monitoring the quality of drinking water and waste water.According to the annex to the document, in the territory of the country in 2022-2026 it is planned to build or reconstruct 290 water intake buildings, 280 water supply and treatment facilities, 79 post-treatment plants for drinking water, 1,100 water supply and drainage networks, as well as launch five water quality control laboratories.Financing of the program is planned from the state budget of Ukraine, including the state fund for regional development, the state fund for the development of water management and subventions for the implementation of investment projects, local budget funds, the funds of water supply and drainage enterprises, external and internal borrowings, grants from international organizations, funds from international programs, charitable contributions.”The approximate amount of funding for the program is UAH 28.59 billion, of which from the state budget – UAH 16.95 billion, from the local budget and other sources – UAH 11.64 billion. The volume of expenses required for the implementation of the program is determined annually, taking into account the possibilities of the state and local budgets in the formation of their indicators,” the appendix to the draft law reads.According to an explanatory note to the document, the implementation of the water supply program will allow consumers to receive high-quality services of centralized drainage and wastewater treatment, and industry enterprises providing services for centralized water supply and centralized drainage will receive an increase in profits from their activities.
The number of citizens’ complaints to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) in July-September 2021 amounted to 29,000, which is 13.7% more than in the previous quarter (25,500), according to a report on work with complaints from consumers of financial services, published on the regulator’s website on Wednesday. At the same time, number of written complaints in the third quarter increased by 18%, to 11,340, and the number of calls to the call center – by 10%, to 17,400.Most of the complaints from consumers relate to the work of nonbank financial institutions: 8,720 written complaints and 5,750 calls to the call center.One of the main reasons for the growth in the number of applications is Law No. 1349-IX on the regulation of collection activities, which came into full force on July 14, 2021.“It clearly outlined the rights of consumers of financial services and bans on the work of debt collectors. That is why citizens began to complain more often to the National Bank about the violation by debt collectors and lenders when settling overdue debts,” the central bank said.According to the report, debt management and unethical behavior of debt collectors and credit institutions is the most common topic of both written complaints (47% of the total) and calls to the call center (19%).In addition, in their written requests, consumers asked questions about loans from nonbank financial institutions (23%), relations on compulsory types of insurance (8%), bank loans (7%).At the same time, the topical topics of calls to the call center were loans from nonbank financial institutions (14%), issues of banknotes and coins (11%), relations under bank loan agreements (7%).According to the NBU, 45% of written requests had signs of violation of the rights of consumers of financial services.Among the problematic issues in the work of nonbank financial institutions is the accrual of interest over the loan period, fraud using lost consumer documents, problematic issues with insurance companies, tough methods of collecting bad debts.Among the problematic issues identified in the work of banks are also cases of fraud with customer accounts, the imposition of additional services, tough actions to collect bad debts.
Shebelynka gas refinery (Šhebel) has begun production of winter diesel fuel, according to a press release from NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy on Thursday.“From year to year, the interest of our consumers in Shebel fuel is growing. Therefore, the issue of quality and reliability of products is in the first place. We are working to ensure that Ukrainian drivers have a worthy alternative to imports,” Commercial Director of JSC Ukrgazvydobuvannia Serhiy Fedorenko said.According to the company, the maximum filtration temperature of Shebel winter diesel fuel is minus 25 degrees Celsius (at the norm of minus 20 degrees Celsius), the sulfur content is up to 6.5 mg/kg (at the norm up to 10 mg/kg), and the cetane number is 50 (at the norm not less than 49).In production of Shebel winter diesel fuel, additives from the German chemical concern BASF are used, the technological developments of which the company uses in production of other types of motor fuels (Shebel 95, Shebel 92 gasoline).“With the beginning of the winter season with lower temperatures, it is planned to put out the Arctic diesel fuel Shebel,” the press release said.As reported, Shebelynka gas refinery, after the completion of the scheduled preventive maintenance in October this year, switched to production of diesel with improved low-temperature characteristics.Shebelynka gas refinery belongs to PJSC Ukrgazvydobuvannia, a 100% subsidiary of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy.
Kaplor 7 LLC (Odesa), which on September 14 offered the highest price for the integral property complex of the Odesavynprom winery put up for sale by the State Property Fund (SPF), paid the necessary amount to the budget – UAH 234.9 million.“Recently, the buyer of Odesavynprom paid UAH 235 million, although the public had doubts that it would transfer the money,” SPF Head Dmytro Sennychenko said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.According to the ProZorro.Sales platform, 12 companies participated in the auction, at which the starting price was UAH 65.32 million. The main competitors of Kaplor 7 were City Board Service LLC (Odesa, offered UAH 234.2 million), Hola Invest LLC (Odesa, UAH 234.1 million) and Sinai 10 LLC (Kyiv, UAH 234.1 million).He said that the practice of using a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) is quite widespread abroad. According to him, even in case of refusal to purchase, the budget receives a deposit of 10% of the starting price, and such receipts, for example, only with the sale of distilleries amounted to UAH 30 million.Sennychenko added that the winner of the recent auction for the sale of Electronmash – also a little-known company Lorten Group, which offered UAH 970 million with the starting price of UAH 66.7 million – nevertheless signed the auction protocol, which gives reason to expect payment within up to 60 days.According to the terms of the auction for the sale of Odesavinprom, the buyer is obliged to keep the production of wines, to provide social guarantees to employees for at least three years. It is obligatory to conclude a protection agreement for the building of Sovkhozvintrest – an architectural monument built in 1895.According to the unified public register of legal entities and sole proprietors, Kaplor 7 LLC was registered in January 2017. Its charter capital is UAH 500,000. It is engaged in the production of wines and trade in household goods. The ultimate beneficiary is Natalia Holub (earlier Raisa Kurpedinova).Odesavynprom includes 97 real estate facilities (28 units of buildings and structures, 69 amphorae for wine storage), as well as technological equipment, vehicles, etc.The enterprise is located on land plots with a total area of 2.67 hectares.In March 2021, the SPF extended the lease agreement for the Odesavinprom property for six months with PJSC Odesavynprom before its privatization. The lease agreement with the tenant was concluded in 1992, after which it was repeatedly renewed.PJSC Odesavynprom is engaged in the production of cognacs, still and sparkling wines under the French Boulevard and Guliev Wines brands, and also provides its facilities for bottling Crimean brands.
