Almost as many new companies were opened as last year, while closures increased by 19%
Over 18,000 new companies were registered in Ukraine in the first half of 2025, according to the Unified State Register. This is almost as many as in the same period last year, but a third less than before the start of the full-scale war. Despite the fact that the number of openings remained at the same level, the number of closures increased slightly: +19% compared to the same period last year. Ninety-seven newly created companies ceased operations this year without even lasting six months. Eight hundred eighty-six companies have already been registered by a mass founder this year.
18,277 new companies were registered in Ukraine in the first half of 2025. New business openings have stabilized — almost as many new businesses opened during the same period last year. However, it has not yet been possible to reach the figures seen before the full-scale war: in the first half of 2021, 1.6 times more legal entities were registered.
Not everything is so stable with closures: over the year, they increased by 19%. Since the beginning of the year, 6,653 businesses have closed. The net increase is 11,624 companies, which is the lowest figure in the last five years.
It is worth noting that 97 newly created companies ceased operations without even lasting six months. This is slightly more than last year (92), but significantly less than in 2021, when there were as many as 264.
Almost a third of all new businesses opened in the capital (5,830 companies).
Next came Lviv region with 1,547 companies and Dnipropetrovsk region with 1,531 companies.
At the same time, the highest number of closures occurred in the same regions. Kyiv leads with 717 companies, followed by Lviv region with 470 enterprises and Dnipropetrovsk region with 464 companies.
The absolute record for the size of the authorized capital among newly established companies in 2025 was set by the Ukrainian-Italian partnership company VelAlliance, which plans to operate in the construction sector. Its capital is UAH 14.4 billion.
This year, Vitaliy Pavlovych Ilnytskyi became the largest mass founder. He owns 886 new companies registered in 2025. It is worth noting that all of his businesses are among the top in terms of capital size: from UAH 1 billion to UAH 9.8 billion. In total, Ilnytskyi owns over 3,000 companies.
It should be noted that the amounts indicated as authorized capital may include not only real funds, but also, for example, intellectual property or equipment, the value of which is difficult to verify. Ukrainian legislation does not set limits on the maximum size of authorized capital.
Most new businesses in Ukraine are engaged in wholesale trade, accounting for 15% of registrations. In second place are public organizations, followed by real estate, IT, and the agricultural sector. At the same time, the IT sector is growing the fastest, with a 48% increase in new registrations over the year.
At the same time, public organizations were the most likely to close this year, accounting for 11% of all closures.
https://opendatabot.ua/analytics/new-companies-2025
