Farmak pharmaceutical company, within the framework of a strategic partnership with the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE), will allocate $ 500,000 for the development of KSE.
According to a press release from the pharmaceutical company, in particular, the funds will be used to equip a new campus, as well as to strengthen existing and launch new educational areas, including training bachelors.
“By supporting such projects, we are contributing to the achievement of the Global Sustainable Development Goals, one of the tasks of which is to improve the quality of higher education and ensure its close connection with science,” Executive Director of Farmak Volodymyr Kostiuk said.
The press release notes that Farmak supports not only KSE, but also other educational initiatives, including the Minor Academy of Sciences, publishes books about Ukrainian scientists. The company’s own scientific potential (150 scientists, 42 candidates of sciences, five doctors of sciences and an innovative R&D complex) allows providing a high level of academic expertise.
“The decision of Farmak company testifies that Ukrainian business is entering a new level of corporate social responsibility, and this should become an example for others. Thanks to the support of companies such as Farmak, we are preparing the ground for a strong and innovative Ukrainian economy,” President of KSE Tymofiy Mylovanov said.
Farmak is the leader of the Ukrainian pharmaceutical market, produces medicines in all 14 therapeutic groups. Annually it introduces to the market about 20 new complex component modern drugs. Currently, there are about 100 drugs in development. It exports products to more than 25 countries around the world.
The balances on the government’s foreign currency Single Treasury Account (STA) as of May 5, 2021 amounted to $1.6 billion, head of the Council of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Bohdan Danylyshyn said.
“The amount of funds on the STA of the government as of May 5, 2021 amounted to UAH 23.1 billion, in foreign currency (including proceeds from the placement of Eurobonds) – almost $1.6 billion in dollar terms,” Danylyshyn wrote on Facebook on Thursday.
As the head of the NBU Council noted, in May-December of this year, Ukraine should make payments for the repayment and servicing of the internal state debt in the amount of UAH 288.8 billion, that is, an average of UAH 36.1 billion per month.
The tight schedule of these payments and the insufficient depth of the domestic market for government borrowings (the average daily trading volume in the secondary market in April amounted to UAH 1.2 billion) force the Ministry of Finance to increase the yield on government bonds, Danylyshyn explained.
The Supervisory Board of the Ukrainian Startup Fund (USF), based on the results of the 23rd and 24th Pitch Days, has identified another 13 startups that will receive grants totaling $425,000, the fund’s press service said on Thursday.
Teams of 24 projects took part in the pitching. Following the meeting of the fund’s supervisory board, it was decided to finance nine of them at the pre-seed stage (they will receive a grant of $25,000):
GeronCore – a living heart (Kyiv) – a new generation of cardio implants for children with congenital heart ailments;
AGRO BI (Kyiv) – Business intelligence platform for managing risks and increasing yields in agribusiness, providing information on plant growth and the presence of weeds based on high-precision aerial photography by drones and using its own neural networks;
Harmix (Kyiv) – an intelligent service that automatically selects music for video;
Erudito (Kharkiv) – a mobile application for teaching children school subjects in a playful manner;
Ademrius (Lviv) – a web platform for automating the work of medical institutions through the introduction of online appointments with a doctor and an electronic patient history;
Librarius (Kyiv) – a mobile application for the selection, purchase, rent and free reading of literature in electronic and audio formats;
Artera (Kyiv) – marker pen that can write or draw in any color;
Supplio (Kyiv) – integrates cosmetics suppliers with their customers, thus providing automated order management based on actual inventory;
AutoBI (Kyiv, Lviv) – a system for the automotive and related areas for setting up and optimizing fleet of vehicles management processes.
In addition, it was decided to finance four startups at the seed stage (they will receive a grant of $50,000):
Effa (Kyiv) – environmentally friendly disposable hygiene products made from 100% recyclable and renewable materials;
CareTech.Human (Kyiv) – an automated, non-invasive and affordable solution for daily health screening, early detection and monitoring of diabetes;
SmartReader (Rivne) – classes on speed reading and memory development for children 6-16 years old using a gamified online platform;
Fiway (Kharkiv) – Internet for transport, which works in any country in the world.
The press service recalled that during the pitching, projects are evaluated according to a number of criteria, namely: team, market, appropriateness of financing, idea and development strategy.
As reported, on average, the Ukrainian Startup Fund allocates funding for every 25th application.
Ukrainian Startup Fund is a state fund created at the initiative of the Cabinet of Ministers. Its purpose is to provide financing to technology companies in the early stages of development (pre-seed and seed).
Ukrzaliznytsia plans to start restoring international passenger traffic in June, according to a message posted on the company’s website on Thursday.
According to it, in particular, preliminary agreements have already been reached on the resumption of railway communication with Austria and Hungary. In addition, negotiations are underway with PKP Intercity and the Polish railway to restore high-speed communication between the countries.
“Now in Ukraine and neighboring countries, there is a stabilization of the situation with the spread of coronavirus infection. This allows negotiations with the railway administrations of neighboring countries to restore international routes. Last week, we examined the readiness of infrastructure in the west of the country, bordering on European countries. There we started a number of projects. Therefore, I can say with confidence that Ukrzaliznytsia is ready to restore these transportations,” the press service quoted acting head of the company Ivan Yuryk as saying.
According to the company, Ukrzaliznytsia has already received approval for the running of Kyiv-Vienna direct cars since June. In addition, there are plans to restore trains running on the Chop – Zahony (Hungary) route. The message states that after the restoration of international passenger traffic, passengers will also be able to purchase tickets to Belarus and back online.
At the same time, Yuryk stressed that control over compliance with anti-epidemiological measures will be strengthened on international routes.
The net profit of Alfa-Bank (Kyiv) in January-March 2021 amounted to UAH 977.9 million, which is 3.3 times more than in the same period in 2020 (UAH 295 million).
According to the bank, net interest income for this period increased by 2%, to UAH 1.415 billion, net commissions – by 10.3%, to UAH 821.5 million.
At the same time, the assets of Alfa-Bank in the first quarter decreased by UAH 15 million, to UAH 97.578 billion, in particular the loan portfolio – by 4%, to UAH 45.93 billion.
The bank’s liabilities decreased by 1%, to UAH 86.96 billion, in particular customer funds – by UAH 108 million, to UAH 73.4 billion.
The bank’s capital in the first three months of the year increased by 10.4%, to UAH 10.62 billion. The charter capital remained at the level of UAH 28.726 billion.
As of March 1, 2021, Alfa-Bank ranked sixth in terms of total assets (UAH 109.94 billion) among 73 banks operating in the country.
Firefly Aerospace Inc., the American rocket and space technology developer, owned by Ukrainian businessman Maksym Poliakov, has completed the first round (A) of venture funding with more than $ 175 million raised (with the planned $ 75 million), the total cost of the company exceeded $ 1 billion.
According to Firefly CEO Tom Markusic, the interest of investors during Round A significantly exceeded the initially planned $ 75 million and in order to meet the demand, the main investor of Firefly – Noosphere Ventures – sold part of shares worth more than $ 100 million to a number of participants in this round and other shareholders, while remaining the majority shareholder.
According to the company, this decision did not affect the strategic management and control of the company.
Following the launch of the Alpha carrier rocket, Firefly plans to raise an additional $ 300 million in investment by the end of 2021 to support the company’s growth plans through 2025, according to a Facebook post by Firefly Aerospace.
Tom Markusic stressed that the implementation of the next investment round, scheduled for 2021, will allow Firefly to fully fulfill its business plan for the development of new spaceships and launch vehicles.
As reported, earlier Firefly Aerospace announced plans to raise $ 350 million to scale production and create a mid-range rocket – Firefly Beta.
