Horizon Capital, a leading private equity firm in Central and Eastern Europe, with assets under management of over USD 1.8 billion, is honored to announce its victory at the Real Deals Private Equity Awards 2026 in the “CEE Deal of the Year” category for the landmark transaction in the telecommunications sector, Datagroup–Volia–lifecell. Horizon Capital is receiving the “CEE Deal of the Year” award for the second time in its history. The award was accepted at the ceremony in London, United Kingdom, by the company’s partner Dmytro Borodai.
Over more than 25 years, the Real Deals Private Equity Awards have become the most prestigious and authoritative distinction in the European private equity industry. Every year, 1,000 leading representatives of the industry come together to recognize fund managers and advisers who have made an outstanding contribution to the development of the industry over the past year. All submissions are evaluated by an expert panel of industry leaders, and decisions are made based on the results achieved, the professional level of execution, and the quality of the submitted application.
Olena Kosharna, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Horizon Capital, said: “The Real Deals award is recognition of everyone who contributed to the success of this transaction — the management and teams of Datagroup–Volia–lifecell, our exceptionally talented CEO Mykhailo Shelemba, the visionary of the telecom and technology sector Xavier Niel and the NJJ team, the Horizon Capital team led by partner Dmytro Borodai, as well as the EBRD, IFC and the European Commission, without whom this deal would have been impossible. We share this distinction with Ukraine, celebrating the strength, invincibility and resilience of the country and its people, whose perseverance, determination and entrepreneurial spirit make it possible to achieve world-class investment results even under the most difficult circumstances. The success of the DVL Telecom transaction inspired us to move forward — we launched a new Catalyst Fund, focused on reconstruction, in order to replicate similar deals and attract billions of dollars to Ukraine, working with international strategic investors and global funds to accelerate their entry into the Ukrainian market and support the reconstruction, renewal and revival of strategic sectors of Ukraine’s economy — energy, digital infrastructure, construction and others.”
The award recognizes Horizon Capital’s leadership and innovative approach to structuring and executing the acquisition of Datagroup–Volia–lifecell (DVL Telecom) — one of the largest M&A transactions in Ukraine in recent decades — by a consortium led by NJJ Holding of global telecom and technology entrepreneur Xavier Niel, with Horizon Capital participating as a minority investor. Real Deals highly praised Horizon Capital’s strategic vision and quality of execution in transforming Datagroup together with its management, which ensured a 3.8-fold increase in revenue and a 4.8-fold increase in EBITDA over five years from the moment Horizon Capital assumed operational control over the business. The award also recognizes the company’s pioneering approach to building partnerships and structuring capital. To accelerate NJJ’s entry into the Ukrainian market, the Horizon Capital Growth Fund II, L.P., managed by Horizon Capital, entered into a partnership with NJJ, reinvested part of the exit proceeds together with NJJ into DVL Telecom, and attracted USD 435 million in debt financing from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), with the support of the European Commission’s Ukraine Investment Framework initiative, to complete this transaction. The total volume of investment in Ukraine under this deal amounts to USD 1.5 billion, including the acquisition price and guaranteed capital expenditures (capex), and this is despite the ongoing full-scale war. This confirms the trust of international investors in Ukraine’s resilience and its secure future.
Dmytro Borodai, partner at Horizon Capital and member of the Catalyst Fund Investment Committee, added: “This award recognizes not just another successful realization of a private equity investment, but something much more significant and landmark. It is recognition of the largest deal in Ukraine over the past decade, carried out under the conditions of a full-scale war, which has no precedent in modern history. We are proud to have been nominated in the same category as outstanding PE firms — Invalda, MCI Capital and MidEuropa, which have inspired us throughout all these years and demonstrate outstanding results in our region — and to be bringing this prestigious award home, to Kyiv.”
Horizon Capital is a leading private investment firm in Eastern European countries with USD 1.8 billion in assets under management, raised from investors with aggregate capital of more than USD 700 billion. The company’s investment strategy is focused on supporting visionary entrepreneurs who lead fast-growing businesses in Ukraine and Moldova. Funds managed by Horizon Capital have invested in more than 200 companies employing over 56,000 people. The company’s new fund, Catalyst Fund, has a target size of EUR 300 million, with more than 50% already raised, and is aimed at attracting EUR 3 billion of capital to Ukraine.
Horizon Capital has announced the third stage of closing of its new Horizon Capital Growth Fund IV (HCGF IV), which increased its size from $254 million to $298 million, founder and CEO of the company Elena Koszarny wrote on Facebook on Thursday.
“We managed to attract more than 65% of private sector capital from leading institutions, family offices, foundations and other investors, as well as receive a $10 million replenishment from the EBRD, which increases their commitment from $40 million to $50 million,” she said.
She thanked the investors for the opportunity to extend the final stage of the fundraising until December 31, 2023.
“Horizon Capital believes strongly in Ukraine and Moldova, in compelling investment opportunities from world-class founders in our core markets, and in our ability to deliver returns and impact for our investors, as evidenced by our HCGF IV team’s contribution, which now exceeds 4% of the funds raised,” Koszarny added.
As reported, in late April, Horizon Capital announced the closing of the second round of investment and raising $254 million against its target size of $250 million.
Since then, HCGF IV has announced one investment – in the Ukrainian company Preply, a leading global platform for learning foreign languages online, without specifying a specific amount.
IFC, as one of the investors, specified that the fund would invest $10-30 million to acquire minority stakes in 10-15 companies in Ukraine and Moldova with an average capitalization and value of $50-150 million. According to the corporation, HCGF IV is the successor to the $200 million EEGF III, which was formed in 2017, and will follow a similar investment strategy focused on IT services and products, as well as e-commerce, innovative consumer goods and fintech.
Horizon Capital is a large investment company that manages six private equity funds (more than 40 institutional investors) with $1.4 billion in assets, including WNISEF (with $150 million in capital), Emerging Europe Growth Fund (EEGF, $132 million), EEGF II ($370 million) and EEGF III ($200 million), and HCGF II ($258.3 million). The funds have been invested in more than 160 companies employing over 77 thousand people in Ukraine and Moldova.
Kiev-headquartered investment firm Horizon Capital has raised $254 million in a new Horizon Capital Growth Fund IV (HCGF IV, the “Fund”), exceeding its $250 million target, the company said in a statement Friday evening.
“Today Horizon Capital and our esteemed group of investors made history as the first and largest fund raised since the start of a full-scale invasion,” the statement quoted company founder and CEO Olena Kosharnaya as saying from a private signing ceremony with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and international investors from the United States, EU and international institutions.
In January this year, she told Interfax-Ukraine news agency that after raising $125 million in the first round of HCGF IV formation in September last year, it was planned to increase its size to $200 million by the end of March, and tentatively by mid-summer to completely close the formation of the fund in the originally planned amount of $250 million.
As noted in the message of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which contributed $30 million to the fund at the initial stage of its formation, it has increased its contribution to $60 million, becoming the largest participant in the fund.
“We urge other investors to follow IFC’s lead and not let the newspaper headlines fool you. Financing sectors that others are hesitant to invest in can create tremendous investment opportunities with equally significant potential returns,” Kosharna said.
Among the new investors in HCGF IV, according to releases by Horizon Capital and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Société de Promotion et de Participation pour la Coopération Économique (Proparco), the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), Swedfund International AB (Swedfund), the Finnish Industrial Cooperation Fund (Finnfund) and the Danish Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU).
“In the context of the war with Ukraine, HCGF IV’s ambitions are unprecedented, and we are encouraged by its fundraising success,” Hassan El Khatib, managing director of equities, said in an EBRD release.
In addition to the EBRD, which contributed $40 million to HCGF IV in the first phase, its investors also included Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG) and its subsidiary KfW Group, the Dutch Enterprise Development Bank (FMO), the Swiss Investment Fund for Emerging Markets (SIFEM) ), Western NIS Enterprise Fund and Zero Gap Fund, formed in collaboration between The Rockefeller Foundation and John D. and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation.
“The fact of exceeding the original ambitious goal of $250 million demonstrates a high level of investor interest in attractive opportunities in high-growth, high-impact technology and export-oriented companies, including those in the light and food processing, innovative consumer products, fintech, etc. sectors,” noted Horizon Capital.
It is also noted that HCGF IV was the first fund in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and one of about ten funds in the world to achieve 2X Flagship Fund status, including one of only two that are founded and led by women. The 2X Challenge was launched at the 2018 G7 Summit as a bold commitment by companies to invest in women in the world and promote gender equality in finance.
IFC specified that the fund would invest $10-30 million to acquire minority stakes in 10-15 mid-cap and $50-150 million companies in Ukraine and Moldova. HCGF IV is the $200 million successor to EEGF III, which was completed in 2017, and will follow a similar investment strategy focused on IT services and products as well as e-commerce, innovative consumer products and fintech, according to corporate materials.
IFC recalls having invested in EEGF III and EEGF II (2008), while EBRD was an investor in EEGF III and EEGF II as well as HCGF II.
Horizon Capital is a large investment company managing 6 private equity funds (more than 40 institutional investors) with assets of $1.4 billion, among which are WNISEF ($150 million), Emerging Europe Growth Fund (EEGF, $132 million), EEGF II ($370 million) and EEGF III ($200 million), as well as HCGF II ($258.3 million). The funds of these funds were invested in more than 160 companies, which employed more than 77 thousand people, in Ukraine and Moldova.
Horizon Capital, a U.S. private equity firm investing in high-growth export-oriented companies in Ukraine and the region, has announced the formation of a new Horizon Capital Growth Fund IV, L.P. (HCGF IV), which attracted $125 million in the first stage.
“With the launch of HCGF IV, Horizon Capital achieved an all-time high first stage result, raising 50% of its $250 million goal,” the company said in a statement Monday.
According to him, at the first stage, the Fund was supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a subsidiary of KfW Group – Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG), the Dutch Development Bank (FMO), the Swiss Investment Fund for Developing markets (SIFEM), the Western NIS Enterprise Fund, and the Zero Gap Fund (formed in collaboration between The Rockefeller Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation).
The fund will support visionary entrepreneurs leading high-growth technology and export-oriented companies.
The official signing ceremony took place on Monday at the London office of IFC. It was attended by leading representatives of investing institutions, as well as the founder and CEO of Horizon Capital Olena Koszarna and senior partner Vasily Tofan. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also joined the fund’s investors for the official signing ceremony with Ukraine via video link.
“We are honored to make history by launching the first fund for Ukraine and Moldova since February 24, and the first fund to support these countries since they received their well-deserved and hard-won EU candidate status in June of this year,” – quoted in a press release by Kosharna.
Earlier, the EBRD and IFC announced that they had approved an investment in HCGF IV of $50 million and $30 million, respectively.
In addition, the Western NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF) allocated $10 million as part of the first phase of the fund’s formation.
IFC specified that the fund would invest $10-30 million to acquire minority stakes in 10-15 mid-cap companies worth $50-150 million.
HCGF IV is the successor to the Emerging Europe Growth Fund III (EEGF III, 2017) and will follow a similar investment strategy focused on IT services and products, as well as e-commerce, innovative consumer products and fintech, according to corporate filings.
IFC recalls that it invested in EEGF III and EEGF II (2008), while the EBRD was an investor in EEGF III and EEGF II, as well as HCGF II.
Horizon Capital is a large investment company that manages five private equity funds (more than 40 institutional investors) with assets of $1.1 billion, including WNISEF (with a capital of $150 million), Emerging Europe Growth Fund (EEGF, $132 million), EEGF II ( $370 million) and EEGF III ($200 million) and HCGF II ($258.3 million). The resources of these funds are invested in projects in Ukraine and Moldova.
Cypriot Dealbeta Investments Limited, created by Emerging Europe Growth Fund III (EEGF III) private equity fund managed by Horizon Capital, intends to gain control over the Cypriot company Avroretail Investments Limited, the owner of the Avrora social store network.
According to the website of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU), the relevant issue was included in the agenda of the commission’s meeting on June 24.
According to the report, Dealbeta Investments has already entered into a shareholder agreement with the citizens of Ukraine and Avroretail Investments, which contains provisions on concerted actions and restrictive obligations for a period of five years.
According to the state register, Avroretail Investments, registered in March of this year, in April became the owner of Prior Investments LLC (Scherbany village, Poltava region) with Seven A LLC (Poltava) instead of the co-owner of the Avrora chain, Poltava businessman Lev Zhidenko, and Vyhidna Pokupka LLC (Poltava) instead of Zhidenko (who owned 33.74%), Taras Panasenko (56.75%) and Lesia Klymenko (9.49%). Promyslova 9 LLC (Vinnytsia), which belonged to Zhidenko and Panasenko on a parity basis, was also registered for Avroretail.
Vyhidna Pokupka LLC (until May of this year – Lafesta) last year increased its revenue 2.4 times, to UAH 1.011 billion, and net profit – 2.2 times, to UAH 55.9 million.
According to the information on the website of the Avrora chain, its stores operate in almost all regions of Ukraine in the One Dollar Store format.
Creatio, a corporate group providing a leading low-code platform for process management and CRM, which includes Terrasoft in its group, has raised minority investments in the amount of $68 million from Volition Capital Fund IV, L.P. (the United States) and Horizon Capital, the company said on Monday.
As noted in the message, Volition Capital acted as a lead investor, and Horizon Capital acted as a co-investor.
Creatio said that company’s team, management, and strategy, as well as its product vision and willingness to provide an exceptional customer experience, remain unchanged.
The received funds will be used to further accelerate expansion in the global market, strengthen R&D and actively develop the partner ecosystem in 110 countries of the world.
“Now is a critical time for digital and IT leaders to leverage tech and transform their organizations into low-code companies. This investment will allow us to keep building toward the vision of creating the new world, where any company can automate and change their business processes at speed and scale,” co-founder and CEO at Creatio Katherine Kostereva said.
Managing Partner at Volition Capital Sean Cantwell, in turn, said that market category of low-code platforms for process management and CRM has outstanding growth potential.
Creatio notes that according to analysts’ forecasts, the volume of the global market of low-code platforms will reach $187 billion by 2030.
“We are delighted to partner with the Creatio team. Creatio truly has it all to deliver on its ambitious expansion plans – a first-class team committed to its customers, solid execution, and strong product innovation,” Founding Partner and CEO at Horizon Capital Lenna Koszarny said.
As reported, earlier the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine gave permission to change the ownership structure of the Creatio Group and the entry of Volition Capital Fund as a minority shareholder.
The Creatio partner network numbers 700 or more organizations around the world. One of the key players in the global low-code, BPM and CRM market is Terrasoft, known for its Creatio (formerly bpm’online) software products. Terrasoft is part of the Creatio international group of companies, which employs 600 or more people, and clients are represented in 100 or more countries.
Volition Capital is a joint-stock company investing in high-potential technology companies owned by their founders.
CREATIO, HORIZON CAPITAL, INVESTMENTS, US VOLITION CAPITAL FUND
