Business news from Ukraine

JOINT COMPANY OF UFUTURE AND INSOFT PARTNERS ANNOUNCES INVESTING IN TWO IT-BUSINESSES

InSoft Software has increased its share in the service direction of the Kharkiv IT-company, Rozdoum, and has become one of the shareholders of the Kyiv IT-company Rademade. Therefore, currently, the investment portfolio of InSoft Software consists of three companies: Lenal, Rozdoum, Rademade.
InSoft Software also announced the change of its name to ITernal Group. Among the reasons for rebranding, the representatives of the company say about the expansion of the range of services, a change in the logic of positioning, and feedback from customers.
ITernal Group provides turnkey solutions on software development, strengthens customers’ teams with its developers, and helps foreign clients open R&D offices in Ukraine (by purchasing small companies, hiring employees, renting offices, and assisting with further service). The company is actively developing both organically and with the help of M&A strategy, consolidating controlling stakes in IT-companies.
“The creative economy of Ukraine is developing dynamically. The amount of investments and the number of startups in this industry are growing rapidly. According to experts, revenues in the Ukrainian IT-sector will amount to about $5 billion in 2019. We and our partners are convinced that ITernal Group will take a worthy place in the market and will contribute to the development of the innovative economy of Ukraine,” Vasyl Khmelnytsky, Founder of UFuture, said.
“The IT-outsourcing market has changed a lot, it has become mature. It’s getting more difficult for small companies to compete with big players in attracting contracts, customers, and employees. Therefore, offer differentiating is getting more important. We focus on ecosystem solutions. Being able to integrate small companies into one structure while preserving the brands and unique culture of the companies, we are quickly building a major player, and thus gaining the ability to attract more significant customers. On the other hand, our clients’ conversion is improving thanks to the wide range of the services provided by ITernal Group. In addition to the classic software development, we and UFuture bring M&A experience, access to a large innovative IT-school, and the most modern real estate for our clients”, Vitaly Gorovoy, Managing Partner of InSoft Partners, emphasized.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
In the summer of 2019, UFuture and InSoft Partners entered into a strategic partnership agreement in IT-industry and established a joint company.
Within this business, InSoft Partners is responsible for the search and purchase of controlling stakes in IT-companies, their integration into one structure, strategic management, and development. UFuture contributes to the organic growth of the joint business and the search for strategic partners through the international network of contacts.
UFuture is a holding company of Ukrainian entrepreneur Vasyl Khmelnytsky that integrates his business and impact-investment projects. The company has a diversified portfolio of assets in the fields of real estate, infrastructure, industry, renewable energy, pharmaceuticals, and IT. Currently, UFuture’s assets are estimated at $550 million, and the total capitalization of the businesses it invested in is more than $1 billion.
InSoft Partners is a niche investment managing company that focuses on IT-business. Having a team with extensive experience in the development of IT-companies, InSoft Partners joins the operating activities of portfolio companies, contributing to their active growth (through lead generation, changing business processes, etc.). Among the counterparties of InSoft Partners are the famous American investment fund, Oak Tree Capital Management, and FinPoint/Rothschild&Co.

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UFUTURE AND BOOKCHEF LAUNCH JOINT PROJECT #BESTREAD

UFuture and BookСhef launch a joint publishing project aimed at developing of entrepreneurship in Ukraine. The goal of the partnership is to consolidate entrepreneurial expertise and successful publishing experience. This will allow to select literature according to the needs of Ukrainian business, to optimize translation, publishing, and distribution.
Books on a wide range of topics that will contribute to the development of entrepreneurial competencies, in particular, leadership and management, will be published. These books will provide the latest knowledge on various aspects of entrepreneurship, reveal case studies, stories of companies and biographies of their founders, will encourage for entrepreneurship and enhance its prestige.
“To be successful and competitive in business, to receive investments, to find reliable partners, Ukrainian entrepreneurs need to constantly obtain new knowledge. This is why #bestread will continue the list of our impact investment projects supporting small and medium entrepreneurship in Ukraine,” Vasyl Khmelnytsky, Founder of UFuture, said.
“BookChef is actively developing the non-fiction direction. We implement a large joint project with the MIM Business School where we’ve published bestsellers by Ichak Adizes, Yuval Noah Harari, success stories of companies and products. In 2019, we published the super bestseller, “Big Money. The Principles of the First,” where famous Ukrainian businessmen shared their experience,” Olexander Kirpichov, CEO of BookChef, emphasized.
“#bestread is about the books that are worth the time of entrepreneurs, the most valuable resource of modern business. We are pleased to join the collaboration with UFuture and synchronize with other business initiatives of the company,” Vadym Saveliev, Project Manager of #bestread, said.
Soon, the partners will announce the publishing plans and start working on the first books. During 2015-2019 years, Vasyl Khmelnytsky’s K.Fund has released non-fiction books as part of K.Fund Books project.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
UFuture is a holding company of Ukrainian entrepreneur Vasyl Khmelnytsky that integrates his business and impact-investment projects. The company has a diversified portfolio of assets in the fields of real estate, infrastructure, industry, renewable energy, pharmaceuticals, and IT. Currently, UFuture’s assets are estimated at $550 million, and the total capitalization of the businesses it invested in is more than $1 billion. UFuture is a majority shareholder in UDP development company (specializing in large infrastructure projects), Kyiv Sikorsky International Airport (the second international airport in Ukraine by passenger traffic), national operator of outdoor advertising RTM-Ukraine, and a group of IT companies and an ecosystem of tech solutions ITernal. UFuture is a strategic investor in the pharmaceutical company Biopharma and UDP Renewables, renewable energy investment and development company. UFuture is also developing new business projects including UNIT.City innovation parks in Kyiv and Kharkiv, LvivTech.City in Lviv; Bila Tserkva industrial park and a manufacturer of modern electrotechnical systems, Plank Electrotechnic. UFuture supports social projects in the fields of education and economics, including the Kyiv International Economic Forum (KIEF), Lean Institute Ukraine, UNIT School of Business, UNIT Factory innovative IT-schools in Kyiv and Kharkiv, Secondary education institution Novopecherska School, the all-Ukrainian online platform iLearn and others.
BookChef is a publisher of bestsellers by Yuval Noah Harari, Michelle Obama, Cameron Diaz, Bill Clinton, Ichak Adizes, Liu Cixin, and other world-renowned authors. In 3 years, an ambitious startup has grown into a publishing house with a portfolio of 200+ books and a turnover of tens of millions of hryvnias. The publisher develops joint projects with UFuture, the MIM Business School, Oschadbank, Synevo international network of laboratories, and more. It selects books from world charts, recognized bestsellers, and popular novelties by promising authors. We find texts that will be useful for readers, that can be read and re-read many times, thought-provoking and helping to see things at an unusual angle. BookChef — books that shape a personality.

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UFUTURE OPENS UNIT SCHOOL OF BUSINESS IN UNIT.CITY

On the basis of Small and Medium Entrepreneurship School (SME School, the project of Vasyl Khmelnytsky’s K.Fund), UFuture opens UNIT School of Business in UNIT.City. The first open day at the new educational institution will take place on October 10 in UNIT Factory, Kyiv.
UNIT School of Business works in a new format for Ukraine: the program includes 119 hours of practical work on each participant’s real business instead of theoretical lectures. Entrepreneurs bring their daily tasks and look for profitable ways to solve them together with teachers. For this, the school’s experts have developed short practical programs for business modeling, marketing, sales, brand building, effective innovative tools that are easy to apply in the work of a small and medium Ukrainian business.
“We’ve created UNIT School of Business because in Ukraine, we haven’t found any entrepreneurship school organized at a really great level. We understand how difficult it is for an entrepreneur to take a break even for two months, not to mention two years. Therefore, our programs are short and effective,” Artem Makeev, CEO of the project, said.
Creators of UNIT School of Business have taken into account the experience of the educational business project “Superludi” (“Superpeople”) and SME School (1.5 thousand graduates in the past three years). The mentors of the institution are market experts and business practitioners of UFuture, UNIT.City innovation park, UDP development company, Biopharma innovative pharmaceutical company, ITernal group of IT companies and an ecosystem of tech solutions, Lean Institute Ukraine, and “Superludi”.
“Nine out of ten businesses in Ukraine are closed during the first year of existence. Not because of external reasons, but because of the lack of knowledge. We’ve collected the necessary knowledge and will help to apply it in business,” Vlad Nozdrachev, partner of UNIT School of Business, Founder and Project Manager of “Superludi”, said.
UNIT School of Business is a part of UNIT ecosystem which includes, in particular, Ugrow (a closed community of entrepreneurs with regular events, group coaching and mentoring support, access to which is available to students of UNIT School of Business), INDAX accelerator (helps to build production, including investments), Sector X accelerator (finds clients and partners in IT field and helps businesses enter the western market).
The open day at UNIT School of Business will start on October 10 at 16:00. The program of the event includes speeches by representatives of the business school and Ugrow, informal communication with graduates of SME School. The first 100 people who register at https://forms.gle/nGUDtomazJ3B7KXL7 will be able to take part in the open day.
The launch of the new curriculum of UNIT School of Business will take place on October 21.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
UFuture is a holding company of Ukrainian entrepreneur Vasyl Khmelnytsky that integrates his business and impact-investment projects. The company has a diversified portfolio of assets in the fields of real estate, infrastructure, industry, renewable energy, pharmaceuticals, and IT. Currently, UFuture’s assets are estimated at $550 million, and the total capitalization of the businesses it invested in is more than $1 billion. UFuture is a majority shareholder in UDP development company (specializing in large infrastructure projects), Kyiv Sikorsky International Airport (the second international airport in Ukraine by passenger traffic), national operator of outdoor advertising RTM-Ukraine, and a group of IT companies and an ecosystem of tech solutions ITernal. UFuture is a strategic investor in the pharmaceutical company Biopharma and UDP Renewables, renewable energy investment and development company. UFuture is also developing new business projects including UNIT.City innovation parks in Kyiv and Kharkiv, LvivTech.City in Lviv; Bila Tserkva industrial park and a manufacturer of modern electrotechnical systems, Plank Electrotechnic. UFuture supports social projects in the fields of education and economics, including the Kyiv International Economic Forum (KIEF), Lean Institute Ukraine, UNIT School of Business, UNIT Factory innovative IT-schools in Kyiv and Kharkiv, Secondary education institution Novopecherska School, the all-Ukrainian online platform iLearn, and others.

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FOUNDER OF UFUTURE VASYL KHMELNYTSKY APPOINTES FRENCHMAN DOMINIQUE PIOTET TO BE DIRECTOR GENERAL OF UNIT.CITY

Founder of UFuture Investment Group Vasyl Khmelnytsky has appointed Frenchman Dominique Piotet to be Director General of UNIT.City innovation park, reads a press announcement from the company. Following the report, Khmelnytsky will inform about the plans for the development of the innovation park and changes in its management structure together with UNIT.City managing partners, Maksym Yakover and Maksym Bakhmatov, along with new CEO Dominique Piotet.
As reported, UFuture plans within 2019 to increase the investments into various businesses by 20%, up to $60 million.
UNIT.City was officially opened in April 2017 in the territory of the former Kyiv Motorcycle Plant. The co-working space Chasopys-UNIT, the IT school UNIT Factory, three laboratories, a business campus, a foundation and five accelerators are located in its territory.

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UFUTURE AND INSOFT PARTNERS COOPERATE IN IT OUTSOURCING

Investment companies UFuture and InSoft Partners signed an agreement on strategic partnership in the IT industry and founded InSoft Software, a joint company that will specialize in IT outsourcing, the press service of UFuture has reported.
InSoft Software will develop software on a turnkey basis and provide software consultancy services.
“Today, InSoft Software is a majority shareholder in IT companies Lenal and Rozdoum, which it plans to expand rapidly through the development of a new marketing strategy and a series of international roadshows,” the investor said.
According to the report, the InSoft Software team has many years of experience working with tech giants like Ericsson, Telcordia, Chrysler, Samsung, DiGi, Avid, and BNP Paribas Group.
InSoft Partners will be responsible for market research and acquisition of IT companies, their subsequent consolidation, and strategic management and development.
In turn, UFuture will use its international relationship map to build new strategic partnerships and contribute to the organic growth of the business.
“The pace of Ukraine’s IT industry development is staggering. It has been demonstrating annual growth of 20-26% for quite a long time. These are billions in revenue. I am convinced that InSoft Software enters the market in time and will become one of the major players thoroughly contributing to the development of innovation and creative economy of our country,” the founder of UFuture, Vasyl Khmelnytsky, said.
The investment fund said that Ukraine has a very good reputation in the global IT community. More than 170,000 Ukrainian IT specialists work in startups and large companies around the world.
“Many well-known and ambitious brands, such as Grammarly, MacPaw, Readdle, PetCube, GitLab, People.AI, are the brainchildren of Ukrainian developers. More than 110 R&D centers owned by such leading international corporations as Microsoft, SnapChat, Samsung, ABBYY, have offices in Ukrainian cities,” UFuture said.
“We continue to see a great demand for software development services and we know how to transform the classic software development outsourcing model to get a margin that is significantly higher than the market average,” InSoft Partners Managing Parter Vitaly Gorovoy said.
UFuture unites companies and social projects of Khmelnytsky. The group includes the Bila Tserkva industrial park, the UDP development company, the Sikorsky Kyiv International Airport, outdoor advertising operator RTM-Ukraine, as well as innovative businesses: UDP Renewables (creates and develops photovoltaic power plants under its control), the pharmaceutical company Biopharma, innovative parks UNIT.City and LvivTech.City.
InSoft Partners is an investment managing company that invests in IT business and provides M&A advisory services. Among the company’s counterparties are the famous American investment fund, Oak Tree Capital Management, and FinPoint/Rothschild&Co. The first joint IT project of InSoft Partners and UNIT.City was X.Teams career center.

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VASYL KHMELNYTSKY’S UFUTURE PLANS TO INCREASE INVESTMENT BY 20% IN 2019

The UFuture investment group of Ukrainian businessman Vasyl Khmelnytsky plans to increase investment in various businesses by 20% in 2019, to $60 million.
“Last year, the UFuture group invested almost $50 million in various businesses. In 2019, we plan to invest another $60 million. If we talk about investments only in impact projects, I estimate the total amount, taking into account capital investments, to be more than $50 million,” Khmelnytsky said in an interview with the Top 100. Rating of the Largest magazine.
He said on his Facebook page that in September this year, UFuture will open a new campus on the territory of the UNIT.City innovation park (Kyiv).
“At UNIT.City, everything is in line with the schedule. In September, a new campus and an art facility [will appear],” he wrote.
As reported, in January 2019, UFuture in partnership with KAN Development on Wednesday took part in the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the third campus – a new six-story B12 business center with a gross area of 16,900 square meters – in the UNIT.City innovation park (Kyiv).
In February 2019, Khmelnytsky said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine that the first phase of LvivTech.City is scheduled for opening at the end of 2019.
He said that the first Lviv campus will combine office and commercial sections (cafes and restaurants). The office space will be 9,500 square meters, commercial – 3,000 square meters.
UFuture unites companies and social projects of Khmelnytsky. The group includes the Bila Tserkva industrial park, the UDP development company, the Sikorsky Kyiv International Airport, outdoor advertising operator RTM-Ukraine, as well as innovative businesses: UDP Renewables (creates and develops photovoltaic power plants under its control), the pharmaceutical company Biopharma, innovative parks UNIT.City and LvivTech.City.

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