21 July 2017
On behalf of the UVCA members there were present at the meeting with the PM Volodymyr Groysman ─ the executive director of UVCA Olga Afanasyeva, founding partner of UVCA and the CEO of Horizon Capital Lenna Koszarny, and the chairman of UVCA supervisory board and managing partner of Aventures Capital Andrey Kolodyuk.
The agenda of the principal topics being discussed:
1. A proposal from UVCA to create a Fund of Funds in order to invest in the capital funds already present in the market or some newly established venture capital funds on a competitive basis to fuel more than 3 000 existing Ukrainian start-ups.
“The establishing of the Fund of Funds will help to attract investment funds from large international institutional investors into the Ukrainian investment ecosystem. This financial instrument has been used by almost all countries of Europe over the past 20 years and has already proved its success. In addition, it is appropriate and comprehensive tool for institutional investors whom the Association had negotiated with over the past year. They are potentially open and reveal interest for the project of the kind with the only condition that state authorities participate financially too, at least in lower amounts. In our part, the association and its members will make every effort to implement and put in practice the project of the Fund of Funds”, told Andrey Kolodyuk.
The implementation of the project must become an accelerator of the development of Ukrainian investment market increasing investment flows.
The PM supported the proposal to create the Fund of Funds. The head of government proposed to make an outline of the concept for the fund work combining its activity with the practices of the Innovation Council, subject to the official affirmative action in the nearest future. PM Volodymyr Groysman added that the discussion and approval of such a concept will allow the government to quickly work out the possibilities for the state to participate in the formation of the funds budget.
Lenna Koszarny, founding partner and the CEO of Horizon Capital:
“We are very happy today that Prime Minister Groysman is holding a meeting with representatives of UVCA, and that he has expressed his support for the implementation of the Fund of Funds for startups in order to support the investment ecosystem of Ukraine. UVCA is ready to become a partner in the efforts given how important it is for the startup ecosystem and for Ukraine as a whole. It is important that young and talented Ukrainian entrepreneurs, who have taken a stern decision to launching new companies, do have access to funds in their country. IT is not only some growing sector of the Ukrainian economy, but it also provides the potential for reexamining of how Ukraine is perceived globally in the era of digital transformation.”
2.Speaking on behalf of the association, Olga Afanasyeva invited the PM to become a head of the delegation from Ukraine at the consumer electronics tradeshow CES in Las Vegas in January 2018. To remind, Ukrainian section (sponsored by the UVCA and WNISEF) will be presented for the second time in the CES-2018. Apart from the tradeshow, a visit of Volodymyr Groysman to Silicon Valley was taken into account too, as the valley is traditionally considered as the ‘world center’ for the innovative economies and start-up industry. Afanasyeva accentuated at the fact that it could become the first official visit of PM Groysman to the Silicon Valley in the 25-year history of Ukraine considering that leaders of the most developed countries (Israel, Japan, France, Italy, etc.) paid their visits there in recent years too
3. The participants also discussed a visit of the PM and the representatives of the relevant ministries to the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos where the Ukrainian House will be organized in January 2018. Official support of such a project is an important signal for the international community about the state support of the countrys investment sector.
PM Volodymyr Groysman reacted positively to Silicon Valley and Davos proposals and took them to tasks.
4. Recent legal searches in the offices of investment companies and funds. As it is widely known, there have been searches of investment companies too during the last 2 years. Protection of investors’ rights must become one of the top priorities of the state policy. Investors’ businesses directly affect the image of Ukraine and consequently influence the inflow of investments for the local companies.
PM Volodymyr Groysman expressed his conviction that for Ukraine it is needed, “to create a closed ecosystem of support for investments and innovations". It will facilitate the development of technological innovations and introduce them in the economy. At the same time, it will remove the load up problems for investment development and pressure on business in particular. “Im not going to talk down the pressure on businesses. For me, this is a matter of principal”, told PM Volodymyr Groysman.
