Ukrainian startups and officials have descended on Lisbon this week to Europe’s largest tech conference, seeking investment and exposure for their country’s IT sector even as the war with Russia rages at home.
(Bloomberg) — Ukrainian startups and officials have descended on Lisbon this week to Europe’s largest tech conference, seeking investment and exposure for their country’s IT sector even as the war with Russia rages at home.
“Technology can destroy and murder, but it can also be a saving grace,” Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on the sidelines of the annual Web Summit conference.
Ukraine’s tech sector has grown this year despite the war, now in its ninth month. The government estimates the IT industry represents about 10% of the country’s economy, which is forecast to shrink by about a third in 2022.
Minister for Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov shared a stage at the event with Microsoft Corp. Vice Chair and President Brad Smith, who said the US tech giant will provide Ukraine with support worth $100 million next year, bringing the total to over $400 million since the invasion.
“There’s a real digital alliance supporting the people and the government of Ukraine,” Smith said in an interview. “When it comes to 2023, that digital alliance needs to continue to stand strong.”
Microsoft withdrew from Russia after the war started and has provided government agencies and other sectors in Ukraine access to its digital infrastructure, cybersecurity solutions and the Microsoft Cloud.
First Cyberwar
The aid comes in a conflict that has been called the first full-scale cyberwar, with both sides utilizing hackers who are sometimes not part of official structures. Fedorov said in a Telegram post Thursday that Ukrainian volunteers stole data from Russian central bank networks, a claim the regulator denied.
US and European Union officials have blamed Russia on cyberattacks that targeted the satellite company Viasat Inc., knocking out communications in much of Ukraine in the hours prior to Russia’s invasion. Microsoft research has also found suspected Russian hackers behind a series of digital assaults against Ukrainian targets.
Even as Ukraine has scored some successes pushing Russian occupying forces back, the Kremlin has unleashed heavy barrages of missiles on power and communications infrastructure in recent weeks, causing widespread blackouts and disrupting the tech sector’s efforts to project an air of normality.
“When you have a full-scale war in a country, it’s difficult to be successful,” said Kirill Bondar, the chief financial officer of Ukrainian startup hub Unit.city. “We’re just preparing our business for the time after victory.”
An IT Ukraine Association poll found 61% of tech professionals were forced to relocate due to the war, with 14% moving abroad. The survey found that most plan to return to Ukraine when the fighting ends.
When they do, they’ll find a higher-profile industry transformed by the war into one of the drivers of the Ukrainian economy, according to Victoria Repa, the founder of health tech app BetterMe.
“We aren’t like founders in the US or Europe who can can easily go to capital markets,” said Repa. “Now we have the awareness that we deserved previously.”
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