Barcelona-based Glovo, an on-demand platform, is all set to organise the annual PowerUp technology conference in partnership with the Ukrainian Startup Foundation (USF).
Scheduled for June 18 in Kyiv, the PowerUp tech conference is dedicated to boosting Ukraine’s economic recovery and aims to attract foreign investment in Ukrainian technology companies and startups.
The event comes at a significant time, underscoring Ukraine’s resilience and its talented professionals who have remained resilient through tough times.
The Mission
The PowerUp conference was initiated by Glovo to promote the idea of increasing foreign investment in Ukrainian startups.
It’s worth mentioning that Ukraine is one of Glovo’s biggest markets, and the company is operating in 37 cities across the country.
The conference’s goals are to empower the Ukrainian startup ecosystem and facilitate its scaling, attract foreign investors, and support Ukraine’s economic recovery.
“Ukraine is one of the largest markets for Glovo and, despite the war, continues to be one of our main countries for growth. We believe that investing and building a sustainable business is the best contribution to support the local economy and the more than 10,000 partner shops and restaurants, as well as the more than 70,000 couriers that have delivered with Glovo over the past six years across the 37 Ukrainian cities where we operate,” says Sacha Michaud, co-founder of Glovo.
“We see it as our responsibility to show other international companies that Ukraine is open for business. Despite the war, international companies should continue to invest to support innovation and the growth of great companies in the country,” adds Michaud.
Conference Highlights
The first part of the conference will start with three panels, bringing together leaders from Ukrainian tech companies such as Jooble, MacPaw, and Mate academy as well as institutions including the IT Ukraine Association, the EIT Community RIS Hub Ukraine, the Global Compact Network, and the venture funds Horizon Capital and Smok Ventures. Government representatives and industry experts will also join the discussions.
These panels will discuss:
- How to found a company and scale it from Ukraine
- Thriving through adversity: How running a company in Ukraine is still good business
- Why it is still good to invest in Ukrainian companies and empower talent
Glovo Startup Lab
The conference features a separate part known as the Glovo Startup Lab, an annual startup competition. For the second consecutive year, the Spanish company is organising this competition in partnership with the USF.
The top 10 tech startups selected within the competition will present their ventures to potential investors and key industry stakeholders on June 18, 2024, in Kyiv at the PowerUp Ukraine conference.
“The Ukrainian Startup Fund is delighted to continue our fruitful collaboration with Glovo and support Ukrainian entrepreneurs even in this difficult time”, says Yana Paladiieva, Head of Projects and Programs of the Ukrainian Startup Fund. “This year, our joint initiative has grown into the large-scale PowerUp conference, where 10 of the most powerful startups will have the opportunity to pitch their projects to investors and key industry players”, adds Yana. “We take pride in the resilience of Ukraine’s startup ecosystem and are grateful for the chance to host such a powerful event as PowerUp, which demonstrates the unbreakable spirit of the Ukrainian IT community”.
The jury will select three winners, each of whom will receive a financial award and a spot in a residency program at Glovo’s headquarters in Barcelona.
The competition winners will not only have the chance to work with Glovo’s teams and leadership but will also meet the winners of the startup competitions Glovo is hosting in Morocco, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.
The residency program also covers travel and accommodation costs.
The startup competition and PowerUp Ukraine conference are part of Glovo’s TechCatalyst program.
The goal is to support founders through networking, mentorship, and visibility-boosting measures, allowing them to thrive in the competitive tech industry.
Co-founder Sacha Michaud adds: “Being a tech company, it is important for us to function as a catalyst to up and coming startups. We believe we can help young startups grow and help accelerate the local tech scene, which is even more important now during these challenging times. This is what we want to emphasize through the Startup Lab competition and residency program that Glovo is organizing.”
In this article, we have listed the ten startups that have been selected for the conference.
HowCow
Founder/s: Volodymyr Shevchuk
HowCow has designed an AI-powered system to track cow health. The system uses a neck device and CRM, enabling real-time health and fertility monitoring. According to the company, it improves breeding efficiency and animal well-being, significantly increasing milk yields and reducing costs. It also helps farmers by solving various challenges.
What problem does it solve?
HOWCOW solves the problem of in-time fertilisation of cows. By providing real-time health and fertility data, the platform notifies about the best window of fertility, shows all health and behavior deviations, and reduces manual labor.
BARB
Founder/s: Arseniy Feshchenko, Vova Kubytskyi, Denys Tsyganok, Andrii Mima
Birb is an AI-powered rental agent, and mobile app revolutionizing long-term housing rental in Ukraine and the UK. Powered by AI, it offers unique aggregation tech and an advanced 3D city map unmatched by any similar app. The AI rental agent quickly finds a perfect apartment match. The Bird application has more than 800,000 installs and 133,000 monthly active users (MAU)
What problem does it solve?
The company addresses issues such as
- Speed – by helping individuals secure a rental quickly,
- Relevance – by utilizing AI to find the best-matching properties
- Aggregation – to simplify searching across multiple rental websites
- Mobility – by addressing the conservative rental market’s desktop-centric nature.
ToGether
CEO: Rostyslav Smirnov
ToGether is an online marketplace that offers a wide array of products and brands for both wholesale and retail purchases.
ToGether’s marketplace serves as a space for both buyers and sellers. It allows sellers to showcase their goods and increase sales volume while attracting a larger customer base.
The company aims to simplify and digitalise life processes for average Ukrainian consumers and entrepreneurs. Currently, the company claims to have over 50,000 registered users.
What problem does it solve?
The company offers solutions for both the B2B and B2C sectors, including an automated online store with comprehensive integrations, personalised advertising campaigns, tailored business development solutions, and personalised support using artificial intelligence and qualified specialists.
Uspacy
Founder/s: Dmytro Suslov, Kyrylo Melnychuk, Spartak Polishchuk, Volodymyr Pimakhov
Uspacy is an online service for small and medium-sized businesses that offers a digital workspace integrating communication, collaboration, and CRM. The platform includes a company messenger and social network, task management and group project work, and a full-featured CRM system for organizing sales and automating processes.
Uspacy is actively used daily by over 1,500 businesses, 240 of which are commercial users.
What problem does it solve?
According to Gartner and Forrester, 47 percent of employees struggle to find information to perform their work. Forty percent of employees have to use more than 11 applications, spending 2.5 hours daily searching for data. This Ukrainian company aims to solve these problems by unifying interfaces and user experiences, easing onboarding, and significantly reducing business management tool costs.
Bimp
CEO: Dmytro Obukhov
Bimp specialises in integrating and automating the exchange of data between companies and their suppliers.
The company’s solutions aim to improve coordination, reduce errors, and contribute to more efficient purchase, production, and logistics planning. At present, the company has 200 active users among trading companies.
What problem does it solve?
The company addresses the issues of supply chain inefficiencies due to limited integration and automation.
GetOrderBiz
CEO: Serg Chaika
GetOrderBiz has developed a restaurant management platform focused on optimising delivery operations. The company’s solution integrates with point-of-sale systems, streamlining the process of automated order and menu exchange with various food delivery platforms.
GetOrderBiz says this minimises the possibility of human error and empowers businesses to save valuable time, energy, and resources, resulting in increased customer satisfaction and profits.
GetOrderBiz works with 130 restaurant chains and 1,300 integrated locations in Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Poland, and Cyprus.
What problem does it solve?
The company eliminates the manual factor from the process of receiving and transferring orders from food delivery apps to POS systems.
Releaf Paper
Founder/s: Alexander Sobolenko and Valentyn Frechka
Releaf Paper specialises in the manufacture of sustainable paper solutions and packaging. The company creates packaging material by using fibers from fallen leaves.
Releaf Paper is produced from raw materials collected by public utilities in urban areas. As a result, the company not only disposes of waste but also processes it into incredibly sustainable paper and material for packaging manufacturing.
Releaf Paper has ten customers in Medium/Large businesses and 300 customers in small businesses (eCommerce sales).
What problem does it solve?
Releaf Paper resolves issues such as reducing CO2 emissions during packaging production and utilisation, disposing of urban green wastes, and decreasing deforestation.
3D UTU
The 3D UTU team has developed the first Ukrainian industrial 3D printer for construction, along with software to convert architectural projects into 3D printing formats. Their printer offers a cheaper and faster alternative to traditional construction methods.
Its advantages include faster construction, affordability, unique designs, reduced need for specialised labor, and easy transportability.
The company has already ordered patent research, upon completion of which, they will apply for several patents in Ukraine, Europe, and the USA.
What problem does it solve?
The main problem that the printer solves is the fast and very strong construction of any shapes and structures in a very short period. The technology also has applications in military, civilian, landscape, elite, coastal line reinforcement, and artificial reef construction.
Getpin
Founder/s: Volodymyr Leshchenko
Getpin is a tool that uses AI to help businesses increase sales by attracting nearby customers.
It works with popular Maps platforms like Google, Apple, Bing, and OpenStreet Maps, as well as social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
By analysing data using AI, Getpin identifies opportunities to improve online visibility and conversion rates.
Based on the data, the platform provides actionable insights for enhancing visibility and attracting more customers, all accessible within the Getpin dashboard.
Currently, the company manages about 40k business locations through its platform.
What problem does it solve?
The main problem that Getpin is solving is the high cost of managing disconnected digital touchpoints that create a poor customer experience.
Banani
Founder/s: Vlad Solomakha and Vova Parkhomchuk
Banani helps design user-friendly products faster. It generates a UI design from a short text description of the screen. Layouts use your product’s visual style and tone of voice for the content. Aside from generative UI, you can use a companion to brainstorm new hypotheses and find design references you like.
What problem does it solve?
Design is a time-consuming and multi-step process. The startup’s goal is to simplify and speed up this process. Banani wants to help more companies design user-friendly and beautiful-looking products.
Ukrainian Startup Fund: What is it?
Ukrainian Startup Fund (USF) is a government institution that supports innovative projects and tech startups in raising funds during the early stages and launching their projects.
The Fund promotes the development of the startup ecosystem, facilitates sector growth, boosts Ukraine’s tech industry’s investment image globally, and showcases Ukrainian innovation worldwide.
Glovo: What do you need to know?
Founded in 2015 by Oscar Pierre, and Sacha Michaud, Glovo connects customers with independent local couriers who acquire goods from restaurants, grocers and supermarkets, pharmacies, and high-street retail stores.
Based out of Barcelona, Glovo operates across 23 countries in Europe, Central Asia and Africa.
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Meet the 10 promising startups selected for Glovo Startup Lab