U.Ok.-based restricted companions Venrex and Samos Investments are this week backing the launch of a brand new VC primarily geared toward investing in startups led by Ukrainians inside and outdoors the war-torn nation. The LPs are higher identified for being early institutional traders within the profitable early stage startup funds Seedcamp and Entrepreneur First.

1991 Ventures is the brainchild of Ukrainian brothers Denis and Viktor Gursky, who’re higher identified for working incubation and accelerator applications inside Ukraine.

The U.Ok.-based VC is launching with a £15 million ($18.8 million) fund to spend money on each Ukrainian and Central Japanese European (CEE) startup expertise.

Though some may say investing in Ukrainian startups is loopy when the nation is within the battle of its life in opposition to a brutal invasion by Russia, as we coated not too long ago, two years after the invasion, Ukrainian-born startups are nonetheless faring properly.

The Gursky brothers beforehand backed greater than 200 startups between 2016 and 2024, through their incubator Social Enhance and their 1991 Accelerator.

Lots of these have been out of their hometown of Mariupol, made well-known after its heroic battle in opposition to Russia and from the place its crew managed to relocate to security. Startups backed thus far embrace authorized tech startup AXDRAFT, European toll cost app eTolls and cybersecurity firm Osavul.

Over an interview Denis Gursky, founding accomplice of 1991 Ventures, advised me: “There’s a wealth of untapped expertise in Ukraine and Central and Japanese Europe… My brother, Viktor, and I wish to create a pipeline of high-quality dealflow to that.”

He mentioned the LP backers of the fund, “are very to faucet into Japanese European and Ukrainian particularly.”

Gursky additionally mentioned: “It’s very arduous for Ukrainian founders to faucet into London. So we want to present them with pre-seed or seed funding in order that they’ll… entry bigger rounds sooner or later and perceive how the U.Ok. could be a springboard to world funding.”

However 1991 Enterprise gained’t be the one Ukrainian-born fund vying for the eye of their brethren founders.

There may be additionally Ukrainian VC fund Roosh Ventures, which has beforehand backed Reface AI, a face swap app with 250 million-plus downloads, and Deel, a payroll answer that allows firms to pay individuals in 150+ nations.

Moreover, SID Enterprise Companions was launched by the co-founders of outsourcing firms Sigma Software program and IdeaSoft and the Datrics product.

SMRK — launched in 2013 by Oleksandr Kosovan, founding father of MacPaw, and Andrii Dovzhenko — has invested in Osavul, Deus Robotics, Aspichi and Prengi.

Then there may be Flyer One Ventures, which has backed Vochi, Allset and PromoRepublic, amongst others.

Lastly, TA Ventures is probably the perfect identified and most lively Ukrainian VC internationally, headed up by the almost-ubiquitous Viktoriya Tigipko.

It has invested in additional than 200 startups, together with 15 Ukrainian ones, and made 42 exits, in response to Crunchbase.

Lots of the tech firms Ukraine will produce within the forthcoming years are prone to be both “dual-use” or associated to protection. As an example, nearly 200 firms produced drones in Ukraine final yr, up from seven in 2022.