Ukrainian startups increasingly move their head offices outside the country and refrain from mentioning their Ukrainian origin, despite the fact that the majority of the team continues to work inside Ukraine. About this informs Forbes.
More than 90% of startups have already moved their headquarters abroad. The reason for this is the reluctance of investors to invest in a war-torn country, as well as the reluctance of clients to make transactions in a remote format.
“Early stage investments are already high-risk, and the added factor of war is often decisive. Teams hide origins so as not to scare off potential customers or investors.” — explains Andrii Tymovskyi, a partner of the Roosh Ventures venture capital fund.
Vitaliy Laptenok, managing partner of the Flyer One Ventures fund and co-founder of Genesis, confirms this trend:
“They used to open offices abroad when they were already making money, but now it’s been happening since the very beginning of the company.”
Nik Havrylyak, founder of Ukrainian AI startup Assisterr, believes that being from Ukraine often prompts funds to offer the lowest valuation. Ksenia Ilyuk, founder of information security startup LetsData, also described a similar experience.
According to a study by AVentures Capital, the volume of investments in Ukrainian startups is decreasing: in 2024 it amounted to $462 million, which is almost half as much as in 2021, when the amount exceeded $800 million.
Before the start of a full-scale war, the main reasons for moving companies abroad were transparency of financial processes, protection of investments and tax advantages. Today, investors face a new risk: limited mobility of managers or founders who cannot leave the country. Currently, the most common model has become the location of management or head office abroad, despite the fact that most employees work from Ukraine.
