On Thursday, November 30, the Demo Day by Kyiv Tech Hub conference took place in Warsaw, organized by the Cooperation Fund Foundation as part of the Polish-Ukrainian Startup Bridge project. Since 2018, the event had been held in Kyiv, but due to Russian aggression, it gathered participants at the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) for the second consecutive year. Demo Day by Kyiv Tech Hub is a conference where Ukrainian startups present their projects on stage to Polish and international investors, accelerators, and other participants in the Polish and EU startup ecosystem. This year, ten startups were selected from among the participants of the 2023 Polish-Ukrainian Startup Bridge pre-acceleration program, and each received PLN 10,000 to develop their project.
The conference began with welcome remarks by Witold Wiliński, President of GPW Tech S.A.; Jadwiga Emilewicz, Secretary of State and Government Plenipotentiary for Polish-Ukrainian Cooperation (Ministry of Funds and Regional Policy); Oleksandr Romanishyn, Head of the Digitalization Department at the National Council for the Reconstruction of Ukraine; Dar’i Chayki, Head of the Economic Development and Innovation Department at the National Office for Intellectual Property and Innovation of Ukraine; and Łukasz Wawak, Head of the Polish-Ukrainian Startup Bridge.
The event also featured a panel discussion on “Ukraine’s Rebirth: How Can We Contribute to Building a Sustainable Startup Ecosystem for an Innovative Country?” The panel was moderated by Mike Khaletsky, Leading Expert on the Polish-Ukrainian Startup Bridge. Participants included Minister Jadwiga Emilewicz; Roman Nikitov, Co-Head of ICU Ventures; Vadym Melnyk, CEO of Dronehub; and Witold Wiliński, President of GPW Tech SA.
The 2023 Demo Day by Kyiv Tech Hub winners were:
1st Place – Spendbase: The startup received a cash prize of PLN 15,000 from the Cooperation Fund Foundation.
2nd Place – INPUT SOFT: The startup received a cash prize of PLN 10,000 from ICU Ventures. 1st Place – Pleso Therapy: The startup received a cash prize of PLN 5,000 from Capital Kinetics. In-kind Prize – AR Platform: The startup received a PLN 20,000 prize for marketing and product development services from DigiWay Media.
The Demo Day by Kyiv Tech Hub conference in Warsaw is a platform for promoting Ukrainian startups on a Polish and Central European scale, said Sofia Shcherbeniuk, Partnership Development Manager at Spendbase.
The winner was selected based on a jury evaluation, and the unique qualities of the winning teams played a significant role. Spendbase is a startup that has grown rapidly and professionally in an incredibly short time. INPUT SOFT implements true innovations in the highly conservative aviation market. Pleso Therapy is making an important contribution to the field of mental health. The prize winner, AR Platform, is also a solution with a positive impact, which has undergone significant changes during our collaboration,” said Łukasz Wawak, manager of the Polish-Ukrainian Startup Bridge.
More information about the project is available at https://www.startupbridge.eu/ and on social media channels.
