Limited partners based in the United Kingdom Venrex and Samos Investments This week they are backing the launch of a new VC aimed primarily at investing in Ukrainian-led startups inside and outside the war-torn country. LPs are best known as early institutional investors in successful startup funds Seedcamp and Entrepreneur First.
1991 Ventures is the brainchild of Ukrainian brothers Denis and Viktor Gursky, who are best known for running incubation and acceleration programs within Ukraine.
The UK-based VC is launching a £15m ($18.8m) fund to invest in both Ukrainian and Central Eastern European (CEE) startup talent.
While some might say that investing in Ukrainian startups is crazy when the country is in the fight of its life against a brutal invasion from Russia, as we recently covered, two years after the invasion, startups in Ukraine are still to do well
The Gursky brothers have previously backed more than 200 startups between 2016 and 2024 through their Social Boost incubator and 1991 Accelerator.
Many of them were outside their hometown of Mariupol, which became famous after her heroic battle against Russia and from where her team managed to move to safety. Startups backed to date include legal tech startup AXDRAFT, European toll payment app eTolls and cyber security company Osavul.
In an interview, Denis Gursky, founding partner of 1991 Ventures, told me, “There is a wealth of untapped talent in Ukraine and Central and Eastern Europe… My brother, Viktor, and I want to create a high-quality pipeline of deals to this .”
He said the LP fund’s backers are “very interested in leveraging Eastern Europe and Ukraine in particular.”
Gursky also said: “It is very difficult for Ukrainian founders to tap into London. So we would like to provide them with upfront or seed funding so that they can … access larger rounds in the future and understand how the UK can be a springboard for global funding.”
But 1991 Venture won’t be the only Ukrainian-born fund vying for the attention of its founding brothers.
There is also a Ukrainian VC fund Roosh Ventureswhich previously backed Reface AI, a face-swapping app with more than 250 million downloads, and Deel, a payroll solution that allows companies to pay people in 150+ countries.
Additionally, SID Venture Partners released by the co-founders of outsourcing companies Sigma Software and IdeaSoft and the Datrics product.
SMRK — started in 2013 by MacPaw founder Oleksandr Kosovan and Andrii Dovzhenko — has invested in Osavul, Deus Robotics, Aspichi and Prengi.
Then there is Flyer One Ventureswhich has supported Vochi, Allset and PromoRepublic among others.
After all, TA Ventures is probably the best-known and most active Ukrainian VC internationally, led by the almost ubiquitous Victoria Tigipko.
It has invested in more than 200 startups, including 15 Ukrainian ones, and made 42 exits, according to Crunchbase.
Many of the technology companies that Ukraine will produce in the coming years are likely to be either “dual-use” or defense-related. For example, almost 200 companies produced drones in Ukraine last year, from seven in 2022.
