In Warsaw, four Ukrainian startups won awards during Demo Day by Kyiv Tech Hub

On Thursday, November 30, the Demo Day by Kyiv Tech Hub conference was held 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, for the second year in a row, the event gathered participants at the Warsaw Stock Exchange (GPW).

Demo Day by Kyiv Tech Hub is a conference during which Ukrainian startups present their projects on stage in front of Polish and international investors, accelerators, and other participants in the Polish and EU startup ecosystem. This year, ten startups were selected from the Polish-Ukrainian Startup Bridge pre-acceleration program in 2023, and each received PLN 10,000 from the project for development.

The conference began with a welcome speech by Mr. Witold Wiliński, President of GPW Tech SA; Mrs. Jadwiga Emilewicz, Secretary of State and Government Plenipotentiary for Polish-Ukrainian Development Cooperation (Ministry of Funds and Regional Policy); Oleksandr Romanishyn, head of digitalization at the National Council for the Reconstruction of Ukraine; Dar’i Chayki, head of the economic and innovation development department at the National Office of Intellectual Property and Innovation of Ukraine; and Łukasz Wawak, manager of Polish-Ukrainian Startup Bridge.

Also during the event, there was a panel discussion on „Reinventing Ukraine: How can we contribute to building a sustainable startup ecosystem for an innovative country?”. The panel was moderated by Mike Khaletsky, a Leading Expert on the Polish-Ukrainian Startup Bridge. Among the participants were Minister Jadwiga Emilewicz, Roman Nikitov, co-head of ICU Ventures; Vadym Melnyk, CEO of Dronehub; and President Witold Wiliński, GPW Tech SA.

In 2023, the winners of Demo Day by Kyiv Tech Hub 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.
  • 3rd place – Pleso Therapy: The startup received a cash prize of PLN 5,000 from Capital Kinetics.
  • Material prize – AR Platform: The startup received a prize of PLN 20,000 as part of marketing services and product development work from DigiWay Media.

Sofia Shcherbeniuk, Partnership Development Manager at Spendbase, mentioned, „The Demo Day by Kyiv Tech Hub conference in Warsaw is a place to promote Ukrainian startups on a Polish and Central European scale.”

„The winner was determined based on points from the jury’s assessment, with the unique features of the awarded teams being of great importance. Spendbase is a startup that has developed quickly and professionally in an incredibly short time. INPUT SOFT implements real innovations in a very conservative aviation market. Pleso Therapy provides a much-needed impact in the field of mental health. The winner of the material prize, the AR Platform, is also a solution with a positive impact, which has undergone significant changes during cooperation with us,” said Łukasz Wawak, head of Polish-Ukrainian Startup Bridge.