| Investments in Ukraine |
Ukrainian venture fund WildField Ventures has invested about $750,000 in two DefTech startups at the pre-seed and seed stages. The fund's partner, Maksym Zubenko, said this in an interview with AIN.
In brief: Strong leaders helped Ukraine survive. Strong parties will help its democracy last. As reconstruction moves beyond roads and power grids, party-building deserves its place too: organisations that can produce new leaders, survive defeats and outlive their founders.
In Vinnytsia Oblast, procurements of emergency power sources worth UAH 126.5 million were canceled or did not take place due to the absence of participants. In Kharkiv Oblast, the supply of equipment is complicated by proximity to the front line.
In brief: Democrats in the US Congress are preparing a new military aid package for Ukraine worth approximately $15 billion while seeking emergency power grid funding via the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
The valuation of a foreign Defense Tech startup can be five times higher than that of a Ukrainian company with similar technology, said Maksym Zubenko, a partner at WildField Ventures, in an interview with AIN.
Over the past four weeks, the Ukrainian fund WildField Ventures has received about 40 applications from Defense Tech startups, says the fund's partner and Chief Growth Officer of Dwarf Engineering, Maksym Zubenko. "80% do not meet the fund's investment strategy and will receive a rejection," he adds.
Ukraine is gradually changing the structure of its energy system due to the risk of new Russian attacks.
In brief: The Norwegian government has announced an allocation of 500 million Norwegian kroner ($54 million) through the World Bank to finance Ukraine’s state budget for early 2027. The funding will cover salaries for teachers and healthcare workers, state pensions, and social payments.
In brief: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is seeking at least €500 million ($545 million) to repair the New Safe Confinement at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant after a Russian drone strike punctured its protective arch.
Business provides 70% of the fund's revenues, Andriy Shuvalov, CEO of the fund, said in an interview with AIN. "In 2022, a significant portion of donations came from individuals, but now the main source of funding is business," he says.