Can investment and green innovation take place during the war? – Ukrainian companies at GreenBiznessTalk
The premiere edition of GreenBiznessTalk, hosted by Greencubator on June 29 as part of the Climate Innovation Vouchers project (CIV), explored the possibilities of investments, wartime business, and opportunities.
The series of video discussions kicked off with two champions of the green startup sector who, despite the challenges, persist in their work and progress: Bohdan Baiovsky from Mondial Solutions and Serhiy Sereda from Dominion. Both companies recently secured a combined total of over $2 million in investments and grants. During the online broadcast, they shared their strategies for achieving this.
Here are the key highlights from the conversation:
The second round of investments will be held with American investors
Mondial Solution’s company Prengi automates service business processes for real estate objects, in particular, Prengi online service allows you to manage maintenance processes at a large enterprise, housing stock, etc. The company used a grant from the Climate Innovation Vouchers (CIV) project for energy management expertise, in particular at Ukrposhta. Prengi service users include both Ukrainian companies (Mac Paw Property, Zhytlobudinvest, Dragon Capital, KFC, NOVUS, Ukrposhta, Velmart) and foreign companies (NUVIA dental, The City of Hollywood, Lutheran Service).
“Before the war, we had only a few days left to sign a contract with investors for a large amount. But the war made its adjustments, and we focused on supporting our existing clients in Ukraine and finalising the functionality. At the same time, we saw an opportunity to enter the American market. We began to carefully study the volume, the available available players, and ways to capture its share. They formed a new team and strategy, developed a business plan, and went to investment funds. The first thing the team faced was that the whole world supported Ukraine at that time, but investors did not want to cooperate with Ukrainian companies because of the high risk,”— recalls Bohdan Baiovsky, executive director at Mondial Solutions.
“Our next steps include the second round of investments, active work on the American market, and attracting customers. We need to show stable growth. The second round will be with American investors.”
The pilot pipeline for the underground delivery of goods in London
Dominion’s Company PIPES.one developed a mobile factory for the production of polymer pipelines on construction sites, they currently sell both polymer products and equipment. Due to the Voucher from the CIV project, the company received European (DIN) and Ukrainian certifications. Dominion attracted a grant from Horizon Europe for about 1,500,000 euros, and also implements projects of other donors. Serhiy Sereda is an ambassador of the European Innovation Council (EIC), which recently announced a grant of 20 million euros to support the innovative community of Ukraine.
At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, several engineers from the Dominion team went to the Armed Forces, and some of the female workers went abroad.
“By February 24, we planned to enter the international market and offered global players to come to Ukraine and see our technology. The presentation was scheduled for February 28, 2022. But all plans changed… Our production was in Vyshgorod, we saw all the events in Gostomel from the office window… Even after the de-occupation, we joined the restoration of sewage and water management in Gostomel. We volunteered as much as we could. My team and I moved to a safer place. Now we have launched a line that produces the profile we need for the production of pipes in a mobile workshop. We hope to have a full production cycle in Ukraine,” — recalls Serhii Sereda, co-founder of the Dominion company.
For many companies, the war became an extremely serious test of strength, but for some, it also became an impetus for a quick enter to international markets.
“We worked more in Ukraine, of course, we planned to enter the international markets, but we constantly postponed it, and the war became an impetus for entering the international market, for obtaining investments for work,” Serhii Sereda notes.
Currently, the company is working on a pilot project with a startup from Great Britain. We are talking about underground delivery of online orders by pipes in London with a meter tunnel and a standard polymer pipe. This can replace them with 40,000 trucks per week.
The new wave of the Climate Innovation Vouchers competition will commence on July 20, 2023. For more information about grants and winners, please visit the website.
To register for the new wave of the Climate Innovation Vouchers, click the link.
