FinTech in Ukraine: 10 Reasons to be Proud

Lately, Ukraine has seen an increasing number of new projects and companies which help simplify and streamline financial processes and improve customer service. Fintech startups identify sore business spots and then issue their own products to address those challenges.

This article aims to analyze the Ukrainian fintech market, review its peculiarities and pinpoint the most vivid and promising fintech projects by Ukrainian developers.

FinTech in Ukraine: Major Trends

The domestic Fintech market regularly welcomes new players, with overseas investors willingly investing in Ukrainian fintech projects. Besides, Ukraine annually hosts fintech industry conferences, including such events as UAFIN.TECH, FinRetail, Digital Lending, and Retail Development Business Summit, helping keep abreast of the latest fintech developments.

The Ukrainian Association for Fintech and Innovation Companies (UAFIC) which aims to foster the development of the domestic financial technology ecosystem, has published its 2019 Ukrainian fintech market survey. There are over 100 fintech projects in Ukraine now, with over 50% launched in the last 3 years. According to UAFIC, 20 more domestic fintech projects will be launched in 2020.

Around 43% of Ukrainian fintech undertakings operate in the international market, with 82% of companies based in Kyiv. Approximately 4 thousand persons are employed in the fintech industry, i.e. about 2.4% of the total Ukrainian IT workforce.

It’s not all about monobank: what are the other fintech highlights in Ukraine?

We have compiled a list of notable fintech startups so that you do not miss out on the new convenient services.

Top 10 New Fintech Startups in Ukraine:

    1. Sportbank

Have you noticed the growing popularity of sports over the last few years? Keeping up with the rapidly expanding sporting culture, IT company Dyvotech launched a dedicated mobile bank for active lifestyle fans in 2019 – sportsbank. Users paying with their sportsbank card get 10% cashback on the goods and services in the Sports category.

2. Todobank

Another mobile bank called todobank emerged in the Ukrainian market in late summer 2019. This neobank operates under a license of the domestic Megabank. todobank clients are granted access to a large variety of banking services, with all of them, including card issues, provided remotely. Convenient, isn’t it?

3. Pick&go

Looking to do quick and comfy supermarket shopping? The Ukrainian service Pick&go is then worth a glance. This is a great alternative to Google and ApplePay. Started in spring 2019, the Pick&go app can be used in the Walmart chain, enabling customers to scan products with their phones, edit the shopping list and then pay via the application. No more queues at checkout!

4. TurbaPay

Turbapay, a payment aggregator, is another 2019 newcomer in the Ukrainian fintech market. With Turbapay, merchants can easily identify optimum payment solutions and get advice from experts. Besides, the service helps payment service providers find new merchants meeting their requirements and capacities.

  5. Monopay

Monopay, a Ukrainian online platform, facilitates money transfers and online payments. It is notable that this is the only service enabling Intertelecom subscribers to pay for various services using their online account.

6. Riddletag

The face recognition technology is immensely popular nowadays. Ukrainian Riddletag is engaged in creating different products based on this technology. The startup also develops solutions for customer identification within loyalty programs and for identification in online services.

   7. LiteGo

The domestic startup LiteGo enables acceptance of immediate bitcoin payments from abroad at extremely low charges thanks to the Bitcoin Lightning Network technology. If you are thinking of accepting bitcoin payments directly on your website, you should definitely consider LiteGo. It’s easy, quick and safe.

  8. Digital HR

HR managers know how difficult it is to find suitable job applicants, and it often takes months to fill a vacancy. Digital HR service launched in 2019 helps tackle this problem. The application uses artificial intelligence to automate the candidate search and selection process.

  9. Lardansoft

The Ukrainian fintech company Lardansoft offers a range of business services. The startup focuses on business process automation, developing and implementing software for corporate solutions.

   10. Povertay

Tired of wasting time and effort on filling tax returns? Povertay service is exactly what you need. The program designed by Ukrainian developers last year enables online preparation of asset and income declarations. And there is also the option to get advice from a tax expert if you have any questions.

So, Ukrainian fintech companies mostly focus on financial self-services and retail: Ukraine ranks 4th globally in terms of utilization of contactless payment methods. Finance and asset management fintech services are also very popular with Ukrainians, meaning that the general public’s financial literacy is improving. Most financial services in Ukraine are already “digitized”, and this trend is expected to gain momentum in 2020.

Who is interested in Ukrainian fintech startups?

Domestic fintech projects are extremely appealing to foreign investors. They are willing to invest in Ukrainian fintech projects or even buy them out completely.

It became known in December 2019 that Snap, a German company, purchased the Ukrainian fintech startup AI Factory for $166 million. Launched in 2018, AI Factory had been developing a function that was integrated in Snapchat application following the deal. This function enables editing photos, converting them to video.

500 Startups, a US venture fund, and startup accelerator invests in technology startups in the early stages. The company offers an average check of $150 thousand in exchange for a 6% share. The accelerator has already invested in four Ukrainian startups, namely Talkable, YayPay, GitLab and KeenSystems.

From such deals, we can conclude that Ukrainian startups are insanely attractive. And no wonder! There are many smart, ambitious guys working in Ukraine who have a great desire to earn good money or start a business of their dreams.

I am convinced that today Ukraine and Ukrainian business are a very interesting object for foreign investment.