Ukrainian PE & VC Summit 2025: Private Equity Panel Highlights

The biggest panel of the second Ukrainian PE & VC Summit was dedicated to Private Equity. Featuring Anna Zorya, Oksana Strashna, Przemysław Głębocki, Mark Kehaya, Roman Nikitov, Andrii Nosok, and Konstantin Magaletskyi, in today’s breakdown, we are going to uncover all the struggles the Ukrainian PE sector is experiencing.

Today, the Ukrainian funds or those with a Ukrainian focus are looking at IFIs and DFIs under the Ukraine Facility to fill their banks. Own capital is also an option if you have one.

The thing is, the requirements from DFIs and IFIs are the same as before 2022: very high. There are no discounts for Ukraine, because most of the institutions are banks that need to keep their AAA ratings.

The European Commission programmes are the main force for potential investments in the Ukrainian PE sector. There is a consensus that raising a blind fund for Ukraine is more than tricky, especially first-time ones because of LPs scrutiny. From the experience of some speakers who are fundraising, it’s tough to fill up even 10% of a new fund.

There is data that the majority of capital for Ukrainian projects—around 70%—is coming from export credit agencies. Not only do they have a long-term view on things, but even war is not an obstacle. The agencies use a turbulent time to build their presence.

The remaining 30% of the financing gap that the projects get is from investors elsewhere, like the US and Europe. There are still pockets of money over there, including family offices and wealthy individuals.

There is progress in comparison to last year, and the process of applying for financing has become more streamlined. Even so, the Ukrainian funds need to change their approaches, as they ask for the same cheques as European or US funds, for example. This puts them in the same line of strict requirements, which they are not able to fulfil.

To attract private financing, you should first get public one, as they are to endure risks private sector can’t. If you have public financing in, that’s a trigger.

What are the options? The first option might be to create a joint fund with Ukraine and other countries, like Poland, as it opens up new programmes available in the EU.

Next, simply turn to Ukrainian investors, as they have liquidity but no access across the border because of regulatory restrictions. For them, the only way to save the investments is through hard assets.

Also, depth financing is available. Banks in Ukraine have more liquidity than they can comprehend with reasonable rates. Meanwhile, a critical lack of equity for entrepreneurs remains.

The number of potential deals in Ukraine raises a debate among the speakers. Although usually perceived as a low number, the US investors have another opinion. In Ukraine, you should scout for projects more often on the ground.

They are, however, frequently lacking proper management and require homework to be done. At the initial state, most of such projects are nonbankable. But there is a big plus in terms of low competition.

The second Ukrainian PE & VC Summit was organised by UVCA in joint efforts with the Polish Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (PSIK), ICU Ventures, Google for Startups Warsaw and Rymarz Zdort Maruta. Technical partner — DreamX.