Co-founder and CTO of the DonorUA platform, Oleksandr Krakovetsky, expressed disappointment at the rejection of the Google for Startups Ukraine Support Fund. According to him, this means that the startup has hit a «certain ceiling of possibilities».
Co-founder and CTO of the DonorUA platform, Oleksandr Krakovetsky, expressed disappointment at the rejection of the Google for Startups Ukraine Support Fund. According to him, this means that the startup has hit a «certain ceiling of possibilities».
Krakovetsky wrote about this on his Facebook.
«The day has come. Google has denied DonorUA a grant. Ironically, this happened on the eve of World Donor Day, where we play a significant role,» the platform’s co-founder noted. He added that he expected a rejection letter, which is why his post demonstrates a restrained and general reaction.
«I often hear that there are few startups in Ukraine (and even fewer that can be invested in). And even fewer are original, not hype, with global transformational goals. And I also often hear that Ukrainian startups (crossed out) startups with Ukrainian founders have received 100,500 million in investments abroad. Obviously, these two theses are somehow connected,» says Oleksandr Krakovetsky.
According to him, DonorUA has the most powerful CRM system in the field of donor recruitment in the world, which is completely developed by Ukrainians for Ukraine.
This is an automated blood donor recruitment and management system, developed to popularize the donor movement in Ukraine. It was founded in 2014 by Iryna Slavinska and Oleksandr Krakovetsky.
Using its own IT system, the platform recruits blood donors to meet the needs of hospitals and save the military. During its operation, it has attracted over 200,000 donors, who have helped over 8,000 patients.
In 2018, DonorUA reduced the time to find donors from 2-3 days to 20 minutes. In 2022, the platform received a recommendation from the Ministry of Health and concluded a memorandum of cooperation with the Ukrainian Transplant Coordination Center. In 2024, a memorandum was concluded with the Ministry of Health itself.
The service currently supports 22 blood centers.
Krakovetsky attached a screenshot of a letter from Google for Startups to his post.
«Thank you for applying to the Ukraine Startup Fund II. We greatly appreciate the effort you put into preparing your application. While we were very impressed with your profile and startup, we regret to inform you that after careful review, we will not be continuing your application to the Google Startup Fund in Ukraine. We received an extremely high volume of applications and unfortunately cannot accommodate all requests,» the message reads.
The Google Startup Fund in Ukraine provides non-equity grants and Google support to help Ukrainian startups sustain and grow their businesses, strengthen their communities, and lay the foundation for post-war economic recovery.
Following an initial $5 million fund allocated during 2022, Google announced the creation of a new $10 million fund for 2024 and 2025. As in the first fund, selected startups from Ukraine can receive grants of up to $100,000 in funding, as well as mentoring from Google, product support, and up to $350,000 in cloud service credits.
Oleksandr Krakovetsky noted that the refusal upset him, because Google’s initiative was declared as «assisting Ukrainian startups with impact», where the social component is key. According to the co-founder of «DonorUA», this refusal means that the startup «officially tried all the possibilities that were available to us» and came up against «a certain ceiling of possibilities».
«Now I will tell you at all lectures and presentations that your opportunities as a startup will end the moment you have your first customers and traction (remember Silicon Valley?). So either hype it, or fake it till you make it, or immediately dump it abroad», — Krakovetsky wrote.
He added that he believes that projects like DonorUA will be considered a priority and «the pride of the country,» rather than «conditional wrappers over ChatGPT.» Krakovetsky assured that the platform will continue to be developed «as long as there is such an opportunity.»
