The special legal and tax regime "Diya.City" currently unites over 4,600 companies, and the residents involved in it cover 217,000 specialists. The fastest growing sector remains defense-tech, where the largest companies have attracted over $200 million in investments over the past year and a half.
The special legal and tax regime "Diya.City" currently unites over 4,600 companies, and the residents involved in it cover 217,000 specialists. The fastest growing sector remains defense-tech, where the largest companies have attracted over $200 million in investments over the past year and a half.
Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation Natalya Denikeeva spoke about the current state of the special regime, personnel structure, tax payment dynamics, and the industry multiplier in an interview with Ukrinform.
According to the official, the Ministry of Digital Affairs expected to reach the mark of 5,000 residents, but some companies dropped out according to the results of the annual reporting due to non-compliance with the criteria. Despite this, the weekly increase averages about 50 new companies, and the regime itself already covers approximately 80% of all technology companies in Ukraine.
A separate driver of development has been the direction of military technologies. Currently, about 500 defense-tech companies operate in the legal regime, of which more than 230 joined during the past year.
"Among the residents, about 500 are defense-tech companies, and they are the current growth champions. And the largest of these companies have attracted more than $200 million in investments for development over the past year and a half — this is something that is public and can be counted," noted Natalia Denikeeva.
The employment structure has also changed: out of 217,000 specialists employed by resident companies, the share of sole proprietors is less than 5%. Over 80% of specialists work under GIG contracts, employment contracts, or are officially registered as employees.
Tax payments by residents are growing faster than the number of companies themselves. Over the entire period of the space’s existence, residents have transferred over UAH 100 billion, of which UAH 39 billion in 8 months of this year. In addition, according to research by the Lviv IT Cluster, one IT professional creates 2.7 additional jobs, and the overall economic multiplier of the IT industry is 3.75 .
The Deputy Minister recalled that the basic residency criteria remain unchanged: at least 90% of income from qualified activities, an average salary of at least the equivalent of 1,200 euros, and a minimum of 9 employees for mature companies. For startups, there are no requirements for the number of employees, but the threshold of 1,200 euros is mandatory.
