Startup

Karina Karaga, a seasoned designer and neuroscience, who has worked at Apple and IBM, is originally from Bulgaria. In 2022, she decided to move to Kyiv to volunteer there, and later, despite the full-scale war, she moved to the Ukrainian capital altogether. Together with her partner, certified coach Radinella Dimitrakova, Karina runs a startup called Vodar, which is developing a platform to help sports coaches effectively teach mental skills, even without prior psychology experience. Karina told dev.ua how she decided to choose Ukraine as her place of residence during a full-scale invasion, how she manages to develop a startup in such conditions, how Vodar helps tennis players around the world, and what special program with free access is planned for Ukrainian tennis coaches and athletes to support their talent and resilience.

The war has become one of the biggest challenges for Ukrainian businesses, especially the startup ecosystem. Despite economic instability, risks for investors, and global uncertainty, Ukrainian technology companies continue to be born and grow, attract funding, and enter global markets.

Three Ukrainians founded a startup in six months that solves the problem of thousands of restaurants with a digital solution that is still missing in Ukraine. The startups told dev.ua how Omni automates the entire ordering process between a restaurant and a supplier, and when the solution will be available.

Ukrainian startup Ultra-botics, which develops software in the field of non-destructive testing for hardware, plans to launch its first project together with Ukrzaliznytsia this summer. dev.ua spoke with Ultra-botics founder Serhiy Brandis and learned more about the product and how it can be used in the defense tech industry.

The Ukrainian founders of the British startup Aegiq, a country that, according to the founder of the startup Maksym Sich, was the first to launch a national quantum strategy, received $4.8 million in investment almost on the eve of a full-scale war to develop a new generation of quantum communications and computing. Almost three years later, the startupers presented the Artemis quantum computer, which they developed themselves. What else is known about the development of the project?

The American company Colossal Biosciences claims to have revived the extinct wolf species Aenocyon dirus, which American science fiction writer George R.R. Martin used as a prototype for his direwolves in the book saga «Game of Thrones». How Colossal Biosciences managed to bring back dire wolves and why scientists are skeptical of the startup’s loud claims.

AI Engineer and Frontend Developer from Kyiv Serhiy Sidletsky created a pet project PYTAI in a week and a half, which will help improve English and conduct a virtual interview with AI on any topic. The idea came while taking a master class with Vapi. The IT guy spent only 78 UAH on the development and about 25 hours of his own time in total.