Sigma Software Labs Co-organized Startup World Cup 2024 in Ukraine

The national competition winner, Spendbase.co, is a platform that optimizes SaaS, Cloud, and Corporate card spending, saving mid-sized companies up to 35% annually by identifying duplicated subscriptions and unused licenses. Spendbase.co will now represent Ukraine at the Grand Final of the Startup World Cup in San Francisco, where it will compete for a $1 million investment prize.

The Startup World Cup is a prestigious series of conferences and competitions for startups organized by Pegasus Tech Ventures. The initiative spans over 75 regional competitions in more than 20 countries, culminating in the Grand Final in Silicon Valley. The best startups from each region will gather in the United States to vie for the grand prize of $1 million in funding. The 2024 Grand Finals will take place from October 2-4 at the Hilton Union Square in San Francisco, California.

Startup World Cup 2024: Ukrainian Edition

The Ukrainian stage of the Startup World Cup 2024 was organized by our corporate VC arm Sigma Software Labs together with EIT Community RIS Hub in Ukraine, with the support of the Ministry of Digital Transformation. The national contest featured two distinct tracks: Established Startups could apply directly to the final competition, while the Rising Stars participated in the UNICORN acceleration program by Sigma Software Labs.

This program included intensive mentoring sessions and opportunities for startups to present their ideas to technical specialists and startup development experts, including:

• Jeff Cabili — Stanford Continuing Studies Instructor in Communication
• Christian Bjerre Nielsen — Business Expert from Copenhagen
• Mike Sapiton — Comms Pro at SID Venture Partners
• Kateryna Pastoshchuk — Growth Expert at Uklon
• Julia Kravchuk 🇺🇦 — Comms Guru at Mono, ex-Reface
• Andrii Kravchenko — Product Design Lead at Revolut
• Sergiy Potapov — PM Expert, UCU Business School (LvBS) and Director of organizational development at IT Specialist
• Alex Sabov — UI Engineer at Netflix

The final of the Ukrainian stage took place on September 4 at the Parkovy Exhibition and Convention Center and attracted over 150 guests. The event featured the top 15 teams: nine from the UNICORN track and six Established Startups.

In the finals, they presented their pitches to the professional jury that brought together a ton of experience and industry know-how to pick the best of the best:

• Daria Yaniieva, PhD — Investment Director at Sigma Software Labs
• Dmytro Vartanian — CFO at Sigma Software Group, General Managing Partner at SID Venture Partners
• Kateryna Dehtyar — Vacuum Deep Tech Acceleration Program Director
• Roman Cherepakha — Investment Director at Horizon Capital
• Nataliia Petrova — CEO at StrategEast
• Mykhailo Khaletskyi — Founder at Polish-Ukrainian Startup Bridge

The winning team was Spendbase.co, which will represent Ukraine at the global Grand Finals in San Francisco October 2-4.

SID Venture Partners, a partner of the Ukrainian stage of the Startup World Cup, will sponsor the winners’ travel and accommodation in the United States.

In addition to Spendbase, three teams that performed best at the UNICORN track demo day on August 29 were also awarded. The prizes went to:

• 1st Place: PEONY — $3,000, single-use eco-pads that decompose in water when flushed in the toilet
• 2nd Place: Codes — $1,000, an innovative marketplace that offers pre-vetted remote developers to accelerate team scaling and project development
• 3rd Place: CoSupport.ai — $1,000, a solution that enhances customer support and empowers businesses with data-driven insights.

Daria Yaniieva, Investment Director at Sigma Software Labs, commented, “At Sigma Software Labs, we see great potential in developing a community of product companies around us. That’s why, for eight years in a row, we have been the main drivers of the all-Ukrainian startup competition, which in 2023 transformed into the UNICORN program, providing a great start for young tech teams through mentorship and grant support. Through our corporate venture Sigma Software Labs, we do not just invest in early-stage ideas — we integrate them into the technological solutions that Sigma Software provides to clients worldwide. Creating a unique synergy between products and services allows us to significantly reduce time-to-market, optimize budgets for MVP development, and deliver innovative solutions to our clients that exceed expectations. We believe that supporting startups and integrating them into our processes is the key to creating a future where innovation is the key to success.”

Valery Krasovsky, CEO of Sigma Software Group, added, “With 20 years of experience in IT consulting and developing our own products, Sigma Software effectively collaborates with startups. Our technologies and products enable them to quickly deploy top-tier IT solutions for their customers, without needing to build everything from scratch. We leverage the synergy of the entire Sigma Software Group’s ecosystem of technologies and products. Our expertise in MVP development and product scaling helps startups manage their investments wisely and navigate the challenging ‘Death Valley’ phase.”

About Sigma Software Labs

Sigma Software Labs is the corporate VC arm of Sigma Software, one of the TOP 100 Global IT Outsourcing companies. Managing a portfolio of $2.2 invested in 20 companies, and recognized as one of the most active investors in Ukraine during the full-scale war. The investment strategy focuses on being an active partner to startups, providing more than just funding — offering B2B connections, fundraising opportunities, and access to Sigma Software Group’s extensive infrastructure and resources. Developing a product portfolio within an IT company helps create Product & Service businesses and deliver more effective solutions to clients worldwide.