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From Corporate IT to Defense Applications to Venture Capitalism: Bohdan Kupych’s 24 Years in Independent Ukraine

Oct 4, 2016 | Newpathway, Ukraine, Featured, Business

New Pathway.

Bohdan Kupych was amongst the first Canadian pioneers who made their way into Ukraine’s business in the early 1990s. Since 1992, Bohdan has worked in the IT and telecom sectors in Ukraine. His story deserves to be told because it encompasses all the stages of this sector’s development and some of the most notable companies who have become symbols of the new Ukraine.

In Ukraine, Bohdan Kupych started as a country manager for the Canadian subsidiary of US based Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). While at DEC, Bohdan began co-operating with Yevhen Utkin as a local business partner who has now turned into his long-time business partner. Mr. Utkin’s company Kvazar-Micro at that time represented Intel in the former Soviet Union and was selling microchips and computer components. Kvazar-Micro later expanded into building computers, development of software, business consulting, implementation of large enterprise systems, etc., and Bohdan Kupych eventually joined it as a CEO in 2004.

In 1998, Bohdan became the chief marketing officer for the leading Ukrainian mobile operator, Ukraine Mobile Communications (UMC). Mr. Kupych says: “It was a fantastic experience because the mobile communication sector was something new for Ukraine and was booming.” In 2004, he became Kvazar-Micro’s CEO, as the company was partly sold to a large Russian holding company and became part of Sitronics, of which Yevhen Utkin became president and Bohdan Kupych became vice-president. In 2006, Sitronics had an IPO on the London Stock Exchange with a valuation of $2.3 billion and raised over $400 million to become the largest technology company in the former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe at the time. However, the Russian shareholders plans differed from those of the Ukrainian partners and the latter decided to return to Ukraine with the proceeds of the sale of the company and founded KM Core.

KM Core started investing in new technology projects, one of which was De Novo, the most successful data-centre in Ukraine, with minority shareholders Intel Capital and International Financial Corporation. KM Core provided seed capital to a half dozen start-up technology companies. Some of these have been spun off into the venture holding company “Borsch Ventures”. One of the prominent examples is UA.RPA, a defence and security technology company. Its name emulates DARPA, Defence and Research Project Agency in the US, and stands for Ukrainian Advanced Research and Projects Agency. UA.RPA was created in 2014 because of the war in East Ukraine Bohdan Kupych says: “people who went to fight in ATO and were coming back said that from the technology perspective, Ukraine is way behind Russia and can’t compete. Some of the volunteers started working with our software experts and created a tablet computer for artillery targeting and information system. We did it in three months. From that, we started working with other volunteers in projects with drones, 3-D mine detection, which is very new technology, and other defense related technologies. Ukrainians are very smart, they’re able to create new technologies that help in the ATO and have the potential for commercialization world-wide.”

Another Borsch Ventures start-up is called eFarmer that works in the area of precision and smart agriculture in Ukraine and all over the world. eFarmer helps farmers manage their medium and small farms. The company’s app, which does many things from tractor guidance to farm management, has been downloaded 50,000 times. Bohdan Kupych says: “We are looking to raise funds to invest in eFarmer, because, first of all, Ukraine has an urgent need to increase productivity. Today Ukraine has two positive things, IT and agro, and this project puts the two of them together. We are now helping Ukrainian entrepreneurs create start-up companies in smart agriculture. It’s a very broad field from software to sensors, to drones, to imaging, to laser technology. There has been a huge global move in the last couple of years in “ag-tech” or smart agriculture. Ukraine can be 2-3 times more productive in agriculture through technology.”

Bohdan Kupych also serves on the Supervisory Board of Ukrainian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association. Outsourcing is growing quickly in Ukraine but start-up development is hindered by the lack of access to financing. UVCA now has about 40 members and strives to create an ecosystem for technology start-ups in Ukraine. During the Canada-Ukraine Business Forum in June 2016, UVCA met with the Canadian Venture Capital Association. Earlier this year, the Association had a trip to Silicon Valley to participate in the Silicon Valley open doors event. Bohdan Kupych says: “There was a lot of interest, but Ukraine is not on the radar screen of international venture capital. We are trying to persuade the global venture capitalists that Ukraine is still a good place despite the war – there are a lot of smart people, a lot of IT development going on, and the ecosystem is slowly being built. It’s a good place to consider investing in.”

With all his achievements in the IT and technology sector, Bohdan Kupych is not an engineer or IT person by education. He studied Political Science and Soviet Studies at York University, and received an MBA from Athabasca University. He started his career by participating in the implementation of a large computer system at Toronto Star as an end user specialist. Bohdan says: “It was a fantastic learning experience. And it is non-stop learning even today, every day I spend hours learning. So I guess you could say that I’ve become very tech-savvy, as a business manager.”

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