Webinar
Ukraine's Startup Ecosystem: A roundtable discussion
Join Ron Levin, Managing Partner of the AV Seed Fund, and Senior Associate Bozhena Kulchyckyj — alongside special guest founders and investors from Ukraine’s ecosystem — for a roundtable on why Ukraine’s startup landscape hasn’t just adapted through war but accelerated, producing world-class engineers, deep-tech unicorns, and one of the most consequential venture opportunities forming outside Silicon Valley today.
In this session, Ron and Bozhena will host a candid conversation with Ukrainian founders and investors on how the war has reshaped one of the world’s most technical ecosystems — from a legacy of 300K+ tech specialists and $6.45B in annual IT exports, to a new generation of unicorns like Preply, UForce, and Swarmer (the first Ukrainian defense tech company on Nasdaq), to landmark public listings from Firefly Aerospace and Kyivstar. The panel will walk through the three shifts defining today’s Ukrainian venture landscape — startups going global from day one, government and ecosystem support through Diia City and the Ukrainian Startup Fund, and a venture market where AI captured $302M in 2025 and DefenseTech funding has grown 20x+ over two years.
Whether you’re an accredited investor evaluating emerging venture geographies for the first time, or a current Alumni Ventures member sharpening your view of AI, defense, and dual-use categories, this session will give you a grounded, practitioner-focused look at why Ukraine is functioning as a live lab for the emerging technologies reshaping global venture. Register to hear directly from the founders and investors on the ground — and bring your questions to the live Q&A.
Want to access our AV Seed Fund startup deals to see, evaluate, and optionally invest? No cost, no commitment.
Why Attend?
- HomeDiscover why Ukraine's startup ecosystem is producing world-class deep-tech unicorns and public listings — from Preply and UForce to Swarmer, Firefly Aerospace, and Kyivstar — while operating under active war
- HomeUnderstand the three shifts defining the Ukrainian venture landscape today: startups going global from day one, government and ecosystem support at scale, and a venture market where AI and DefenseTech are the fastest-growing categories
- HomeHear directly from Ukrainian founders and investors on why the country has become a live lab for emerging tech — with shorter feedback loops, harder testing conditions, and iteration at wartime speed
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About your presenters
Overview:
Ron brings a dynamic blend of operational leadership, global business acumen, and values-driven investing to early-stage venture capital. As Managing Partner and Head of the AV Seed Fund at Alumni Ventures, he leads investments in bold, frontier technologies that span sectors and geographies. Ron’s experience ranges from founding and scaling unicorn-status startups to guiding impact-focused portfolios that generate both financial and societal returns.
Before joining Alumni Ventures in 2019, Ron served on the Investment Committee at Yard Ventures, AV’s fund for the Harvard community. His own entrepreneurial journey includes co-founding and leading TravelPerk, an enterprise travel management platform that reached multibillion-dollar valuation and global scale. Prior to that, he launched the B2B division of Booking.com and held strategic roles at McKinsey & Co., US Airways, the Maersk Group, and Lycos.
Ron studied entrepreneurship at Babson College and earned his MBA from Harvard Business School. A frequent speaker at global investor conferences and guest on top VC podcasts, he is also a passionate world traveler—having visited over 140 countries and all 50 U.S. states. He resides near Boston with his wife and three young children, and shares personal reflections and industry insights at ronlevin.substack.com.
Funds Actively Worked On:
- Seed Fund
- Yard Ventures
Investment Areas of Focus:
Ron’s investment strategy is grounded in the belief that moonshot ideas—when coupled with great execution—can generate asymmetric outcomes. He gravitates toward founders solving global-scale problems through advanced technology, with a particular interest in sectors such as:
- Enterprise software
- Fintech and edtech
- Life sciences and healthtech
- Clean energy and sustainability
- Space and advanced computing
He is especially drawn to companies that combine technical rigor with mission-driven ambition—ventures that challenge the status quo and improve lives across the economic spectrum.
His impact-focused philosophy is captured in his book, Higher Purpose Venture Capital, which highlights startups tackling root causes and symptoms of social and wealth inequality. Ron’s notable investments aligned with this “double bottom line” thesis include:
- Aprende Institute, empowering upskilling in underserved communities (edtech)
- Fido, extending digital identity and financial access in emerging markets (fintech)
- HopSkipDrive, transforming student and senior transportation (mobility) Provenance, enabling traceability and transparency in supply chains (cleantech)
- Surge Therapeutics, developing innovative cancer immunotherapies (biotech)
These companies reflect Ron’s broader vision: to support transformational technologies that deliver extraordinary outcomes—for both investors and the world.
Bozhena Kulchyckyj is a Senior Associate at Alumni Ventures on the Seed Investment team, where she supports venture investments across all sectors, with a focus on consumer, e-commerce, and emerging infrastructure themes. Earlier in her career, Bozhena worked at General Catalyst, True Ventures, and Sorenson Ventures, spending time across early-stage investments. She previously co-chaired and served as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Boston College’s Shea Center for Entrepreneurship, where she ran the university’s entrepreneurial ecosystem — managing the venture competition and student investment program, leading accelerator and founder programming, and bringing in operators and investors across the broader venture network.
In addition to venture and ecosystem building, Bozhena has led design, operations, and growth initiatives at several early-stage startups. She also spent a year working in Western Ukraine and Eastern Poland, supporting humanitarian aid deployment and philanthropic fundraising efforts.
Bozhena holds a Bachelor of Science from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College, where she majored in Information Systems, Business Analytics, and Studio Art. She combines a passion for product and design with a deep interest in AI-driven technologies and the next generation of builders.