The stories emanating from the war-torn country are now legendary … tales of sacrifice, heroism and valour … yet all the while as Ukrainian soldiers and militia fight – and sadly die – in many respects life goes on for the rest of the nation’s populace.

The Ukrainian National Soccer Team barely missed out on World Cup qualification; restaurants, cinemas, theatres and businesses in Kiev and other metropolitan communities are open for business; and 4,700 miles away, eight Ukrainian startups – all selected by the Ukrainian Technology Ecosystem – displayed their concepts and innovations at the Ukrainian Partner Startup Pavilion at the Collision Conference in downtown Toronto.

“We had 300 companies apply for the opportunity to exhibit at Collision,” said Delegation Chairperson Ievgenlia Bespalova. “Ultimately, we selected – and provided grants to – eight companies, all of which traveled here to Toronto to demonstrate the nature of Ukrainian technology.” Organised by a coalition of Ukrainian organisations, the delegation helped to arrange travel, secure the exhibit space, assist with pitches, case studies and presentations to investors. “Obviously, with a war going on, the Ukrainian government can’t give money to our startup community – not when we need to purchase weapons for defence – and that’s where our organisation steps in to provide support and funding.”

While the eight selected companies – and four other Ukrainian-based entities – are enjoying a well-earned respite from the trauma back home, the path to Canada was no simple feat. “There are many places in Ukraine where companies are working with laptops in the dark, even as bombs are falling nearby. But we accept this challenge and keep on working.” 

For Olga Sushchenko, director of Business Development for Effa, producers of the world’s first recyclable and renewable toothbrush made from paper, she wouldn’t have it any other way. “Even with everything going on in Ukraine right now, we are still pretty much able to function as though it's business as usual,” she said. “We do have some delays with production, and we also understand that it's hard to get investments domestically right now, so that’s a major reason why we’re here.

“But we have a mission to combat global pollution with disposable plastic, and to us, it’s a great product that we want to share with the world. At the moment, we’re still surviving and we’re still alive, so this is right where we want to be.” 

Irina Andriushchenko is the CEO of Handy.ai, an entity that allows companies to automate and improve interaction with people in real time, deploying a language to which each individual can relate through styles and channels of communication that are most convenient to the end user. “Collision is such a great place to be for us, especially considering the situation in our country right now,” she said. “For us, being here reminds us that we are really a part of global startup community. You cannot possibly imagine what it means for us because it allows us to feel that we are a part of this worldwide growth.

“From a business perspective, we’ve received a lot of feedback – including from the Deputy Mayor of Toronto – who tells us that we have a product that’s really interesting. Our platform is designed to help workers, and employers but also homeless people, immigrants and others effectively communicate without desks, without computers, in a language that works for them.”

In addition to Effa and Handy.ai, other companies exhibiting in the Ukrainian startup alley include:

• ImageryWard — a digital image copyright platform based on blockchain and artificial intelligence.
• NanitRobot — an educational robot for children that can replace 100 toys and 50 kg of plastic. It was developed on Scratch and C.
• zeely.app — a mobile application for business promotion with convenient marketing tools for non-marketers.
• Elai.io — a text-to-video conversion platform that allows companies to generate educational and marketing video content with human speakers from a single text.
• Jiffsy Platform — a TikTok-style showcase for online clothing stores built specifically for mobile devices, which doubles sales from mobile phones.
• Harmix— ​​an intelligent service that automatically selects music to video.

“With 3,000 startups in our country, it’s really important that we are here because we have a really strong emerging market,” said the Delegation’s Bespalova. “It’s an ecosystem that was growing very quickly and very impressively before the war. Now, we have to keep it going so we can continue that growth once the war is over.

“In the meantime, we’re here (in Toronto) to help understand how Ukraine can he useful to the world.”

How’s that for resilience?