What is happening to Ukraine and its people is heart-breaking and the priority for most is to keep as many people as safe as possible. Tech Editor at Forbes Ukraine, Mike Sapiton, has highlighted some companies with Ukrainian roots that have made an impact on our daily lives and Student Circuit share a few here.
So many technologies, products and solutions that you use on a daily basis have Ukrainian roots. Big names such as PayPal and WhatsApp both had founders who were born in Ukraine. Jan Koum, Founder of WhatApp was born in the Ukrainian city Fastiv which has recently suffered attacks from Russia.
Co-Founder of Revolut Vlad Yatsenko is from Mykolaiv and many of the company’s staff are based in Ukraine. In a statement, the company explains that they are focusing on doing all they can to safeguard its people in Ukraine. Revolut also offered its Ukrainian employees relocation support.
Grammarly, a company worth $13bn, was born from and founded by three Ukrainians – Max Lytvyn, Dmytro Lider and Alex Shevchenko. Grammarly still houses its largest development office in the capital Kyiv.
One of the most widely used DevOps collaboration platforms, GitLab, is based in Ukraine. The Founders, Dmitriy Zaporozhets and Sid Sijbrandij created and built up a $394m company which delivered a single application that changed the way development, security, and ops teams collaborate and build software. Dmitriy Zaporozhets, Ukrainian born, recently exited the company.
These are just a handful of names, there are so many more talented individuals and businesses that have originated from and are still based in Ukraine.
What can we do and where?
Several Ukrainian individuals have been sharing where is best to offer help and care. This page has been created to provide more information on the conflict.
Founder of Musemio Olga Kravchenko, originally from Ukraine, has created a form you can fill out in which you can distinguish what type of help and support you can offer to the people of Ukraine.
Founder of Safe & The City Jillian Kowalchuk has family who originally came from Ukraine. Safe & The City’s i3 Intelligence platform has been tracking major protests throughout the UK and Ireland. Jillian is encouraging people to help by donating to emergency responses.
A new website called UnitedForUkraine.org has been launched by Ukrainian Nina Levchuk to provide information for Ukrainian people and refugees arriving in Europe.
People can also get in touch with info@unitedforukraine.org if they are able to offer contacts, shelter, volunteering, legal aid, and engagement.
Airbnb is also offering free temporary stays for people fleeing Ukraine. You can help here with hosting or donating.
Our thoughts are with Ukraine in these hard times, and it is important to stand together and offer the support we can.
Extra resources can be found here.
