Hey, Pitches! (2021)

A joint project of the venture funds Adventures Lab and Flyer One Ventures

About the project

In 2021 Adventures Lab and Flyer One Ventures joined forces to support the startup ecosystem in Ukraine.

A jury of investors, joined by invited niche experts, reviewed the applications, selected teams and met them in person to take the projects apart and give candid feedback and recommendations for their next steps.

applications from startups

investors
on the jury

1:1

one-to-one sessions

How it worked

Application

Teams described their startup in an application on the site

Selection

The jury reviewed the applications and selected projects for a session

Invitation

Selected teams were invited to meet the investors

Session

The team pitched, asked questions and received feedback from the jury. One hour per team.

What the teams got

An informal conversation among peers

An objective view of the business and constructive criticism

Recommendations on the product and individual processes

Advice on raising investment

Advice on the deck and the pitch

Jury: investors

Andrii Kryvorchuk

Managing Partner, Adventures Lab

Entrepreneur and investor with more than 14 years in investment and business

Ruslan Drozdov

Partner,
Adventures Lab

Investor. Manager and entrepreneur with 8 years in the IT business
drozdorus.com

Olena Mazhuha

Investment Manager, Flyer One Ventures

Mentor at Startup Wise Guys, more than 4 years in investment

Kyrylo Mazur

CEO and Founder, Center42 Innovation Agency

Entrepreneur, investor and adviser on venture investment and innovation

Experts

Natasha
Berezovska

Co-founder of Detonate Ventures and Uangel, angel investor and entrepreneur with 20 years of experience

Leonid
Podobiedov

Angel investor since 2007, entrepreneur, board member and investor at SOC Prime

Oleksandr
Kokhanovskyi

Founder of the esports team Natus Vincere (NaVi), co-founder of ESForce and the first esports-ready hotel, Dnipro

Max
Slobodianiuk

Serial entrepreneur, investor and mentor with more than 15 years of experience

Ruslan
Tymofieiev

Founding Partner of the venture fund Adventures Lab, serial entrepreneur

Radomyr
Novkovych

Entrepreneur, mobile marketing expert, founder of Netpeak RadASO, Tonti Laguna Mobile and Saldo Apps

Oleksandra
Balkova

Portfolio lead at the Startup Wise Guys accelerator

Oleksii
Vitchenko

Managing Partner of the Digital Future fund, investor, entrepreneur

Yevheniia
Klepa

Executive Director of 1991 Accelerator, expert at the Ukrainian Startup Fund and IT-startup ambassador at WTECH Ukraine

In their words

When founders are only starting out on the road to multi-million revenue and success, they need support, honest feedback and many iterations of the product and the business model. We hope our project becomes the place where every founder gets these ingredients of future success and the motivation to build a large international business.

I am convinced that objective feedback from outside professionals can matter as much to an early-stage business as a good idea, motivated founders and the right time to market.

The goal of Hey, Pitches! is to strengthen the Ukrainian startup ecosystem and grow the number of successful companies on the level of Reface, Grammarly or Preply that can compete globally.

In 10 years in the startup industry and 10,000 startups analysed, I have noticed that founders very often lack an outside view, especially from an expert or investor with experience in their industry. So they stall, pick the wrong business model and end up unable to raise. We want to fix that.

Organisers

Adventures Lab is a venture fund investing in early-stage startups from Ukraine and Belarus. Portfolio companies include Reface, EduDo, Salo and StreamHero

adventureslab.vc

Flyer One Ventures is a venture fund investing in early-stage projects from Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltics

flyerone.vc

Partner

Center42 Innovation Agency is an innovation agency that helps companies scale projects and launch new products

center42.tech

Results

Hey, Pitches! ran in 2021. The programme received 69 applications from Ukrainian startups at Pre-Seed, Seed and Pre-A stage. A jury of four investors selected the teams, and each selected project had a one-hour one-to-one session with the investors and niche experts. Participation was free. The programme is no longer accepting applications; this page is its archive.