{"id":24756,"date":"2025-09-08T11:56:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T09:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scroll.media\/2025\/09\/08\/dnipro-vc-interview\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T01:27:49","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T22:27:49","slug":"dnipro-vc-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scroll.media\/en\/2025\/09\/08\/dnipro-vc-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Dnipro VC Closes 18 Deals Backing Ukrainian Founders Worldwide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Over the past six months, the young venture firm Dnipro VC has been making headlines. It participated in Liki24\u2019s $9 million round<\/a>, previously joined<\/a> a $5.4 million deal with PeopleForce, invested in Crosscheck<\/a>\u2019s pre-seed round this May, and just two weeks ago announced funding<\/a> for SpendBase. And those are only the public deals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The name Dnipro VC speaks for itself: the firm invests exclusively in startups founded or co-founded by Ukrainians, though it\u2019s headquartered in California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We sat down with co-founders and partners Nick Bilogorskiy and Marianna Bonechi to talk about why they created Dnipro VC, how they choose startups, and what founders should know before pitching them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nick Bilogorskiy and Marianna Bonechi. Photo credit: Dnipro VC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tell us how and when you founded Dnipro VC and for what purpose.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Nick:<\/strong> Marianna and I have been friends for a long time and have experience investing in startups separately and together. In California, I helped Ukrainian CEOs through UA50.org, then launched the Ukrainian Startup Pavilion at StartupGrind and TechCrunch Disrupt. I also mentored Ukrainian founders and built the community step by step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marianna:<\/strong> Dnipro VC is the result of more than a decade of initiatives aimed at supporting Ukrainian founders, which eventually grew into a full-fledged venture firm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My first work with Ukrainian startups began in 2016, when I teamed up with SaaS founders to build a community that helped Ukrainian Series A+ companies scale in the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By coincidence, Endeavor was my office neighbor. Conversations with Allen Taylor about scaling resonated with the exact challenges Ukrainian founders faced, so I approached him about launching <\/a>Endeavor in Ukraine. After years of persuasion, I\u2019m delighted to see the impact Endeavor is now making there.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, I also launched a global AI initiative with the Austrian diplomatic mission in San Francisco, bringing together EU commissioners, diplomats, tech executives, and, most importantly, AI-native founders. That gave me early access to outstanding talent and innovation in AI. The same year, friends from Stanford invited me to Kyiv, and I was impressed to see local founders moving at the same pace as Silicon Valley, building companies in AI voice, image, and text technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started angel investing in Ukrainian AI-native startups and launched my first fund, Slava Ventures, in 2022 to support them. My goal was to signal to Silicon Valley investors that backing Ukrainian founders was worth it even during wartime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, all these initiatives merged into Dnipro VC. Slava Ventures was doing well, but I realized I wanted to make the story bigger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nick and I decided to combine everything: his technical background, my investment banking\/M&A experience, and create something more powerful together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nick:<\/strong> In 2024, we founded Dnipro VC, which focuses on the AI and cybersecurity industries, where I\u2019ve spent nearly 20 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Marianna and I complement each other well. We\u2019re both Ukrainian \u2014 I\u2019m from Kharkiv, and she\u2019s from Kalush \u2014 so our team represents both the east and west. I emigrated in 1996, studied in Canada, and moved to the US about 15 years ago.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Do you back only Ukrainian-led startups, or is there room in your portfolio for international teams as well?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Marianna:<\/strong> Our mission is to back Ukrainian companies with global ambitions. If they\u2019re in Ukraine, we\u2019ll support them there. If they\u2019re in America, then in America. It\u2019s a global story, but the focus remains Ukrainian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dnipro AI Summit<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How many startups are in your portfolio now, and what\u2019s your target?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Nick:<\/strong> We\u2019ve already closed 18 investments. That\u2019s roughly one or two deals per month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marianna:<\/strong> Overall, we plan to back 25 to 35 startups per year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s your average ticket size?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Marianna:<\/strong> Between $250,000 and $1 million per deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What kinds of startups are you most focused on right now? Which verticals or niches are at the core of your investment strategy?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Marianna:<\/strong> In AI, we\u2019re generalists. We look at companies applying AI to real business problems. For example, BuildCheck AI, born at Stanford, uses AI in construction to identify design errors that cause delays and extra costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While working on the global AI initiative, I realized how crucial data defensibility moats are for AI startups. Another example from our portfolio is Revalia Bio, a Yale University spin-off. The company \u2018revives\u2019 organs and tests drugs on them. Having access to such unique datasets gives them a strong defensibility moat and the potential to become a global leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nick:<\/strong> We\u2019re also interested in marketplaces \u2014 for example, we\u2019ve invested in FieldComplete and Liki24. Generally, if there\u2019s AI in a B2B solution, we\u2019ll look at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And of course, cybersecurity. It\u2019s critical for AI development to ensure model integrity and enable responsible AI that respects privacy, fairness, and ethics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dnipro VC is still a young firm, so it hasn\u2019t had any exits yet. But can you tell us about the exits you\u2019ve had in the past?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Marianna:<\/strong> Between the two of us, we\u2019ve invested in about 60 companies. We\u2019ve had 16 exits, including four unicorns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you currently have any Ukrainian startups in the pipeline?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Marianna:<\/strong> Actually, our deal flow is crazy right now, so Nick and I haven\u2019t really focused on publicity. Most startups come to us directly from founders who know us, or via referrals from our portfolio companies. We also see startups from universities, get some cold outreach, and even deals from other venture investors. It\u2019s a really diverse and active pipeline<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nick:<\/strong> Yes, we\u2019re doing due diligence on several Ukrainian startups. Can\u2019t name them yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What stages do you invest in?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Marianna:<\/strong> Pre-seed, seed, and up to Series A.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nick:<\/strong> My advice to founders is: don\u2019t wait until you desperately need money. Build relationships with investors months in advance \u2014 ideally 3\u20136 months before you start raising.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Marianna:<\/strong> Exactly. We once met a founder in Palo Alto who told us, \u00abWe only have enough money until the end of the week.\u00bb That\u2019s not the way to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How quickly do you usually decide?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Nick:<\/strong> We\u2019re fast. Not years or months, but days or weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investors all have different strategies for choosing which startups to invest in and which to pass over. For Dnipro VC, what are the key criteria you look at when deciding whether to back a founder or a company?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Marianna:<\/strong> I think it all comes down to the founders. Are they the team that can turn their company into a unicorn? Great founders know exactly what they\u2019re building, understand the market they\u2019re operating in, and have a clear plan for the milestones they need to reach to achieve their goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nick:<\/strong> For me, it\u2019s about trust. We need to believe these are the best people for the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why such a strong emphasis on founders, and how are Ukrainians different?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Marianna:<\/strong> Ukrainian founders combine world-class technical skills, a willingness to take risks, and the ability to work at incredible speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nick:<\/strong> I have a framework I call the \u00abThree Vs\u00bb: vertical, velocity, and valuation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n