Machinа investment firm with European and US investors launches in Ukraine

A new investment firm will invest in small and middle-sized businesses in Ukraine. Its name is Machina. Its founders, entrepreneurs from GR Capital and Nextedo, are ready to accept investment offers. One of the fund’s partners, Serhiy Didkovskyi, had a conversation with AIN.Capital about the firm.

• The target fund size is €50-100 million. Half of this amount will go to the early-stage investment and another half — to the later stages.

• 40-60% of anchor investors of the fond come from Europe and the USA. There are planned negotiations with EIF, EBRD, and IFC. Another half is Ukrainian and European family offices.
• The actual start of the investment activity is scheduled between the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023. The partners negotiate with investors, improve their strategy, and choose businesses to invest in.
• The most interesting are fintech, educational and agricultural technologies, cybersecurity, foodtech, and e-commerce.

“We prefer software companies rather than hardware ones. Therefore, it is essential that a business is officially registered. The second important factor in the selection is founders and managers of a company,” Didkovskyi said.

• The selection process runs the same way as at other investment funds. However, several factors are estimated in the early stages: team quality, export potential, and business model advantages. In the case of late-stage projects, the financial statements, company structure, and management effectiveness are analyzed.
• The early-stage businesses (with up to 2 mln EUR revenue) get from 200,000 to 1,000,000 EUR in exchange for 10-40% of the company (with entry estimate of 500,000 to 1,000,000 EUR). The late-stage businesses (with 2-20 mln EUR revenue) get from 1 to 5 mln EUR in exchange for 5-25% of the company (estimated worth is 10 to 100 mln EUR).
• Among the fund’s partners are:
  • Max Filippov, Managing Partner of GR Capital (the fund’s portfolio includes Glovo, Deliveroo, Sennder, Wefox, McMakler, Lime, PlanRadar).
  • Vlad Nozdrachov, owner of the Nextedo University and the Superludi Business School.
  • PR-strategist Serhiy Didkovskyi.