Q&A with UVCA: Ukrainian investors panel and afterparty

Panel on Ukrainian Connections: Expanding Global IT & Startups When: May 26, 2016, Thursday 7PM Where: 1642 California St, Mountain View We welcome UVCA (Ukrainian Venture Capital and Private equity association) to Silicon Valley. In this panel event, four UVCA experts on Ukrainian startups and venture capital will share their knowledge and engage in a conversation with the audience about the current status of IT and startup development in Ukraine, perspectives and opportunities for cooperation with US, and how to build a business in U.S. out of Ukraine. Panelists: - Andrey Kolodyuk (managing partner, VC fund AVentures) - Alexander Soroka (CEO, Investment Platform Startup.Network) - Andrey Dovzhenko (managing partner, SMRK VC Fund) - Yevhen Sysoyev (managing partner, VC fund AVentures) - Amit Garg (Principal, Investments, Samsung Global Innovation Center) The moderator for the panel will be Nick Bilogorskiy, Nova Ukraine co-chairman. Questions for the Panel: 1. What is happening at Ukrainian VC&PE market? 2. The main trends and opportunities at Ukrainian investment market development 3. Fourth industrial revolution and Ukraine: how to transform the failing state to land of opportunities? 4. How we can spread Ukraine as a technology nation? 5. How to match Ukrainian startups and Ukrainian diaspora in US? 6. How to get involved into non-for-profit help to Ukraine in IT? 7. How to improve cooperation between U.S. and foreign VCs? Speaker Bios: Andrey Kolodyuk is a serial entrepreneur and venture capital investor, founder and managing Partner in AVentures Capital,focused on early stage IT and web-related projects with the focus on global market with technology teams based in Ukraine and CEE. In August 2014 Andrey has initiated a foundation of UVCA (Ukrainian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association) improving investment and business climate in Ukraine, and in November, 2014 was selected as Chairman of it. www.a.kolodyuk.info Alexander Soroka is the president of Startup.Network – investment platform and VC pitching events provider focused on attracting investments into Ukrainian start-up projects. With strong experience in creation, management and exit of various businesses, Alexander is a shareholder in a number of Ukrainian companies. In 2006, Alexander has been ranked in Top-10 manager of Ukraine by Companion business magazine. Alexander received his OPM from Harvard Business School and masters degree in IT engineering from National Aviation University in Kiev, Ukraine. He also currently serves as a board member at Harvard Club of Ukraine. Andriy Dovzhenko - co-founded of SMRK VC Fund in 2013. His previous focus has been corporate finance and entrepreneurship. His current investments include: AmazingHiring (http://amazinghiring.com), Allset (https://allsetnow.com/), Ajax.Systems (http://www.ajax.systems/) Andriy is a seed and early stage investor, who assists young companies from Ukraine and Eastern Europe and their founders in solving strategic issues and developing their projects. Yevgen Sysoyev is a managing partner of AVentures Capital fund that invests in global software technology companies that have R&D offices in Eastern Europe, particularly Ukraine. The fund typically invests at seed and Series A stages in variety of software technology segments, including enterprise, consumer, mobile, infrastructure, ecommerce and others. Amit Garg is a Principal at Samsung Global Innovation Center, focusing on software especially Internet / consumer technologies, investing $250K to $3M in seed, series A or B, and helping them partner with Samsung to grow and make a meaningful difference in people's lives. Amit has previously spent 10 years in Silicon Valley running his own startup, as a VC at Norwest Ventures, and doing product and analytics at Google. Amit did his BS in computer science and MS in biomedical informatics from Stanford and MBA from Harvard. He speaks natively 3 languages, lives carbon-neutral, is a 70.3 Ironman finisher, and has built a hospital in rural India. Thursday, May 26, 2016, 7-11pm 7 - 7:45 – Networking 7:45 - 9:00 – Panel, Moderated discussion/Audience Q&A 9:00 - 11:00 – Afterparty Event is in English. It is free to attend. Your donations are appreciated and ensure that Nova Ukraine will be able to do more of these events in the future. http://novaukraine.org/donate/ This event is organized by UVCA and Nova Ukraine with assistance from Consulate General of Ukraine in San Francisco. #BayMeetUA If you are in New York on this day, check out our sister organization's event: "Are You Serious?" - https://www.facebook.com/events/1046574718718988/ RazomIT designed a new program to bring 5 startups with Ukrainian ties to NYC to connect with and learn from the city's startup ecosystem.