Made in emerging Europe: Google support for Ukrainian start-ups, Riga’s Metaverse ambitions

Emerging Europe’s start-up scene is thriving: new money and new ideas are coming onto the market all the time. To keep you up to date with the latest investments, innovations, events and accelerators, every week Emerging Europe brings you a round-up of the region’s start-up and tech news.

Google for Start-Ups announces latest batch of Ukraine Support Fund recipientsUkrainian entrepreneurs continue to show great motivation and dedication, even in the most difficult of circumstances. According to a recent report, Ukrainian start-ups tripled in combined enterprise value in 2022, growing from three billion to 23.3 billion US dollars in just three years.
Despite the ongoing war, these founders have proven their resilience by continuing to operate, support their clients, and deliver value to their users.
In March, Google announced a five million US dollars Google for Start-ups Ukraine Support Fund to allocate equity-free cash awards to back Ukrainian-founded tech companies so they can continue to strengthen their community and build a foundation for post-war economic recovery. Additionally, it provided Ukrainian start-ups with mentoring, networking and technical support, and a workspace within the Google for Start-ups Campus in Warsaw.

25 start-ups join the 33 recipients from the first and second cohorts of the Google for Start-ups Ukraine Support Fund who have used the funding and support to expand their businesses and make a tangible impact.
Start-ups like Releaf Paper and VanOnGo expanded to new countries; mental health app Mindly grew its monthly revenue by over 300 per cent; and Esper Bionics was selected as one of the top 200 inventions of 2022 by Time. 
While this will be the final batch of recipients for non-dilutive funding through the Ukraine Support Fund, Google for Start-ups will continue to provide all 58 start-ups with mentoring sessions, product support, and bring them together next spring to present their achievements in front of international investors, partners and the local startup community.

Full story here