Ukrainian developers and entrepreneurs have long proven their ability to build and scale companies that redefine global markets. Behind the success of international tech giants like GitLab, Revolut, Grammarly, Wise, and Moss are Ukrainians who play a crucial role in shaping the future of technology.
Vlad Yatsenko — Co-founder of Revolut
Vlad Yatsenko is one of the key figures behind Revolut, one of the largest neobanks in the world. Together with Nikolay Storonsky, he launched the startup in 2015 when the idea of digital banking was still in its infancy. As CTO, Yatsenko led a team of 500 engineers who built a financial platform enabling users to easily exchange currencies, make international payments without fees, and access a wide range of financial services.
Revolut started as a small project in a London coworking space, but thanks to its technical vision and scaling strategy, it became a leader in the fintech market. Within a few years, the company obtained a banking license and expanded into the U.S. and Europe. Today, Yatsenko is a multimillionaire and one of the most influential Ukrainian engineers in the fintech industry.
Dmytro Zaporozhets — Co-founder of GitLab
The story of Dmytro Zaporozhets is yet another proof that global tech companies can emerge far beyond the borders of Silicon Valley. In 2011, he created GitLab—an open-source alternative to GitHub for developers. His solution quickly gained traction, and two years later, Dutch investor Sid Sijbrandij offered Dmytro the chance to turn his hobby into a full-fledged business.
GitLab became the first Ukrainian-founded company to go public on NASDAQ, reaching a market capitalization of $15 billion. Zaporozhets remains a key figure at the company and continues to develop new technologies used by millions worldwide. His success inspires Ukrainian engineers to build world-class products.
Alex Shevchenko, Max Lytvyn, and Dmytro Lider — Co-founders of Grammarly
Another Ukrainian success story is Grammarly, created by Alex Shevchenko, Max Lytvyn, and Dmytro Lider. Their journey began with MyDropbox—a plagiarism detection tool for student work. After selling it in 2009, they launched Grammarly, a product that became a global leader in AI-powered writing assistance.
Grammarly uses artificial intelligence to analyze text and is used by over 20 million people worldwide. The company became a unicorn in 2019, with a valuation of $1.3 billion, and continues to grow rapidly.
Nikolay Mironenko — Technical Co-founder of Fintech Startup Moss
Nikolay Mironenko, alongside a team of German entrepreneurs, became the technical co-founder of Moss—one of Europe’s fastest-growing platforms for automating financial management.
But Moss wasn’t his first breakthrough. Before that, he worked at Wise, where he was one of the leading engineers and contributed to building technologies that revolutionized global money transfers. He knows how to design financial infrastructure that can scale to billions in transaction volume. Today, Mironenko is helping companies across Europe fully automate their expense management. Moss is now valued at over €500 million and serves thousands of businesses in Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, France, and beyond.
Moss automates accounting processes and allows companies to manage finances without excessive paperwork, manual calculations, or unexpected expenses. Mironenko implemented a scalable cloud infrastructure for processing large financial volumes, integrated Moss with ERP systems for automated accounting, developed algorithms to detect overspending and anomalies, and ensured data security to European standards.
“Finance teams shouldn’t waste time on routine tasks. We built Moss to automate spending, accounting, and budget control—making company finances transparent and manageable in a single click,” explains Mironenko.
Before co-founding Moss, Nikolay Mironenko worked at Wise, helping build large-scale payment infrastructure. He already understood that the key to fintech success lies in the right engineering architecture.
What Does This Mean for Ukrainian Tech Entrepreneurs?
These stories are not just about startups—they’re about the limitless potential of Ukrainian engineers, product managers, and entrepreneurs. They prove that the global fintech and tech scene is open to those who solve real problems and create scalable technologies.
Ukrainian engineers are in demand around the world. You no longer need to be in Silicon Valley to build a global company. GitLab, Grammarly, Revolut, Wise, Moss—each of these has Ukrainian co-founders and demonstrates that a quality product can succeed internationally from anywhere. It’s vital to think big from day one: identify problems relevant to millions and build solutions capable of transforming industries.
The expertise of Ukrainian developers enables them not only to work at top companies but also to become co-founders of new global startups. This means that even a developer at a small company today could be the next founder of a Revolut or Grammarly, with the right market understanding, team, and vision.
Networking and collaboration are driving forces of success. Each of these cases shares a common theme: collaboration with other entrepreneurs, venture funds, and engineers. Dmytro Zaporozhets created GitLab, but it became a company after he met investor Sid Sijbrandij. Vlad Yatsenko built Revolut alongside Nikolay Storonsky. Nikolay Mironenko co-founded Moss while working with European entrepreneurs.
Ukrainian startup founders should leverage their strengths—engineering expertise, rapid implementation, and market adaptability. But building connections is equally important: talk to potential partners, find mentors, and don’t be afraid to attend international conferences.
Ukraine is a brand in the global tech space. Ukrainian professionals have already changed global markets. The success of companies like Grammarly, Revolut, and Wise isn’t a coincidence—it’s a pattern. It shows that Ukrainian developers, product leaders, and entrepreneurs should think beyond just building careers—they should aim to create companies that shape global markets and set new standards.
