US Tech Companies That Have R&D Offices in Ukraine (Google, Snap, Lyft and more!)

An obvious question is, “Why open an R&D office in Ukraine in the first place?”

If you didn’t know, Ukrainian software engineers are considered some of the best in the world. They have experience working in fast-paced startup environments as well as large corporate structures.

Another big reason is that the tech talent pool in Ukraine is upwards of 200k, not to mention the government incentives for workers in the IT sector.

US Companies that hire in Ukraine

These are just a handful of companies with R&D offices in Ukraine. We foresee the country and its talent making swift moves to transform from an outsourcing and outstaffing agency-dominated market to the R&D capital of Europe.

The following information was obtained from Crunchbase, company websites, and reputable news sources.

Google

• What they do: Google creates Internet-related services, technologies and products.
• Location: Mountain View, CA
• Number of employees: 10,000+
• Last funding type: Private Equity
• Total Funding: N/A
• IPO Status: Public
• Website: google.com

What we know about Google’s activity in Ukraine: In early 2020, Google announced its acquisition of CloudSimple, a cloud solution provider. That means Google now technically has an R&D center in Ukraine. One of three in Central and Eastern Europe.

Snap

• What they do: Snap is a camera and social media corporation.
• Location: Venice, CA
• Number of employees: 1,001-5,000
• Last funding type: Post-IPO Equity
• Total Funding: $4.9B
• IPO Status: Public
• Website: snap.com

What we know about Snap’s activity in Ukraine: Snap currently has offices (and openings) in Kyiv and Odesa. This year, Snap completed their second acquisition of a Ukrainian startup after snapping up AI Factory (70 Ukrainian engineers).

Lyft

• What they do: Lyft is an app that matches drivers with passengers who request rides.
• Location: San Francisco, CA
• Number of employees: 5,001-10,000
• Last funding type: Secondary Market
• Total Funding: $4.9B
• IPO Status: Public
• Website: lyft.com

What we know about Lyft’s activity in Ukraine: As of this writing, it’s unclear if Lyft has a physical location in Ukraine. However, online chatter points to them opening an engineering office in Kyiv in the near future, Currently, Lyft has eight full-time job openings on Linkedin with Kyiv Metro Area as the location.

Oracle

• What they do: Oracle is the world’s most complete, open and integrated business software and hardware systems company.
• Location: Redwood Shores, CA
• Number of employees: 10,000+
• Last funding type: Venture – Series Unknown
• Total Funding: N/A
• IPO Status: Public
• Website: oracle.com

What we know about Oracle’s activity in Ukraine: Oracle has offices in five Ukrainian cities (Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Lviv and Odesa). Employees range from customer service representatives to software engineers.

Nvidia

• What they do: Nvidia creates GPUs for the gaming and professional markets.
• Location: Santa Clara, CA
• Number of employees: 10,000+
• Last funding type: Post-IPO Equity
• Total Funding: $4B
• IPO Status: Public
• Website: nvidia.com

What we know about Nvidia’s activity in Ukraine: After Nvidia completed its acquisition of Mellanox, an Israeli computer networking product company, in 2020, Nvidia gained an R&D office in Kyiv. From what we can see on the Nvidia Careers page, they are actively recruiting engineers.

ABBYY

• What they do: ABBYY is most famous for its data and document capture software — FineReader. They also have content automation and process intelligence products.
• Location: Milpitas, CA
• Number of employees: 1,001-5,000
• Last funding type: Venture – Series Unknown
• Total Funding: $6M
• IPO Status: Public
• Website: abbyy.com

What we know about ABBYY’s activity in Ukraine: ABBYY’s headquarters in Eastern Europe is located in Kyiv. The company employs engineers, customer service representatives and sales/business development specialists.

Grammarly

• What they do: Grammarly’s digital writing assistant helps people write more clearly and effectively.
• Location: San Francisco, CA
• Number of employees: 251-500
• Last funding type: Venture – Series Unknown
• Total Funding: $200M
• IPO Status: Public
• Website: grammarly.com

What we know about Grammarly’s activity in Ukraine: Grammarly is a Ukrainian unicorn that moved its headquarters from Kyiv to Silicon Valley. The company still has a large office in Kyiv, where 200+ people work.

Ring

Acquired by Amazon but still has R&D offices in Ukraine.

• What they do: Ring is a home security and smart home company that was acquired by Amazon in 2018.
• Location: Santa Monica, CA
• Number of employees: 501-1,000
• Last funding type: Series D
• Total Funding: $203.7M
• IPO Status: Private
• Website: ring.com

What we know about Ring’s activity in Ukraine: Ring’s first Ukrainian R&D center opened its doors in 2016 in Kyiv. Since then, the Kyiv office has grown to 500+ employees, and a new office has been opened in Lviv. Amazon bought Ring in 2018.

The Anatomy of a Ukrainian Software Engineer

BigCommerce

• What they do: BigCommerce is an ecommerce platform for building online businesses.
• Location: Austin, TX
• Number of employees: 251-500
• Last funding type: Series F
• Funding: $224.2M
• IPO Status: Public
• Website: bigcommerc.com

What we know about BigCommerce’s activity in Ukraine: BigCommerce has an R&D office in Kyiv. According to DOU (Ukrainian IT community site), 20+ people work in the Kyiv office.

TemplateMonster

• What they do: TemplateMonster is a digital marketplace for website and online store templates and themes.
• Location: Brooklyn, NY
• Number of employees: 251-500
• Last funding type: N/A
• Total Funding: N/A
• IPO Status: Private
• Website: templatemonster.com

What we know about TemplateMonster’s activity in Ukraine: TemplateMonster has offices in three Ukrainian cities: Kyiv, Lviv and Mykolaiv, where 200+ people work.

SiteCore

Acquired by EQT but still has an R&D office in Ukraine.

• What they do: SiteCore is a comprehensive marketing and commerce solution provider.
• Location: San Francisco, CA
• Number of employees: 1,001-5,000
• Last funding type: Undisclosed
• Total Funding: N/A
• IPO Status: Private
• Website: sitecore.com

What we know about SiteCore’s activity in Ukraine: SiteCore currently has one office in Dnipro with at least 80 employees.

GitLab

• What they do: GitLab is a developer collaboration, project planning, source code management and DevOps platform.
• Location: San Francisco, CA
• Number of employees: 1,001-5,000
• Last funding type: Secondary Market
• Total Funding: $434.2M
• IPO Status: Private
• Website: about.gitlab.com

What we know about GitLab’s activity in Ukraine: GitLab was a Ukrainian startup before it moved its headquarters to San Francisco. At least five people from Ukraine work in GitLab according to their LinkedIn profiles.

People.ai

• What they do: People.ai is one of the world’s leading Revenue Operations and Intelligence platforms. They help sales and marketing teams unlock new revenue channels.
• Location: San Francisco, CA
• Number of employees: 101-250
• Last funding type: Series C
• Total Funding: $100M
• IPO Status: Private
• Website: people.ai

What we know about People.ai’s activity in Ukraine: People.ai is a Ukrainian startup with an office in Kyiv. Before the pandemic, sources say People.ai employed 30 people in Ukraine. In the spring of 2020, the company had to lay off 18% of its employees, although it’s not clear how many were from Ukraine.

Ceres Imaging

• What they do: Ceres Imaging helps farmers, growers and agribusinesses solve problems related to irrigation using aerial spectral imaging.
• Location: Oakland, CA
• Number of employees: 51-100
• Last funding type: Series B
• Total Funding: $35.5M
• IPO Status: Private
• Website: ceresimaging.net

What we know about Ceres Imaging’s activity in Ukraine: Ceres Imaging has a team of GIS and remote sensing analysts and technicians based in Kyiv.

YayPay

Acquired by Quadient but still has R&D offices in Ukraine.

• What they do: YayPay is a fintech startup that develops accounts receivable management solutions.
• Location: New York, NY
• Number of employees: 11-50
• Last funding type: Series A
• Total Funding: $13.8M
• IPO Status: Private
• Website: yaypay.com

What we know about YayPay’s activity in Ukraine: YayPay has two R&D offices — in Dnipro and Kyiv. Also a Ukrainian startup, YayPay plans to expand its teams in Ukraine.

DataRobot

• What they do: DataRobot develops AI technology that helps enterprise companies turn data into value.
• Location: Bostin, MA
• Number of employees: 1001-5000
• Last funding type: Series F
• Total Funding: $750.6M
• IPO Status: Private
• Website: datarobot.com

What we know about DataRobot’s activity in Ukraine: DataRobot has five R&D locations — Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Khmelnytskyi. The company’s website currently lists 25+ open positions.

Tonic Health

Acquired by R1 RCN but still has an R&D office in Ukraine.

• What they do: Tonic Health is a medical data collection platform used by hospital staff and medical professionals.
• Location: Palo Alto, CA
• Number of employees: 51-100
• Last funding type: Venture — Series Unknown
• Total Funding: $8.9M
• IPO Status: Private
• Website: tonicforhealth.com

What we know about Tonic’s activity in Ukraine: According to news sources, in 2018, Tonic Health had 100 employees in an office in Kyiv. It is currently unknown how many employees there are but according to the company’s LinkedIn page, there are 36 employees total. This might have to do with Tonic Health being acquired first by SCI Solutions and then SCI being absorbed by R1 RCM.

TubeMogul

Acquired by Adobe Systems but still has R&D offices in Ukraine.

• What they do: TubeMogul was a platform that allowed brands and agencies to manage video advertising across all channels. It is now part of Adobe Advertising Cloud.
• Location: Emeryville, CA
• Number of employees: 101-250
• Last funding type: Post-IPO Secondary
• Total Funding: $136.1M
• IPO Status: Delisted (Acquired by Adobe Systems)
• Website: advertising.adobe.com

What we know about TubeMongul’s activity in Ukraine: Before being acquired by Adobe, TubeMongul had approximately 50 employees in Kyiv but judging by their current LinkedIn page, the employees likely have new contracts with Adobe.

Augmented Pixels

• What they do: Augmented Pixels develops real-time localization and mapping tech for mobile phones and AR/VR glasses as well as navigation tech for drones and robots.
• Location: Palo Alto, CA
• Number of employees: 11-50
• Last funding type: Convertible Note
• Total Funding: $4.1M
• IPO Status: Private
• Website: augmentedpixels.com

What we know about Augmented Pixels’ activity in Ukraine: Augmented Pixels was a startup in Ukraine that gained traction and eventually moved its HQ to Palo Alto, CA. The company has R&D offices in Kyiv and Odesa.

Very Good Security

• What they do: Very Good Security is a fintech and data security enablement platform.
• Location: San Francisco, CA
• Number of employees: 51-100
• Last funding type: Series C
• Total Funding: $104.9M
• IPO Status: Private
• Website: verygoodsecurity.com

What we know about Very Good Security’s activity in Ukraine: Very Good Security opened its first office in Lviv in 2015. Later in the same year, they decided to expand and open an office in Kyiv. Currently, there are 80+ full-time employees spread across the two offices and 200+ employees in total.

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Bonus: Non-US Companies That Hire in Ukraine

The US tech scene isn’t the only one looking to Ukraine for talent. Companies in Europe and Asia are also investing and opening R&D offices.

Here are a few examples:

UbiSoft

• What they do: Ubisoft is a video game company that produces and distributes some of the biggest video game titles in the world.
• Location: Montreuil, France
• Number of employees: 5001-10000
• Last funding type: Post-IPO Secondary
• Total Funding: $770.7M
• IPO Status: Public
• Website: ubisoft.com

What we know about UbiSoft’s activity in Ukraine: Ubisoft opened its first office in Ukraine back in 2008. Since then, the company has opened a second studio in Odesa in addition to the original office in Kyiv. The 800+ strong team in Ukraine has worked on big PC titles like Assassin’s Creed, Trials and Far Cry, to name a few.

Revolut

• What they do: Revolut is a fintech company that specializes in mobile banking,
• Location: London, England, UK
• Number of employees: 1001-5000
• Last funding type: Series D
• Total Funding: $917M
• IPO Status: Private
• Website: revolut.com

What we know about Revolut’s activity in Ukraine: Revolut is currently looking for IT recruiters and software developers in Kyiv (source: Linkedin).

Wargaming.net

• What they do: Wargaming develops massively multiplayer online games.
• Location: Nicosia, Cyprus
• Number of employees: 1001-5000
• Last funding type: N/A
• Total Funding: N/A
• IPO Status: Private
• Website: wargaming.net

What we know about Wargaming’s activity in Ukraine: The 600+ strong Wargaming team in Kyiv works on a number of different games, Recently, due to the results of the elections in Belarus, 200-300 employees were relocated to Kyiv from Minsk (likely due to political unrest).

Fiverr

• What they do: Fiverr is a marketplace for freelance services.
• Location: Tel Aviv, Israel
• Number of employees: 101-250
• Last funding type: Series E
• Total Funding: $111M
• IPO Status: Public
• Website: fiverr.com

What we know about Fiverr’s activity in Ukraine: Fiverr has offices in Kyiv and Kharkiv. From what we found on Linkedin, at least 20 people work in both offices.

Wise (previously Transferwise)

• What they do: Wise is a money transfer service that allows people to send money worldwide.
• Location: London, England, UK
• Number of employees: 1001-5000
• Last funding type: Secondary Market
• Total Funding: $1.1B
• IPO Status: Private
• Website: wise.com

What we know about Wise’s activity in Ukraine: The only information available on the internet is that Wise has an office in Cherkasy. A virtually unknown city to anyone outside Ukraine, Cherkasy is an interesting choice as an R&D office location.

Wix

• What they do: Wix is a cloud-based development platform anyone can use to build their own website using the latest technologies.
• Location: Tel Aviv, Israel
• Number of employees: 1001-5000
• Last funding type: Series D
• Total Funding: $58.5M
• IPO Status: Public
• Website: wix.com

What we know about Wix’s activity in Ukraine: Wix employs 600+ people spread between two main offices in Kyiv and Dnipro. Recently, Wix started building a team in Lviv.

Takeaways — Why US companies hire in Ukraine

Ukraine may soon become the offshoring R&D capital of Europe thanks to talented engineers, government incentives, economic progress and the remote work revolution of 2020.

Key Facts:

• A remote team in Ukraine costs way less than hiring the same team in the US or Europe. Check out our Budget Calculator to see for yourself.
• Ukraine has one of the biggest tech talent pools in Europe (according to the Ukrainian government, the IT industry is growing by 25k-30k specialists per year).
• Ukrainians’ tech and soft skills are improving every year.
• Google, Snap, Lyft and other big-name tech companies have R&D offices in Ukraine.