Exiled from Ukraine at the beginning of the year because he could no longer feed his four children without finding capital, Volodymyr Dybenko tried his hand at Silicon Valley, before returning to Spain. At Nexus2050, he hopes to convince investors to give him a “small” ticket of €300,000 to benefit from the traction of his start-up.
He came knocking on the (virtual) door of Nexus2050’s media corner and asked to see a journalist. On a staircase step, Dybenko explained that, with four children to support and no prospect of being able to look after them because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he has been allowed to leave the country after two years of helping with the war effort. He headed for the United States and Silicon Valley, where things didn’t work out and where, above all, “my children were too far away from me. The United States was too expensive, so I came back to Europe to have a chance of getting by.”
The invasion. The Russian enemy. The difficulties. The deaths. The tragedy. He doesn’t talk about it. Not right away.
No, Dybenko is one of those who jumped in with both feet on the ChatGPT adventure to create a new model, Salee.pro, that makes it easier to reach prospects thanks to artificial intelligence. The startup provides a software solution capable of digesting information about customers and their behaviour in a given context, to deliver highly personalised messages and win them over more easily.
“I’m going to have to switch to another artificial intelligence model,” he explains, “because this solution is costing me too much. I thought it would be easier in Europe to find investors to accelerate my growth, because I have customers and prospects. I’m looking for €300,000.” A seed round because the ‘love money’ from friends and family has been used up. And any prospect of a short-term solution in a country that will be disfigured for a long time to come. Invited to Luxembourg by the Ukrainian ministry for digital transformation, he’s knocking on every door. His team is waiting for him. His children too.
This article was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.