Andrey Kolodyuk

Andrey Kolodyuk
Born	Andrey Viktorovych Kolodyuk Андрей Викторович Колодюк (1971-05-25) May 25, 1971 Kiev, Ukraine, Soviet Union
Nationality	Ukraine
Alma mater	Kyiv Polytechnic Institute (B.S.) Kyiv National University Koretsky Institute of State and Law ofNational Academy of Sciences of Ukraine(Ph.D.)[1]
Occupation	Venture capitalist, Entrepreneur, Investor
Known for	Founder of DIVAN.TV[2] Founder of AVentures Capital[1]
Website
www.a.kolodyuk.info – Andrey Kolodyuk

Andrey Viktorovych Kolodyuk (Russian: Андрей Викторович Колодюк; May 25, 1971) is an entrepreneur and venture capital investor born in Ukraine. At the age of 21, he moved to the USA to study ‘how to build business', according to his speech at the Entrepreholic!;^[3][4] and when he was 23 he founded his first startup. At the age of 24 he came back to Ukraine planning to build successful companies. Since 1995 he has founded and invested more than 10 companies in IT, media, Internet, Telecom, etc. with total revenues exceeding $1B.^[1][5][6] In 2009 he founded DIVAN.TV,^[2] first OTT Smart TV provider for all Russian-speaking community worldwide, according World Economic Forum web-site.^{[2][7][8][9][10][11]}

Andrey has actively built the entrepreneurial community in Ukraine and Russia since 90s. He was founder and President of the Information Society of Ukraine Foundation, Head of the Public Working Group E-Ukraine, whose aim is to develop of Ukraine's national strategy for information society development and Chair of the Telecom Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine.^[7][12]

The World Economic Forum nominated Andrey as a Young Global Leaders (List of Young Global Leaders) for his efforts, in 2008.^[13]

Cooperation with the USA

In autumn 2003 AVentures made a road-show in three major American cities where 20 Ukrainian software development companies were presented. Andrey Kolodyuk also opened a representative office of Ukrainian Software Consortium^[14] in Silicon Valley Menlo park in this year, USC consists of about 20 Ukrainian companies.^[15] According to the magazine for investment 'Investgazeta' (Ukraine) in 2005 Kolodyuk sold 50% USC to DFJ Nexus venture fund, affiliated with the world famous venture capitalist Tim Draper, Draper Fisher Jurvetson.^[16]

Education

Andrey Kolodyuk graduated from Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and studied law at Kyiv National University. In 2005, he defended his PhD thesis: “Information Society: Modern Condition and Perspectives of Development in Ukraine” with the specialty “Political Culture and Ideology”.^[1][12]

Entrepreneur

He started his entrepreneurial career in New York when he was 23.^[4][12] He said to Strategy magazine: 'I was no exception of the American rules: if you want to become a director of the restaurant, start as dish washer. For the first time my work required only physical strength and endurance (construction, transportation, etc.) work. Later, I went to company engaged in the wholesale trade of office equipment’ .^[17] In 1994 he founded his first startup – Universal Trading Enterprise. In 1995 he came back to Ukraine and founded his first IT-investment firm, which financed its first project Unitrade which became the most famous retail change. In 2001, Kolodyuk reorganized Ukrinvestcom into a venture capital firm, AVentures.^[1] During the last 20 years, he has founded and developed more than ten companies. Among his most notable projects are Unitrade (electronics retail), City.com (electronics retail),^[18] Ukrainian Software Consortium (software), PH Softpress (publishing),^[19] Universal Telecom (telecom) and DK Zvyazok (media). Andrey is the main founder and investor of DIVAN.TV,^[2] the first over-the-top content (OTT) Smart TV provider for all Russian-speaking community worldwide.^[9] He is also an adviser at Contacter.^[5]

His last project DIVAN.TV^[2] – is a pioneer of OTT market in CIS countries and only Russian-speaking community worldwide. It is available in 200 counties, according to Viaway web-site.^[8]

Investor

In March 2012 AVentures Capital^[1] has launched a new venture capital fund, to support successful technology entrepreneurs in Ukraine and Russia.^[20] Within a year AVentures Capital has acquired a 25% equity stake in Augmented Pixels,^[21] one of the world’s leading augmented reality technology developers, according to the information at the siliconangle web-site.^[22] The deal closed on February 15, 2013. Lately, in April 2013, AVentures Capital announced the 2nd deal.^[23] The fund has acquired a minority equity stake in nuPSYS,^[24] the world’s leading visual network software developer, wrote KyivPost newspaper.^[25] AVentures Capital and nuPSYS, Inc, didn’t disclose the financial details of the Series A deal to the public. AVentures was the lead investor in the round, where as nuPSYS is in talks with international investors to increase the size of the round up to $5–6 million.^[6] Aventurres representatives sits at the boards at Jooble^[26] and DepositPhotos companies.^[27][28]

References