Ukraine is known as the breadbasket of Europe. The country — second-largest on the continent after Russia — has also produced several notable entrepreneurs through the years.
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine brings the latter into sharp focus of the world, here are some people from the country that have made a difference in the realm of technology in recent times.
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Jan Koum: WhatsApp, now owned by Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:FB), was founded by Jan Koum. He was born in Kyiv and grew up in Fastiv and moved to the United States at age 16.
In 2014, Facebook purchased WhatsApp for $19 billion in a cash and shares deal, according to a BBC report.
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Max Levchin: A co-founder of Paypal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL), Max Rafailovych Levchin, was born in Kyiv. Levchin is an early investor in Yelp but has also donned the robes of either a founder or co-founder in Slide.com, HVF Labs and Affirm Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ:AFRM).
Vlad Yatsenko: The founder and chief technology officer of Revolut, a financial technology company that offers banking services, Yatsenko was born in Ukraine but is now a British citizen.
Yatsenko criticized the invasion of Ukraine in a Tweet on Thursday. “I hope, people of Russia will finally realise what a monster and a liar their president Putin is,” he said.
I hope, people of Russia will finally realise what a monster and a liar their president Putin is! The stories he's telling you are similar to what Hitler was telling Germans almost 100 year ago. There're a lot of great Russians, Putin is not one of them.
— Vlad Yatsenko (@vyatsenko) February 24, 2022
Ukraine will be free!
Anatoly Yakovenko: Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) rival blockchain network Solana (SOL) labs was co-founded by Anatoly Yakovenko. Yakovenko grew up in Ukraine, while his parents were first-generation immigrants, according to a writeup by Ebiographypost.com.
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On Thursday, Yakovenko tweeted in relation to the invasion of Ukraine that “‘Sphere of Influence’ is an imperial strategy.”
“Sphere of influence” is an imperial strategy. Either you are integrated and sphere needs to extend, or your life is a shield for someone else’s existence. There is no limit to how far it will reach. Call your leaders if you don’t want to eat borscht for the rest of your life.
— Composability T◎ly, (@aeyakovenko) February 24, 2022
He warned that there was no limit to how far this sphere of influence will reach. “Call your leaders if you don’t want to eat borscht for the rest of your life,” said Yakovenko.
Illia Polosukhin: The NEAR Protocol (NEAR) co-founder attended the National Technical University "Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute" in Kharkiv, a city bearing the brunt of the Russian attack currently.
Polosukhin urged his followers to support Ukraine in a Tweet, saying, “Glory to Ukraine!” Separately he tweeted that “violence is never justified.”
You can support Ukraine and it's defenders via @BackAndAlive - https://t.co/rgRefXmDd4
— Illia Polosukhin (root.near) (, ) (@ilblackdragon) February 24, 2022
Glory to Ukraine!
The violence is never justified
— Illia Polosukhin (root.near) (, ) (@ilblackdragon) February 24, 2022
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Photo: Courtesy of World Economic Forum via Flickr