The founder of Depositphotos has launched a project to help small businesses affected by the war. Give out up to 500 thousand UAH

Depositphotos founder Dmitry Sergiev has launched the KeepGoing platform, a first aid platform for small businesses affected by the war. The fund has already raised an initial 30 million UAH and is ready to provide entrepreneurs with one-time financial support from 50 thousand to half a million UAH, depending on the size of the business and needs, DOU reported in the project.

In particular, the platform was created to help small business owners, as well as people of creative professions who have remained in Ukraine and are working in the future. On the project's website, they can talk about their experience working in wartime and apply for information, monetary or other assistance.

"Keepging is, on the one hand, a private fund created by IT entrepreneurs, which will provide monetary assistance. On the other hand, it is a media outlet where representatives of small businesses will be able to share their experience, tell their story, get advice and attract the necessary support from the audience," explained Dmitry Sergiev, founder of the platform.

Financial side of the project

According to Sergiev, he personally allocated UAH 10 million of this amount, and the rest was given by well-known IT entrepreneurs, whose business suffered less during the war.

The founder of Depositphotos specified that the fund is ready to allocate from 50 thousand UAH to 500 thousand UAH of one-time payment to entrepreneurs in need, depending on the size of their business and needs.

First of all, representatives of micro and small businesses in Ukraine can apply for help on the project's website: teams of up to 50 people or family businesses affected by the war.

At the same time, Sergiev called on other IT companies and large businesses to join the initiative.

Who has already received help

The site has already posted specific examples of 10 businesses that have received this or that support from the project. In particular, stories:

Yuriy Ursoy, who under shelling restarted production in Kharkiv and started sewing military ammunition (received 75 thousand UAH from the project);designers from Sumy, who give displaced persons "suspended" sets of underwear (received information support);two friends from Bucha and Irpen, who opened a cafe with pies in Lviv, to which there is a queue (received 12.5 thousand UAH), etc.

"We are interested in the stories of enterprises of various profiles. It is important that their activities somehow bring victory closer and are relevant for the country that is waging war. These can be both production facilities that work for the needs of the army, and creative or media projects that operate on the information Front," said Evgeny Safonov, responsible for media support in the project.

What other support does the platform provide?

In general, the project provides media, information, and financial support and launches crowdfunding fees.

It is known that the media and content part of the platform was headed by the former editor-in-chief of Bird in Flight Evgeny Safonov. He has already assembled a team of Professional Journalists and editors to work with.

In addition to developing the crowdfunding platform, the KeepGoing team aims to build a community of entrepreneurs, organize expert advice and training, and create a base of small businesses that need support.

Dmytro Sergiev is a Ukrainian IT entrepreneur, founder of Depositphotos photo stock, online editor of Crello, lightfield photo studio, bird in Flight and was media projects.

Recall that in 2021, these assets were acquired by the American company VistaPrint (part of the Cimpress holding).

Sergiev himself also told DOU why he decided to sell the company, how the deal went, and what he plans to do now.