Investor and IT Entrepreneur Sergey Tokarev Spoke About the Potential of Ukraine’s Healthtech Market

The war has been a tough test of endurance and speed for Ukraine’s healthcare system. When the system came under unprecedented strain, simple solutions were no longer enough—there was a need for tools that could be deployed immediately and scaled without compromising quality. That is why doctors, engineers, and start-up founders began developing technologies capable of meeting critical needs: from trauma care and rehabilitation to logistics and improving patients’ access to doctors. As a result, Ukraine has become one of the most compelling healthtech hubs in the world—a market where innovations are tested in real life every day.

Investor and IT entrepreneur Sergey Tokarev emphasises that Ukraine offers a rare combination of factors: a strong technical talent pool, a start-up ecosystem tempered by crises, digital public infrastructure, regulatory changes that support growth, and exceptionally high demand that shortens adoption cycles for new products.

Ukrainian Healthtech in Figures and Examples

2024 showed that Ukrainian tech teams could attract substantial investment even in extremely challenging conditions: the ten largest funding rounds in Ukraine (across all sectors) totalled more than $300 million. One of the most notable healthtech cases was Esper Bionics, which raised $5 million in a round led by YZR Capital.

At the same time, the support infrastructure is maturing. The Ukrainian Startup Fund and UVCA provide funding, connections, and mentoring, while local venture firms such as Horizon Capital and u.ventures—together with global initiatives like Google for Startups and USAID-supported programmes—strengthen the ecosystem with resources and expertise.

Ukraine also did not start from scratch. For example, the Helsi platform was developed before the full-scale invasion. Today, it has 29 million registered patients.

‘The digital foundation was already in place. The war only accelerated its rollout and further development,’ Sergey Tokarev emphasises.

Another example is Liki24, a marketplace for medical products that helps users find and purchase medicines from nearby pharmacies. Projects like this show that scaling is possible even when the market is under wartime pressure.

Three Areas Where Ukrainian Solutions Are Already Delivering Results

Tokarev highlights mental health, rehabilitation and prosthetics, as well as data and logistics—areas where Ukraine’s healthtech sector has already made significant progress.

• Data and logistics. The full-scale invasion exposed gaps in injury tracking, digitisation, and supply chain management. In response, many start-ups are building diagnostic tools, developing medical record platforms, and creating supply-chain software.

• Mental health. Due to the war, nearly 10 million Ukrainians are at risk of developing mental health conditions, including 1.4 million children. Mindly and Aspichi offer systemic, technology-driven approaches: Mindly provides remote psychological support, while Aspichi has developed the immersive VR system Luminify.

• Rehabilitation and prosthetics. In the near future, Ukraine may face the prospect of 20,000–50,000 people living with amputations. Several companies are working on modern solutions, including SYLA, which is developing an AI-enabled bionic knee prosthesis.

‘Investors should take a closer look at Ukrainian healthtech. Technologies that prove effective in extreme conditions often perform well in other markets too,’ Sergey Tokarev says.