Ukrainian IT giant Ciklum attracts investment from US PE fund; expansion planned.

U.S.-based global technology investment platform Recognize Partners is investing in Ciklum, one of the five largest IT outsourcing companies in Ukraine.
The company disclosed neither the sum of its investment nor the stake in Ciklum, citing business-sensitive information.
Ciklum will spend money on hiring new specialists. Now over 3,500 people work for the company. Its offices are located in Ukraine, Belarus, Spain, Poland and Pakistan.
“New investors see career opportunities for both current and new employees. We are currently increasing our teams locally and, in particular in Ukraine, we offer 100-150 jobs per month,” the press service of Ciklum wrote to the Kyiv Post.
“We plan to continue this growth aiming to double the number of employees in Ukraine during the next two-three years.”
In addition, Recognize’s partners – Frank D’Souza, Rajeev Mehta, Josh Miller – will join the board of directors at Ciklum.
“Ciklum is perfectly positioned to meet the demand for cutting-edge technological solutions with the exceptional quality of engineering talent it brings to clients. We look forward to supporting and accelerating the Company’s growth,” D’Souza said in its statement.
At the same time, AVentures Capital, a minority shareholder of Ciklum since 2019, sold its stake.
“It’s a happy ending after 5 years of joint history. In 2015, we attracted investments from the leading American investment fund to Ciklum. At that time, it was the largest investment in a Ukrainian IT company. After that, the Ukrainian IT sector received a wave of interest from international funds,” Andrey Kolodyuk, founder and managing partner of AVentures Capital, said, recalling the investment the company received from George Soros. Kolodyuk also has been a member of Ciklum’s board of directors since 2015.
Recognize is a newly established private equity fund. Its founders are Frank D’ Souza, co-founder and former CEO of Cognizant, Charles Phillips, former CEO of Infor and former President of Oracle, and financier David Wasserman, a long-time partner at Clayton, Dubilier & Rice.
Recognize manages $1 billion in investments.

Recognize isn’t the single investor in Ciklum. In February 2019 Ciklum sold its minority stakes to two Ukrainian investment companies — Dragon Capital and AVentures Capital.
Earlier, in 2015, the Ukrainian Redevelopment Fund headed by billionaire philanthropist George Soros bought a stake in Ciklum.
According to the estimates of AIN.ua, Ukrainian tech media outlet, Ciklum was worth about $150 million in 2019.