How Win-Win EDIH Helps Startups and SMEs Become More Attractive to Investors

In 2025, the network of European Digital Innovation Hubs began operating in Ukraine. Each hub has its own profile, team, and focus on specific regions or sectors.

Win-Win EDIH is one of them, working to make digital transformation of business, universities, and the public sector happen through practical steps and real interaction.

Not every startup or small business immediately sees itself as an EDIH client. Often the reaction is: “we’re already digital.” But the essence of digital transformation isn’t about deploying yet another CRM system or updating a website. Comprehensive digitalization of a business means new approaches to scaling and the flexibility to adapt a business model to the challenges and risks entrepreneurs face — which is exactly what makes a project attractive to an investor.

That’s where Win-Win EDIH comes in — as an entry point for systematically preparing startups and SMEs for investment.

How it works

Win-Win EDIH doesn’t allocate investment directly. The hub focuses on creating the preconditions that help a startup or SME become more mature, structured, and attractive to potential investors — both local angels and European funds. In other words, it prepares the project and the team for a new stage of development, including raising investment. This work happens in several stages.

I. Digital Maturity Assessment (DMA). This is the starting point. The tool helps a business understand where it currently stands, what its strengths are, what needs strengthening, and which direction to move in. After the assessment, the team receives a roadmap of changes needed to bring the project to a new level.

II. Test before invest. For hardware or deep-tech teams, access to testing environments is essential. Win-Win EDIH helps organize the verification and testing of ideas, prototypes, or digital solutions. This happens in the partner laboratories of the three universities that co-founded the hub: Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman, and the Chernihiv and Zhytomyr Polytechnics.

III. Cybersecurity, cloud solutions, legal readiness. These aspects often become critical when preparing to raise investment. The hub helps with audits, basic cybersecurity recommendations, or refers teams to specialized partners.

IV. Individual consultations. These can cover a project’s business model, product architecture, investor communications, or grant participation. Participants get support from practitioners who have themselves worked with investors or prepared other teams for that process. Everything is easy to apply to one’s own case, and if questions or difficulties arise, help from hub experts is close at hand.

V. Events and training. The hub offers a range of services that help develop skills for quality product development. For example, in May, Win-Win EDIH clients attended events including:

Incubation Community Days: Deep Tech Startups. A two-day program with a Q&A discussion with investors and founders, a pitching masterclass, and business-model analysis — all to help early-stage startups better understand real market requirements.
Bootcamp “From Overthinking to Prototyping” with Movadex co-founder Salome Mikadze. An online program focused on building an MVP without developers, using no-code/low-code tools. Founders learned to validate ideas quickly and cheaply.
Communications workshop for international events. How to craft a pitch and how not to lose contacts after a conference — practical tools from the experts at SLOVA Tech PR. Recordings of the events are available on the WIN2EDIH YouTube channel.

VI. Ecosystem support. The Win-Win EDIH consortium includes the Ukrainian Startup Fund and the accelerators YEP Accelerator and Vacuum Deep Tech Acceleration. This community ensures a deep understanding of startups’ needs and development cycle. WIN2EDIH also cooperates with other European Digital Innovation Hubs and startup programs, organizing joint events and experience exchange.

VII. Comprehensive investor-matching preparation. Win-Win EDIH builds a database of interested investors in Ukraine and across Europe, and prepares teams for meetings with them, helping put together a solid pitch deck and find the right format for engagement.

What does a startup get as a result?

Teams that have gone through the Win-Win EDIH journey have a clearer understanding of their entry point to investment, formulate their proposition better, and communicate with potential partners more confidently. Some have received invitations to international programs; others have gotten expert feedback on refining their product and are now implementing meaningful changes.

All participants come away with a structured approach to development and a consistent set of steps leading to results.

Starting to work with Win-Win EDIH is simple: just fill out a short form. This will help the hub team better understand your needs and select the most relevant services.

More information about available services and programs can be found in the catalogue on the Innovation Ukraine platform.

For reference: this material was created as part of the activities of the National Contact Point for the Digital Europe Programme in Ukraine, a function performed by the Office for Entrepreneurship and Export Development, with support from the GIZ Project “Digital Transformation of SMEs in Eastern Partnership Countries.”