European startups, investors, and accelerators

CCross-Border Impact (Poland-Ukraine)

The Cross-Border Impact Venture Accelerator (also known as Unsung Tech’s Poland-Ukraine program) is a fully online accelerator launched in 2022 to support young Ukrainian entrepreneurs in building humanitarian and impact-focused startups amid the ongoing crisis. This unique six-month program was co-founded by Polish and international tech non-profits in response to the war in Ukraine, aiming to empower Ukrainian youth (often refugees or internally displaced) to address challenges faced by their communities. The program provides equity-free stipends to participants (to cover living and working costs), mentorship in business fundamentals and pitching, and connections to NGOs and international partners. Topics emphasized include leadership under adversity, social entrepreneurship, and financial planning in volatile environments. Notably, the accelerator connects startups with NGOs across seven countries to pilot their solutions in real humanitarian contexts. For example, a cohort team developing a mobile app for reconnecting separated families was paired with relief organizations working in Poland and Ukraine to test and deploy the app. Other startup ideas have included portable water purification units, mental health support platforms, and low-cost prosthetics – all direly needed due to war impacts. The accelerator is run online with occasional in-person meetups in safe locations (e.g., at Google for Startups Warsaw), enabling participants dispersed across Ukraine, Poland, and beyond to collaborate. By late 2023, the Cross-Border Impact Accelerator had supported two cohorts (around 20 startups). Successes included one venture securing grant funding from UNICEF to expand a digital education tool for Ukrainian children, and another joining a global humanitarian tech competition. The program is backed by international donors and tech companies’ CSR arms. Its broader significance lies in showing how entrepreneurship can be a tool for resilience: instead of seeing war-affected youth solely as victims, it empowers them as innovators solving problems like displacement, infrastructure damage, and trauma. The name “Unsung Tech” reflects the mission to uplift underrepresented voices and create solutions that might otherwise go unsung. In sum, the Cross-Border Impact Accelerator stands out as a bold initiative turning tragedy into an impetus for social innovation, forging a new generation of Ukrainian impact-driven founders even in the face of adversity.