Kwambio is engaged in 3D printing with ceramics and was founded in 2013–2014. Its products are manufactured on proprietary equipment, and the company positions itself as a tech startup bringing an unusual product to market. Until recently, the business looked promising: the project won awards, attracted investors, and promised expansion. In autumn 2020, the picture changed.
According to AIN.UA, employees spoke of salary arrears for three months, for seven months, of half salaries from October 2019, and of dismissal without notice. The delays lasted nearly a year, and from September 2020 payments stopped completely. In September, an Odesa court rejected a former employee's lawsuit due to lack of evidence, which against the backdrop of other complaints looks more like a formal outcome than a vindication of the company.
Three Explanations for One Crisis
Three people commented. Non-executive director Alex Bart said that part of the debts had already been paid and that the staff had been cut from 25 to 10 people. According to him, “All our turnover came from the US and we couldn't keep a full staff on salaries…”
Dmytro Skomorokhov, CEO of Kwambio and the ADAM project, was more candid than the others. He confirmed that funding had run out and that the spring 2020 round of $300,000 had fallen through. The editorial team quoted him verbatim:
Investments ran out, the new round fell through. Sales stopped. There was no support from anyone.
Volodymyr Usov himself attributed the crisis to the closure of Chinese supplies due to quarantine. This lengthened the production cycle, and without components, output slowed. That is exactly how Usov explained the financial difficulties, and he named no other reasons in his conversation with AIN.UA.
Six Years of Investment
Over six years, Kwambio raised about $1.7 million. The first major contribution came in 2014: the company won the international IDCEE competition with a prize of €15,000 and received $500,000 from an Odesa company. In 2015, the project received $650,000 from TechStars Boston and angels. TechStars is one of the well-known startup accelerators, which typically invests money in exchange for equity and puts participants through a short mentorship program.
In 2017, Kwambio received $500,000 from Empire State Capital Partners and Impulse VC. The Impulse VC fund, according to media reports, is linked to Roman Abramovich. In 2018, the company took $20,000 for 6 percent of capital and a $100,000 convertible loan. In 2019, the ADAM project appeared in the structure, which received seed investment from WeFund.
Usov, Public Service, and Court Cases
Volodymyr Usov is known primarily as the founder of Gutenbergz, a company that since 2011 produced interactive books and electronic textbooks. It was Gutenbergz that in 2019 found itself at the center of a criminal proceeding by the State Bureau of Investigations concerning textbook procurement through the Ministry of Education. Searches at Usov's home and office took place in December 2019, before his appointment, as TSN reported. According to AIN.UA, the search warrant in the Gutenbergz case was issued on December 17, 2019. There is no verdict in this case.
On January 24, 2020, the government appointed Usov as head of the State Space Agency for five years with a six-month probationary period. In July 2020, according to Antikor, more than one hundred people's deputies demanded his dismissal. Usov continued his public work: giving interviews, presenting agency programs, and speaking about international cooperation. This combination of a government position with managing a private business became one of the topics against the backdrop of complaints from Kwambio employees.
What the Company Plans
In a conversation with AIN.UA, management described the next steps. The company planned to move to an IT hub at 93 Kanatna Street in Odesa, where the first three months are promised free placement. The launch of printing was planned for December 2020, and negotiations with an investor, according to participants, were ongoing. How these plans would be realized remained unknown in November 2020.
1
