Usov calls Kwambio a “next-generation manufacturing company,” not an IT company. The path to that definition began long before printers. In 2010 he bought his first iPad, and the idea of interactive books became his starting point. In 2011, the publishing house Gutenbergz appeared in Odesa, and on 2 December 2012, “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” for iPad was released on the App Store. The launch came a year later than planned, and the start cost around $25,000. In 2013, Usov saw a 3D printer for the first time at an exhibition in New York, and that episode determined the route that followed.
Manufacturing Instead of the Internet
The main idea of the interview concerns what Ukraine can earn from. Usov believes the country is suited to hardware, not websites: “Ukraine is a great place for hardware manufacturing, but not for classic internet services.” From this he derives a proposal to make the country a hub for high-tech manufacturing and to create a ministry of innovation. Separately, he argues that business should not be mixed with politics. According to him, he himself left politics in 2014, where he headed the Odesa branch of Batkivshchyna.
The manufacturing side of Kwambio is already operating. Printer assembly takes place in Odesa, and in September 2016 the company announced a ceramic 3D printing factory designed to produce up to 1,000 items per month. In January 2018, at the CES exhibition in Las Vegas, the company presented the Ceramo One: a ceramic printer priced at $25,000 with a resolution of 20 microns and a print speed of 160 mm/s. According to, it was this model that General Electric ordered in 2018. The company also names Stanley among its clients. A year later, at CES 2019, Kwambio showed the Ceramo Zero Max for $5,000 and the Ceramo Two for $45,000, dividing the line by price and purpose.
A Kickstarter Nation
Usov’s metaphor of a “kickstarter nation” works not as praise but as a diagnosis. After 2014, by his assessment, Ukraine lives in a mode of raising money on the go, and he describes it thus:
Today Ukraine looks more like a huge crowdfunding platform
From this assessment follows his conclusion for an investor: he would not invest in such a country, just as he would not invest in a startup. However, by the time of the interview Kwambio had already raised money. In October 2014, the company was launched by Usov and Dmytro Kryvoshei, co-founder and CTO of Kwambio in 2014–2015. In June 2015, the team joined the summer cohort of Techstars Boston, consisting of 12 teams, and received $650,000 from Techstars and angels. In October 2017, the company raised another $500,000 from Empire State Capital Partners and Impulse VC.
ADAM and Timelines
The company’s most ambitious project, the medical ADAM, has not yet moved beyond preclinical stages. In April 2019, WeFund Ventures joined it, and the project itself is connected to bioglass and biopolymer. The company expects the results of preclinical studies by the end of 2019, and plans a full launch by the end of 2020. Usov leads ADAM as CEO, and by the logic of the interview, it is this project that should show whether a Ukrainian team can bring a medical technology to market, and not just sell printers.
In January 2020, LIGA published a follow-up devoted to ADAM’s preclinical animal testing.
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