$25,000 in a future unicorn: How Viktoriya Tigipko chooses where to invest

Viktoriya Tigipko manages the venture capital fund TA Ventures, which screens up to 500 companies from around the world each year in order to... the best among them to invest from $1 million to $5 million. Her own initial investment—$25,000 in DeepL at the outset, when the company was valued at a few million—grew more than tenfold over the course of a decade. Now, it is a stake in unicorn valued at over a billion, and continuing to rise.

Why doesn't she invest in real estate and cryptocurrency...where she looks for projects with returns exceeding 10% and the next Musks and Bezos-es, and why one shouldn’t invest even a single hryvnia in a project without meeting the startup founders in person. Viktoriya Tigipko spoke about this in an interview. LIGA BusinessThe conversation has been condensed and edited for readability.