According to a study by the Better Regulation Delivery Office (BRDO), the top 30 IT companies in Ukraine earned $2.5 billion in revenue and paid $53 million in income tax to the state budget in 2023. The total revenue of the ranked companies decreased by 6% compared to 2022.
Reasons for the decline in revenues
It is noted that among the reasons for the decline in revenues of IT companies in Ukraine are a drop in demand for IT services, the opening of offices and the departure of IT specialists abroad, and the redistribution of the group’s business between several legal entities.
At the same time, 15 out of the 30 largest IT companies in Ukraine had lower revenues in 2023 than in 2022.
Largest companies by revenue
The five largest service companies by revenue were headed by EPAM Systems, GlobalLogic, EPAM Digital, Luxoft, and Intellias, and the product companies were Fintech band, Playtika, Playtech, Prom, and UPC.
The fintech band, EPAM Systems, and GlobalLogic demonstrate the highest net profit, generating 47% of the Top 30 net profits.
In 2023, the ranked IT companies paid $53 million in income tax to the budget, 12.5% less than in 2022. Fintech band and EPAM Systems accounted for half the income tax the ranked companies paid.
Five of the Top 30 companies became payers of the Exit Capital Tax (ECT), one of Diia. The city’s advantage was that it allowed them to significantly reduce the tax burden on businesses. GlobalLogic became the largest ECT payer, paying $350 thousand in tax in 2023 compared to $9 million in income tax in 2022.
The Ukrainian IT market continues to use the sole proprietorship model of cooperation with specialists. Still, in 2023, the full-time employment of the top 30 companies increased by 24% to 10.5 thousand employees.
Some companies have set up additional legal entities to take advantage of all the benefits of residency in Diia.City, including taxation of full-time employees. Thus, last year, EPAM Digital increased its staff by 2.5 thousand people and Softserve Technologies – by 1.2 thousand people. Regarding income per IT specialist, the absolute leader is the video game developer Playtika, with $6.9 thousand per month.
The 2023 Top 30 ranking includes new companies such as Modus X, a developer of SCM Group, system integrator Seeton Group, Favbet Tech, and several Softserve companies.
At the same time, Metinvest Digital (SCM Group), the Ukrainian division of Snap Inc., Visa, the service company Star, and video game developers Wargaming and Ubisoft left the Top 30 list.
