Minus 16,000 individual entrepreneurs: how the Ukrainian IT business changed in the first half of 2025
Kyiv • UNN
In the first quarter of 2025, the number of terminated IT individual entrepreneurs reached 16.7 thousand, which is three times more than last year, due to the restoration of access to the Unified State Register after a cyberattack. However, in the first half of 2025, 18.5 thousand new IT entrepreneurs were registered, which is only 4.8% less than in the same period of 2024.
Despite the wave of IT FOP liquidations at the beginning of 2025, the Ukrainian IT industry demonstrates unexpected resilience. The number of new registrations has remained almost unchanged, and the map of entrepreneurial activity has expanded to new regions. YouControl.Market analysts researched the key trends shaping the modern portrait of IT entrepreneurship in Ukraine, writes UNN.
Mass liquidation
In the first quarter of 2025, the number of terminated IT FOPs reached a record 16.7 thousand - three times more than last year. However, despite the initial impression, this is not about a large-scale crisis in the industry. This surge was rather technical: it arose after access to the Unified State Register (USR) was restored, whose work was paralyzed by a cyberattack at the end of 2023.
For almost two months, FOPs were unable to close their activities, and as soon as the register started working on January 9, they massively began to do so. In the second quarter, the situation leveled out: the number of liquidations decreased to 8.8 thousand, approaching last year's figures.
Almost as many openings registered
Despite the turmoil, interest in opening IT FOPs remains. In the first half of 2025, 18.5 thousand new entrepreneurs were registered in the IT sector - only 4.8% less than in the same period of 2024. This indicates the stability of the industry even in difficult conditions of war, relocation, and market changes. However, taking into account the record number of liquidations, the overall balance for the half-year is negative: there were 7 thousand more terminations than registrations.
New growth regions
Traditionally, Kyiv remains the leader in the number of IT FOPs - 3.7 thousand new registrations in the first half of the year. Lviv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, and Kyiv regions are also in the top five.
But this year, other regions also began to show themselves. Zakarpattia region showed an increase in the number of new IT FOPs by 28.7%, Poltava - by 17.5%, Rivne - by 14.1%. This indicates market decentralization and the relocation of entrepreneurs to safer regions with lower living and rental costs.
Women maintain leadership
Women maintain leadership among new IT entrepreneurs: in the first half of 2025, they accounted for 51.6% of all opened FOPs. This confirms their active participation in the development of the industry. However, on the other hand, women make up an increasing share among those who cease operations: in the second quarter of 2025, this figure rose to 39% against 29.6% in 2024. Possible reasons are emotional burnout, family responsibilities in wartime, relocation, or reorientation to other types of activities.
Reference
For the study, a sample of individual entrepreneurs whose main activity corresponds to the IT sphere was formed. The list includes NACE codes covering programming, telecommunications, data processing, IT consulting, web portal operation, and other related areas.
To identify the dynamics of changes, analysts compared the indicators for the first half of 2025 with the same period in 2024, using data from the YC.Market platform.