Recap of the fifth season of "Closing the Round": we recall the most interesting episodes of the main podcast about technology
Kyiv • UNN
The podcast "Closing the Round" has reached the middle of its fifth season, covering topics from investments to technology. Guests included Mykhailo Fedorov and other influential figures.
The technology podcast "Closed Round", partnered by the IT company FAVBET Tech, has reached the middle of its fifth season, reports UNN.
Behind us are 26 episodes and dozens of hours of conversations about investments, startups and technologies, as well as an overview of popular culture phenomena and interviews with people who are changing the Ukrainian technology market. Let's recall the most popular and resonant ones.
The first episodes of the season began with deep analyses of cases of global and Ukrainian companies and iconic personalities: how Sam Altman turned OpenAI into a commercial phenomenon, why startups vitally need creativity (says Ihor Finashkin from I AM IDEA), and what happens when technology giants like Google become too influential.
Next, the hosts of "Closed Round" analyzed in detail how the largest venture fund Softbank "drained" 100 billion dollars, how Victoria Tigipko created a successful investment portfolio of TA Ventures, and also talked about the influence of Peter Thiel on the American elections and the phenomenon of the popularity of vertical micro-series of Ukrainian production.
Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov on the podcast "Closed Round"
One of the most popular episodes of the season was an exclusive with Mykhailo Fedorov, Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, who shared details of the Ministry of Digital Affairs' work, the development of the "Diia" project, and his own productivity secrets. Viewers were no less actively watching releases about startup niches according to Y Combinator, investment strategies of Andriy Fedoriv, as well as about the success of a neobank for cryptocurrencies and the case of Stripe - the most expensive fintech in the world.
HOW MYKHAILO FEDOROV MANAGES THE MINISTRY OF DIGITAL AFFAIRS
"In the fifth season, we decided to talk not only about traditional technological projects, such as SoftBank, or investments in the industry, but also about how the technological world affects classic industries, such as the creation of vertical series or how social networks made Formula 1 popular again. It is very interesting to understand this," says co-author Ilya Kabachinsky.
The latest episodes are dedicated to the hottest technology news and trends: the big deal to acquire Uklon and Tabletki.ua by Kyivstar, the phenomenon of the Chinese AI giant DeepSeek, and the impact of popular podcasters on US politics ("How Joe Rogan and podcasters brought Trump to power"). In addition, they talked with Alna Mysko about the success of the Ukrainian startup Fuelfinance and with the ex-president of Kyivstar Petro Chernyshov about his approach to technology investments.
"In the new season, we started inviting guests who talk about niches, for example, how payments work. It turned out that the audience is interested in this, the views are large, and most importantly, organic," adds podcast co-author Anton Poleskov.
Anton Poleskov and Ilya Kabachinsky assure that even more interesting guests and unexpected topics await the viewers. "We already have so many guests ahead, our editor is already working even on weekends. It seems that we have not covered even 3% of those we can call" - say the presenters.
The constant partner of the podcast is the IT company with Ukrainian DNA FAVBET Tech, a developer of solutions for the entertainment industry and an active participant in the technological community of Ukraine. The company is a resident of Diia.City, a member of the IT Ukraine Association. FAVBET Tech is among the top 50 product IT companies in Ukraine.
