Kasta's founder on the deal with Yaroslavsky's DCH, competition with mono, subscriptions, and transformation | Ukrainian News

One of the old-timers of the Ukrainian e-commerce, – The Kasta online store almost ceased to exist twice. The first time was in 2014, when its investor, the Dutch company Naspers, decided to close it. The second time was after the start of the full-scale war, when logistics were completely blocked and sales dropped to zero.In 2022, Kasta found a new investor in Oleksandr Yaroslavsky's DCH. Thanks to his investments, the company launched a super-app that combines shopping, a Credit-Dnipro bank card, and financial services. LIGA.net I talked to Kasta founder Andriy Logvin about how they managed to gain 100,000 subscribers among Ukrainians who don't like to subscribe, and what tools help him maintain his resilience as an entrepreneur.About the deal with Yaroslavsky and the restructuring of the businessHow did the deal with DCH come about? Who approached whom?In the summer of 2022, I met Artem Alexandrov (former director of DCH. – (Ed.). At that time, he was actively building an investment portfolio, and he was interested in e-commerce industry.We have a shared vision for the future of this industry in Ukraine. We have the same understanding of how to scale the business and what synergies can be leveraged. We started our collaboration at the end of 2022.Then she joined. DCH.In what format did DCH enter the business?The partners provided a loan for our business plan with the right to convert it into shares. They exercised this right. We are not disclosing the amount of the debt. Artem's investment company is actively involved in the formation and implementation of the Kasta ecosystem strategy.What did Kasta need a loan for?No one fully realizes how difficult the situation was for our company in 2022.At the start of the full-scale war, we had one business model: an online store. We delivered and packaged 85% of the goods ourselves from our warehouse. We delivered to our own branches. We had 100-150 of our own branches and over 350 including Ukrposhta.As soon as the war started, our business model stopped working. The warehouse was on the Left Bank, in Brovary. No supplier could or planned to get there. But the goods had to be brought in, repackaged, and sent to their branches, which didn't exist.Read also"Today's snot is tomorrow's tears." How Gepur, Cher17, and Katy Soho are making money during the war.How did you restructure the business?In 2023, we fully transitioned to a marketplace model. Now, the supplier packs and ships the goods to the customer themselves, and we manage delivery, returns, and payments.What is the scale of the business today?In 2025, the website will have about 10 million SKUs. Over 1 million unique buyers per year. We are completing the scaling phase and moving on to monetization.Does this mean there will be no more investments? No, it means that the marketplace model should become break-even operationally in 2026. It should sustain itself and become profitable.I saw the amount of the declared investments – it's $150 million. This is the total amount of investment that shareholders are willing to put in over several years. It's a large sum, and we're still a long way from it.Read also"Retail and e-commerce losses reached millions." What is the scale of the Cloudflare outage in Ukraine?About the Polish market and competition with monoKasta went to Poland, what came of it?We haven't fully entered Poland. In 2024, together with Nova Poshta, we ran a pilot program offering free delivery for Ukrainian brands. This was a test of customs, taxes, and financial flows. It turned out that there were too many restrictions for rapid scaling.Therefore, together with Nova Poshta, we tried it out, invested a small amount of money, but decided to focus on the Ukrainian market.What are the key categories on Kasta right now?Apparel remains dominant, but electronics, home goods, and hygiene products are growing rapidly. We have a large audience, and the marketplace is "digesting" new categories.In 2025, Intertop entered Kasta. From the Fozzy group, the pet category was covered by E-Zoo, and children's goods by Pampik. The book category was covered by Readeat.All of us – competitors for the consumer. But competition is becoming very blurred. Just like cooperation. And it turns out that you can find common interests in a place where there seemed to be no overlap before.An example is the collaboration between Fozzy and Kasta. They have expertise in certain product categories, and we have expertise in building online marketplaces.And what about the competition with monobank? You said there was a question – whether monobank would build a marketplace faster, or Kasta. – A bank on the scale of Mono. Is there an answer to this question now?I don't think we are competitors today. I think monobank doesn't see us in fintech, and we objectively don't see monobank in retail.We are still in very different corners of the ring. And the bell hasn't even rung yet.How many Kasta and Credit-Dnipro Bank cards have already been issued?We are not disclosing the absolute figures, but it's in the tens of thousands. On good days, every third hryvnia on Kasta goes through our fintech. We expect 50% in a few months.Read also"Ukrainian women are in the mood to spend on themselves" – an interview with the co-founder of VovkHow do you implement AI?About 30% of the code is already being written using AI tools. The guys are experimenting, and we give them freedom here.How is the culture of AI implementation built within the company?We use the approach of Jensen Huang, the founder of NVIDIA. He says: you will not be replaced by artificial intelligence, you will be replaced by the person who uses artificial intelligence.The motivation for its use is very high. Objectively, a person using AI, with access to knowledge, is more powerful today in terms of efficiency than the President of the United States 20 years ago, simply by having a smartphone in their hands. This is enormous potential.There are two strategies.You can just worry and do nothing. Or, you can use AI and outperform all your colleagues many times over.Because AI is essentially an amplification of sound and capabilities.How is the implementation of an AI culture organized within the company?We hold an AI Day every two weeks. Teams present business cases where AI accelerates processes. The key metric is – velocity, the speed from idea to release.Whereas before, the path from idea to implementation took, say, six months, now cool, landmark features are released once every two weeks.Competition today has reached a point where there are no things that cannot be copied. But you cannot copy the speed of innovation, the speed of copying.The one who is more flexible and faster will win. Not the one who is smarter, but the one who can implement innovations the fastest.Subscriptions are a trendy thing right now. They are being introduced – VarusRozetka, Chernomorka. The latter are not doing very well. From your experience with the subscription model, are Ukrainians ready for it?This is not a question of the Ukrainians' readiness, but a question of the quality of the product itself.The best loyalty program in the world is Amazon Prime. Amazon has over 180 million subscribers, each paying $139. I don't believe we are any different. If you take McDonald's, it operates successfully in more than 100 countries around the world.Therefore, the issue here is the quality of execution, not which part of the world we live in.Our Modna Karta subscription was launched in 2015 when we partnered with Nova Poshta to offer unlimited, free delivery for orders.And this was one of the drivers of the company's development. This program has undergone several innovations. Today it is called Kasta Black.We have over 100,000 subscribers who pay us a substantial amount of money on an annual basis.Today, our customers who use the club subscription in Kasta Black are the key core, our cohort and audience that drives our sales.Burnout, work as therapy that keeps you going during the warHow do you cope with burnout?I believe that a person who does useful things to the best of their ability cannot burn out. Once again. If you are doing good for a large number of people, and even if it's difficult, but you see that it's useful, that it's important, then you cannot burn out.You might get physically tired. The battery might simply run out, because the physical body has its limitations.But when you are on a path that makes your existence important and useful, then, in my opinion, this is the best pill against all kinds of mental problems.Although right now, where we are, it sounds quite aggressive. But that's exactly why I advocate for such active, deep work, because it actually works as therapy today.When you're burdened by the hell that's happening, it's very difficult to pull yourself together. But if you understand that you are important and you are doing something useful, that keeps you going.How do you cope with physical fatigue?Even before the war, I realized that at 40, you can no longer live at the same pace as you did at 20 or 30. At 42, I encountered the war, and it became obvious that without the right routine, there simply wouldn't be enough energy.What have you changed in your schedule?I stopped holding long meetings. An hour used to be the norm, now it's – A maximum of 25 minutes. Otherwise, you'll just get exhausted. It's physically impossible to endure 10 meetings a day.The key role of sport. Every day. – At least an hour of exercise in the morning. It doesn't work in the evening: you're already tired, and it's hard for your body to recover. After a workout, your heart and body need to calm down, so morning workouts are optimal.Do you use "trendy" longevity practices?We've all read these books already. In reality, it's all very simple: go to bed on time, read in the evening, get up early, exercise, and eat properly.And if you religiously and disciplinedly follow the routine, it will pull everything else along with it. And you will feel the difference.You often talk about discipline. Why?There is a very simple rule in life: either you lower your ambitions or you increase your sacrifices. If you want something significant, you will have to sacrifice a lot.If you want to leave a mark on human history, you have to sacrifice a lot. And for that, you need energy. My credo is discipline, it is freedom.If you want to be financially successful, be disciplined in your spending. If you want to be healthy, be disciplined in sports and nutrition. Discipline gives you the freedom to move forward, run faster and longer.

"Monobank doesn't see us in fintech, and we don't see them in retail," – an interview with the founder of Kasta

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"Monobank doesn't see us in fintech, and we don't see them in retail," – an interview with the founder of Kasta

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