Khrystyna Penyk

Worth knowing

She sources and diligences early-stage fintech deals and handles the transactional side herself, a habit carried over from years practising corporate law. She also knows the Central and Eastern European startup scene from the inside, and the immigrant founder route into Canadian tech. Worth writing if you are raising at the fintech seed stage or building across Canada and CEE.

Story

Khrystyna was born and raised in a small village in Western Ukraine near the Carpathian mountains, studied law in Kyiv and Budapest, and began her career doing M&A and private capital work at Baker McKenzie's Kyiv office. In 2021 she went in-house at Genesis, one of Ukraine's largest tech companies, where work on the payments platform Solidgate, later spun out as its own business, pulled her into fintech. She also spent time at Flyer One Ventures, backing early-stage companies across Central and Eastern Europe. She joined Luge Capital in Toronto as an Investment Analyst and was promoted to Investment Associate, supporting portfolio companies after the cheque. In February 2023 she and Eli Costea held the first event of the community they built for Eastern Europeans in Canadian tech.

In Khrystyna's words

Moved from Ukraine to Canada in 2022. Worked as a fintech investor & tech community builder in Toronto before moving to Los Angeles.

Highlights

• Innovate Finance Women in FinTech Powerlist 2024, Rising Stars
• Former M&A and private capital lawyer, Baker McKenzie Kyiv
• In-house counsel at Genesis, worked on payments platform Solidgate
• LLM, International Business Law, Central European University