A guide based on the text of Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 738 as amended on September 1, 2026: who can get a grant to start or scale a business, the amounts for each track, 5–50% bonuses, a table of spending caps under clause 7 calculated for UAH 300,000 and UAH 1,000,000 grants, the business plan and grounds for refusal.
As of October 2, 2026, the terms of Ukraine's grant for starting or growing your own business are set by a single document: the Procedure for Providing Grants to Start or Scale Your Own Business, approved by Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 738 of June 21, 2022. The Procedure was added to the resolution by Resolution No. 616 of May 15, 2026, and the current version of the resolution is dated September 1, 2026. This guide is based on the text of the resolution only: every amount, percentage and deadline comes with a clause number so you can check it yourself. If something is not in the text, it is not here either.
First, a word about us and about the limits of this guide. LIONEX AI First Agency builds websites, online stores and integrations. We do not advise on choosing a grant, we do not write business plans and we do not file applications. There is a separate section on the digital part of the budget at the end; everything else is reference material. This is not legal advice: check the current version of the resolution before you apply.
Resolution No. 738 still contains the text of the old Procedure for Providing Microgrants to Create or Develop Your Own Business, and its figures are what you often find in search results. Under it, a microgrant was at least UAH 50,000 and at most UAH 100,000, 200,000 or 350,000, depending on how many jobs the recipient committed to create (cl. 4 of the Microgrant Procedure).
These limits no longer apply to new applications. The preamble of the resolution states it directly: applications for a microgrant under the old Procedure, and for a grant under the Procedure for combat participants, persons with war-related disabilities and their family members, were accepted until August 1, 2026. This rule was introduced by Resolution No. 616.
What the new Procedure has instead, according to the text:
We do not list other differences: a clause-by-clause comparison requires legal analysis.
Recipients are defined in cl. 4. There are two groups.
Individuals: citizens of Ukraine aged 18 or older. This includes combat participants, persons with war-related disabilities and their family members, as well as family members of fallen (deceased) defenders of Ukraine, in the cases set out by law and by the Procedure. If the grant is awarded, the individual must register as a sole proprietor (FOP) or set up a private legal entity within 20 calendar days (cl. 4, cl. 22).
Business entities: sole proprietors and private legal entities, including veteran-owned businesses, that meet the criteria for small and medium-sized enterprises. State-owned and municipal enterprises are not eligible.
The restrictions on applicants are listed in cl. 9. Among them:
One more ground for refusal is in cl. 19: the head, founder or ultimate beneficial owner is the head, founder or beneficial owner of five or more taxpayers (excluding charities and civic organizations).
| Start | Scale | |
|---|---|---|
| Who (cl. 6) | individuals under subcl. 1 of cl. 4, plus war veterans registered as self-employed persons | business entities under subcl. 2 of cl. 4 |
| Amount (cl. 6) | UAH 100,000–300,000 | UAH 500,000–1,500,000 |
| New job | no requirement in cl. 6 | one new job is required (cl. 6, cl. 23) |
| Cap with bonuses (cl. 6) | UAH 500,000 | UAH 2,500,000 |
| Project term (cl. 10) | 2, 3 or 5 years | 2, 3 or 5 years |
If you are already registered as a sole proprietor, under the letter of cl. 6 your track is scaling, because the startup grant is addressed to individuals under subcl. 1 of cl. 4. Which track applies to a specific applicant is decided by the State Employment Center, so if your case is unclear, check with the employment center.
What happens with the jobs. They must be created within three months of the day the funds are credited, and people must be employed for at least 18, 24 or 54 months within the project term. A person who worked for the recipient during the 180 days before being hired does not count toward this condition (cl. 23). If the jobs are not created within those three months, the grant is returned in full.
The main financial condition of the agreement concerns taxes. Over the project term, the recipient pays taxes, fees and the single social contribution for themselves (for sole proprietors) and for employees. If the total paid turns out to be less than the grant, the difference is returned within two months after the project term ends (cl. 23). In other words, the grant is designed so that the business pays it back to the state through taxes.
The grant amount is based on the recipient's request within the limits of cl. 6 and can be increased:
If several conditions apply, the percentages add up, but the cap stays the same: UAH 500,000 for a startup grant and UAH 2,500,000 for a scale-up grant (cl. 6).
Two sample calculations. A startup grant of UAH 300,000 for a 22-year-old recipient who will operate in the Odesa region: 5% + 30% = 35%, for a total of UAH 405,000, which is below the cap. A scale-up grant of UAH 1,500,000 in a priority sector in a frontline region: 50% + 30% = 80%, which is UAH 2,700,000 on paper, but no more than UAH 2,500,000 can be paid.
The priority list has 16 items, including manufacturing, IT and digital products (KVED 62–63), high-value creative industries, transport and logistics, agriculture, healthcare and cybersecurity. Retail trade is not on the list.
The grant is paid by bank transfer only (cl. 6).
Clause 7 gives a closed list of spending categories. Some items have a cap as a percentage of the grant; others do not. In the table, the caps are calculated for two hypothetical amounts: UAH 300,000 (the maximum startup grant without bonuses) and UAH 1,000,000 (a scale-up grant).
| Category (cl. 7) | Spending item | Cap | Grant of UAH 300,000 | Grant of UAH 1,000,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Equipment and assets | furniture, equipment, tools, machinery, other fixed assets | no cap in the text | — | — |
| 1. Equipment and assets | vehicles for commercial or production use | no cap, but they cannot be sold before the agreement terms are met | — | — |
| 1. Equipment and assets | materials and services for repairing premises or equipment | 50% | 150,000 | 500,000 |
| 1. Equipment and assets | animals, plantings, seeds, raw materials, materials, goods and services under the business plan | 50% combined | 150,000 | 500,000 |
| 1. Equipment and assets | financial leasing of equipment (except cars and motorcycles for personal use) | 50% | 150,000 | 500,000 |
| 2. Rent | non-residential premises or land | 25% | 75,000 | 250,000 |
| 2. Rent | equipment rental | 10% | 30,000 | 100,000 |
| 3. Automation and digitalization | licensed software: accounting, CRM/ERP, cash register or inventory, cybersecurity, etc. | 25% | 75,000 | 250,000 |
| 3. Automation and digitalization | developing or improving a website and/or online store, digital process automation tools | 10% | 30,000 | 100,000 |
| 3. Automation and digitalization | setup, integration and support of digital solutions needed for the business plan | 20% | 60,000 | 200,000 |
| 4. Packaging, branding, marketing | marketing and advertising services | 10% | 30,000 | 100,000 |
| 4. Packaging, branding, marketing | brand identity, packaging design, layouts and printing of promotional materials, photo and video content, post-production | 50% | 150,000 | 500,000 |
| 4. Packaging, branding, marketing | royalties for the use of copyrighted works, related rights and industrial designs | 20% combined | 60,000 | 200,000 |
| 4. Packaging, branding, marketing | commissioned copyrighted works, if included in the business plan | 20% combined | 60,000 | 200,000 |
| 4. Packaging, branding, marketing | editing, proofreading, layout of printed materials (creative industries only) | 50% | 150,000 | 500,000 |
| 5. Workplaces | furniture, equipment, tools, workwear, protective equipment, if included in the business plan | no cap in the text | — | — |
| 6. Intellectual property | registering a trademark or industrial design, patent attorney, other payments | 20% combined | 60,000 | 200,000 |
How to read the table:
A hypothetical example: the owner of a pet store is scaling the business with a grant of UAH 1,000,000. They can budget up to UAH 500,000 for goods, raw materials and materials, up to UAH 250,000 for renting premises, up to UAH 100,000 for a website and up to UAH 100,000 for advertising. This is a calculation of the caps, not a recommendation, and this is not one of our clients.
The Procedure has no separate list of prohibited expenses. The logic is different: what is in cl. 7 is allowed, and everything else does not go into the business plan. Specific restrictions from the text:
What is not considered a violation: changing the model, brand, quantity or cost of a purchase, as long as it is functionally equivalent to what was planned, fits the categories in cl. 7 and stays within the grant amount (cl. 25). If you need to change the intended use, you file an application with an updated business plan, and the State Employment Center makes the decision (cl. 32).
The business plan is an integral part of the application, and an application without one is not reviewed (cl. 10). It is prepared according to the Regulation on Business Plans (Resolution No. 1527 of November 26, 2025). The type of economic activity in the application must match the business plan, and the project term is stated as 24, 36 or 60 months (cl. 10).
How the application is evaluated (cl. 17–18):
The evaluation procedure and criteria are set by the Ministry of Economy (cl. 16). They are not in the text of the resolution, so we do not list them either.
The main grounds for refusal under cl. 19:
If the business plan needs revision, the employment center returns it once, and you have 10 business days from the notice in your Diia Portal account. Spelling and grammar mistakes that do not distort the meaning are not grounds for returning it (cl. 20).
How to describe a website, CRM and advertising in the business plan is covered in a separate article: business plan for a grant: the section on the website, CRM and advertising.
What the text of the resolution says:
People often search for this program as "yeRobota". That name does not appear in the text of the resolution: the legal basis is this Procedure.
Clause 7 splits digital spending into four lines with different caps: a website or online store with automation tools, up to 10%; setup, integration and support of digital solutions, up to 20%; licensed software (CRM, accounting, cash register, cybersecurity), up to 25%; marketing and advertising, up to 10% of the grant. For a grant of UAH 1,000,000, that is up to UAH 100,000, 200,000, 250,000 and 100,000, respectively. Which line a specific piece of work belongs to is decided by the employment center when it reviews the business plan, and the bank pays based on an invoice or contract (cl. 31). That is why each piece of work should be a separate line item in the contract and invoice from the start, so that it maps directly to a line in cl. 7. LIONEX works as a registered sole proprietor and has done so since 2015: we build websites and online stores, set up integrations and CRM, and run advertising under a contract, an invoice and an acceptance act. We do not write the business plan or the application, we do not promise that you will get the grant, and whether the spending qualifies is decided by the employment center and the bank. How we estimate and document this kind of work is described on the website funded by a grant page.
Separately from the grant, you can pay us for work in installments: the terms for sole proprietors, companies and individuals are on the installment payment page.
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Writes about what he builds himself: online stores on OpenCart, applications on Next.js, integrations and site speed. The articles carry measurements and checks a reader can repeat on their own project, not general advice. Commercial development since 2015.
Answers to common questions on the topic
Under the Procedure for Providing Grants to Start or Scale Your Own Business (Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 738, version of September 1, 2026), a startup grant is UAH 100,000 to 300,000, and a scale-up grant is UAH 500,000 to 1,500,000 with a requirement to create one new job (cl. 6). With bonuses, the amount cannot exceed UAH 500,000 and UAH 2,500,000, respectively. This is current as of October 2, 2026; check the latest version of the resolution.
Individuals who are citizens of Ukraine aged 18 or older, including combat participants, persons with war-related disabilities and their family members. After the decision, they must register as a sole proprietor or set up a legal entity within 20 calendar days. Sole proprietors and private legal entities that meet the criteria for small and medium-sized businesses are also eligible (cl. 4). Restrictions by type of activity, territory and sanctions are listed in cl. 9.
Plus 5% for recipients aged 18–25. Plus 20% for veteran-owned businesses, VAT payers, holders of a relevant patent, internally displaced persons with more than six months of business experience, relocated businesses, or a commitment to create two jobs. Plus 30% for the listed frontline regions and the Slavutych community, and for renewing destroyed fixed assets. Plus 50% for priority sectors of the economy. The percentages add up, but the cap is UAH 500,000 for a startup grant and UAH 2,500,000 for a scale-up grant (cl. 6).
Only on the categories in cl. 7 of the Procedure: equipment and fixed assets, vehicles, repairs, raw materials and goods, rent, licensed software, a website and online store, setup and integration of digital solutions, marketing and advertising, branding and content, equipping workplaces, and registering intellectual property. Many items have a cap as a percentage of the grant, for example renting premises up to 25% and goods and raw materials up to 50% combined. Every expense must be in the business plan.
Developing or improving a website and/or online store and digital automation tools: no more than 10% of the grant. Separately, setup, integration and support of digital solutions: up to 20%; licensed software such as CRM or accounting: up to 25%; marketing and advertising: up to 10% (cl. 7). For a UAH 300,000 grant, that is up to UAH 30,000 for the website; for UAH 1,000,000, up to UAH 100,000. Which line a specific piece of work belongs to is decided by the employment center and the bank.
Yes, an application without a business plan is not reviewed (cl. 10). It is prepared under the Regulation approved by Resolution No. 1527 of November 26, 2025. Grounds for refusal under cl. 19 include failing to meet the applicant requirements, fewer than 99 points in the bank's check or fewer than 130 in total, a negative business reputation, refusing the interview, and spending categories in the business plan that are missing from cl. 7 or do not match it.
The grant is non-repayable if the agreement terms are met. Over the project term (2, 3 or 5 years), you must pay taxes, fees and the single social contribution. If the total paid is less than the grant, the difference is returned within two months after the term ends. If the grant requires new jobs and they are not created within three months, the grant is returned in full. Funds not used within three months of being credited are returned by the bank to the Fund (cl. 23).
"yeRobota" is the name people often use when searching for the program. It does not appear in the text of Resolution No. 738; the legal basis is the Procedure for Providing Grants to Start or Scale Your Own Business. The application is prepared through the Diia Portal, on your own or at a branch of an authorized bank, and signed with an electronic signature (cl. 10). Final deadlines are set by the Ministry of Economy. LIONEX does not file applications or write business plans.
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