Metinvest Digital, the IT subsidiary of Ukraine’s largest privately owned business group, has set its sights on winning clients beyond the Metinvest mining and metals group. The company has strengthened its research and development function and established several new divisions to boost software sales. Forbes has learned what prompted this shift and what scaling strategy the company has adopted.
Metinvest Digital is building a team to attract new external clients, says Serhii Detiuk, CEO of Metinvest Digital, who returned to the role in August 2025 after a two-year break. “We need to reboot Metinvest Digital and the digital function across Metinvest Group as a whole,” he adds.
Currently, the IT company derives around 90% of its revenues from Metinvest Group. In January 2025, the Group suspended one of its most profitable assets, Pokrovske Coal. “The suspension of Pokrovske generated a multiplier effect,” says Detiuk.
According to YouControl, Metinvest Digital’s revenues fell by 8% to UAH801 million in the first half of 2025, while the company posted a loss of UAH21.7 million. “We lost the direct volume of services we provided to Pokrovske,” says Detiuk. “Other companies within the Group have also been forced to reduce their fixed costs, including IT services.”
In the first half of 2025, the Group reported a loss of US$58 million. Revenues declined by 13% to US$3.55 billion. So, what is Metinvest Digital’s plan?
Rebooting Metinvest Digital
For 2024, Metinvest Digital ranked fourth among the largest IT subsidiaries as measured by revenues. Despite the decline in the first half of 2025, the company aims to regain the strong financial performance of 2024 – a profitable year – by the end of 2025, says Detiuk.
Metinvest Digital was established as a standalone IT company in 2018, taking responsibility for fully covering the IT needs of the mining and metals group. In 2021, it generated a record UAH1.1 billion in revenues, according to YouControl, making it the largest IT subsidiary at the time.
“We exist because the holding needs us, not to operate on the open market,” says Detiuk. “However, we must respond to the current situation. We cannot continue to work as we did before.”
Metinvest Digital currently generates up to 10% of its revenues from clients outside the Group. As of October 2025, the company had eight such customers, including the fixed-line operator Ukrtelecom, PUMB Bank and the state enterprise Medical Procurement of Ukraine.
The company has set an ambitious goal of tripling the number of such clients over the next two to three years. “Earning from IT is not typical for an in-house company,” notes Detiuk. “Trying to change that is a challenge for us.”
The long-term goal, he adds, is to reach a point where it earns 30% of revenues from dozens of external clients.
How Metinvest Digital is seeking new customers
Portfolio expansion will be driven by a new Business Development Directorate, established over the summer. It brings together the centres of expertise, the project office and external sales teams. The new division is headed by Yurii Chernetskyi, who served as CEO of Metinvest Digital from 2023 to August 2025.
The strategy, Detiuk says, is to market existing IT solutions previously developed for internal use. For example, over just two months this autumn, the company rolled out several AI assistants designed to support internal technical helpdesks, HR teams, finance departments and legal teams.
“We are already demonstrating a legal assistant, trained on regulatory frameworks relevant to our business, for two external clients in Ukraine,” says Detiuk. “With the necessary investment, it can be adapted to any market.”
In parallel, the company offers SAP module implementation services. It is the only provider in Ukraine with SAP Application Centre of Expertise (ACCoE) partner status. The company also has experience in migrating data to Microsoft Azure and deploying cybersecurity solutions.
“We are also exploring other products and services currently in demand on the market,” adds Detiuk. “We are expanding our expertise in these areas so we can offer them to clients.”
To support this goal, Metinvest Digital strengthened its research and development function in July. Within Chernetskyi’s team, former Head of R&D Maksym Balaniuk took charge of innovation implementation and growth. In August, the company also appointed Oleksandr Pronkin as Director of IT Services; he was previously CIO at Infopulse.
Additionally, the company aims to appoint a new HR Director by the year-end. “This person must continue to steer the company through its reorientation so that we can scale up and deliver new projects as soon as they emerge,” says Detiuk.
Metinvest Digital is primarily targeting the Ukrainian market. In the future, it plans to engage clients in Italy, Bulgaria and Poland, where Metinvest Group has production facilities and distribution businesses. “However, we are not yet setting a strict goal to enter other markets. There are still many barriers, such as language and the location of our workforce,” Detiuk notes.
