Dasha and Ilya Kichuk are battling to keep their dream alive.

The couple started effa in 2018 to replace disposable plastic products, like hotel toothbrushes, with eco-friendly ones. Their design approach, which uses paper made of sugar-cane pulp, helped them initially raise $500,000 and land deals with major hospitality chains around the globe. Then, last year, war broke out in their home country of Ukraine, where effa was headquartered.

“I remember having customer calls sitting in a war bunker, hearing rockets and bombs outside,” Dasha told 500 Global in a recent interview. “But you have to do this to save your team, to save your family. What else can you do as a founder?” 

When the war started in Ukraine, Dasha said several potential customers dropped off. As she put it, they were “scared to pay a team that might actually die tomorrow.” 

However, market trends seem to be on effa’s side. In January, California banned single-use plastic dispensers in hotel rooms, and in 2021, the EU restricted the sale of certain single-use plastics – like cutlery, coffee stirrers, and cotton bud sticks – when alternatives are available.

Earlier this year, effa earned a spot in 500’s Global Flagship Accelerator Program, an experience which brought Dasha, Ilya, and their three-year old son to Silicon Valley.

“It was one of the happiest days of my life,” Dasha said, remembering the acceptance email she received from 500. “One day, you don’t know whether you will wake up the next morning and another day, you are in California rebuilding your company.” 

Effa’s first product to market was a 100% recyclable toothbrush, and recently, they started selling razors with handles made from the company’s sugarcane-based paper formula. Soon, they also plan to release single-use toothpaste pouches and more. 

Dasha says the opportunity for effa is massive, even with its focus on hospitality and corporate clients. According to a 2019 report, a 200-room hotel alone can use some 300,000 single-use plastic products each month. 

Beyond its B2B customers, the team plans to sell their toothbrushes, razors, and more directly to consumers. Importantly, Dasha says effa’s paper-based formula is cheaper to produce than other eco-friendly competitors in the space who use bamboo. 

“We decided to invest because of effa’s exciting momentum and growth in both B2B and DTC channels, as well as their overall mission of championing sustainability,” Jacqueline Young, an investor at 500 Global, said. 

Dasha said being in Silicon Valley and building their networks in the area has helped effa land meetings with major, institutional investors that they previously “hadn’t ever dreamt of meeting.” And, throughout the Global Flagship Accelerator Program, she said 500 has been quick to connect them with fellow founders and mentors whenever they run into operational roadblocks.

“It’s like being in a huge family of entrepreneurs who face the same struggles, who know how companies should be built,” she said. 

For Dasha and her team, the road to creating a more sustainable future has been hard fought. Still, they continue on. 

“It’s a really big dream of ours to make this a worldwide company,” Dasha said, adding that she now advises would-be founders to only pursue starting a startup “if you love the idea so much that you would even do it through a war.”