A recent buy of a Ukrainian startup by a Google-owned company has given the nation a rare chance to shine globally. The multimillion-dollar deal between Motorola Mobility, an American telecommunications equipment corporation owned by Google, and Ukraine’s facial recognition technology company Viewdle was announced last month.
“Ukraine appeared on the world’s map of business ventures,” said Andriy
Kolodiuk, managing partner at Aventures Capital, a venture firm focused on
businesses in Ukraine and Russia. “When such a reputable company as Google buys
a company it means the country’s (information technology sphere is becoming
attractive) for investors.”
His company was the first in Ukraine with a similar experience in 2006,
when it sold its stake of United Software Corporation to American fund DFG Nexus. It was focused on
microsystems programming, mainframe services, financial, telecoms and other solutions.
“The test of the pen was made that time,” Kolodiuk said. The deal was
worth just a few million dollars, according to him, but it was very important
as with it “international venture capital has started flowing into Ukraine.”
The Ukrainian startup Viewdle offers real-time face, object and gesture
recognition technology products, including automated photo tagging that allows
people in videos and photos to be identified.
Bloomberg, a US business newswire, estimated that Viewdle was purchased
for $45 million, referring to sources familiar with the matter. Kolodiuk said: “This company is worth the
money.”
Yegor Anchishkin, co-founder of Viewdle, said he could not comment on
the details of the deal. But Kolodiuk said Google really knew what it was
looking for when they started eying this startup.
“Google had already bought companies focused on facial-recognition
technology,” Kolodiuk said. “But the fact it purchased Viewdle means it has
(found) something it didn’t get from previous acquisitions.”
It took the company six years to get there, Anchinshkin said. “Dozens of
companies (around the world) are working on a facial-recognition technology but
only a few have achieved results,” says Anchishkin. “This kind of technology is
universal at some point. That’s why it has been global since its first days.”
Viewdle’s research and development team, including some 40 Ukrainian
programmers was based in Kyiv, but the company itself was registered in
Delaware, USA. The reason for US registration, apart from a better business
climate, is better intellectual property protection, said Anchishkin.
He said that he felt that Ukraine would not give him the protection he
would need in the future. But after the deal, Anchishkin has no command over
the product that now formally belongs to Motorola Mobility. He also admitted
that “there are only a few companies among those headquartered in California’s
Silicon Valley which are managed by Ukrainians.”
“We’ve chosen a place that is better in terms of intellectual property
(protection),” Anchyshkin says. “The company was initially oriented for
producing commercial products,” he added. In this case entrepreneurs should
take into account “the marketplace.”
As for now there are “dozens of startups” in Ukraine which can
potentially go global, according to Anchyshkin. But to attract foreign
investors Ukraine’s business climate has to be improved and “it’s not only
about the tax system,” he said. “The sphere of IT education should be improved.
We need more qualified programmers,” he said. “Some of the graduates will then
set up own companies here.”
Some outsourcing companies operating in Ukraine have been already
considering creating labs on the basis of universities and sponsoring the
education programs to influence the system of education according to
Anchyshkin.
The 31-year old Ukrainian himself is not resting on his laurels. He’s
currently working on development of his online service zakaz.ua focused on the
delivery of products from Kyiv’s major supermarket chains. Launched in 2009, the
service is based on computer vision successfully implemented by Viewdle, among
other technologies.
“Of course here we’ve used some of our previous experience in terms of
attracting investors and organization of the work of the company,” Anchyshkin
said. “Now I’m planning to turn it (zakaz.ua) into a global company. However,
as for now I feel we’re only at the outset.”
Kyiv Post staff writer
Anastasia Forina can be reached at [email protected]
