Roosh Ventures finds the most promising projects with the priority to early-stage projects in the US and Europe and provides them with funding.
Recently, Ukraine welcomed a new technology company Roosh that creates IT products and invests in innovative projects with a priority on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). The company was founded by IT entrepreneur and Reface investor Sergey Tokarev.
Tokarev’s partners in the project are Reface founder Den Dmitrenko, financier and IT asset management specialist Sergey Kartashov, Eugene Kozytskyi, and Kiril Ukho.
Rumors about creating a new company have been circulating for quite a long time, but only in mid-July, Tokarev and Roosh officially announced it on their social media accounts.
“The team and I have set the main goal for this year to streamline everything we do, to create a structured business: to release projects that started back in 2020 and gather them all in a single company. Even though people usually do it in the reverse sequence, we’ve decided to do it this way. In general, we find it really important to avoid associating with what is “usually accepted.” Because only this way, you can create and invest in products that change their industries,” writes Sergey Tokarev on his personal Facebook page.
He emphasizes that the Roosh team is planning to develop different technological directions with a priority to projects related to Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
Nowadays, this knowledge-intensive area is increasingly strengthening its position in the IT and related industries. According to researchers at Stanford University, AI and ML are now ones of the most invested areas, and over the past “covid” year, its share of private investment amounted to 60% (more than $40 billion).
Even though Roosh has announced its launch only recently, the team already has a few completed projects. One of them is the Reface app that has 100 million downloads in 14 months, millions of investments, and the top position in the App Store. Last fall, the app managed to bypass such giants as Netflix, YouTube, TikTok, and Zoom. The application allows you to swap faces on videos and gifs. According to the founders of the Ukrainian startup, the goal is letting a user watch the series, for example, with themselves as the main character. Even Elon Musk appreciated it.
Another Roosh project is Pawa, a venture capital studio that develops projects based on ML. According to Tokarev, this project will let ML ideas scale from a concept to a full-fledged company. The team plans to create the largest startup accelerator in Europe aiming at developing business projects based on AI and ML and focusing on finance, media, gaming, and healthcare.
ZibraAI, one more startup by Roosh, specializes in 3D rendering and creating 3D objects using compact neural networks. It was launched this summer. The main task of the founders is to reach the full similarity of the visual part of a game to reality.
Roosh Ventures is a venture capital fund created by the Roosh team. The fund aims at supporting startups to help them grow faster. Roosh Ventures finds the most promising projects with the priority to early-stage projects in the US and Europe and provides them with funding. One of the fund’s portfolio investments is the Oura project, a ring tracker and a special mobile app that regulates data and settings. The ring tracks heart rate, breathing rate, sleep patterns, temperature, activity, movement, and other metrics.
Sergey Tokarev believes that the future belongs to AI and ML. These technologies are more and more getting integrated into people’s lives: from computer games that allow you to immerse to the gaming reality to applications that automatically generate, correct, and translate texts.
However, Tokarev considers the most important task for the Roosh team to provide qualitative changes in the Ukrainian IT market. He points out that the demand for Ukrainian ML specialists in the world is growing dynamically. That is why they often leave the country or switch to an outsourcing way of working. By launching ambitious projects, the Roosh team intends to change this situation and motivate specialists to stay and work in Ukraine.
Having obtained a diploma in Intercultural Communication, Julia continued her studies taking a Master’s degree in Economics and Management. Becoming captured by innovative technologies, Julia turned passionate about exploring emerging techs believing in their ability to transform all spheres of our life.
