UKRAINE’S software expertise is being imported to Scotland through a new technology start-up, writes Victoria Masterson.
Bill Dobbie, the serial Scots entrepreneur, has joined up with Max Polyakov, a 26-year-old software developer from Zaporizhzhya in southern Ukraine, to raise £2m for the fledgling firm.
They are targeting a slice of the $7 billion (£3.8 billion) a year online advertising market and hope their company, MarketWheel, can generate sales of £10m within three years.
Their software uses artificial intelligence “robots” to analyse web traffic so that companies can spend their advertising budgets more efficiently.
Polyakov already employs 60 staff at his own software development firm in Ukraine, which draws 80% of its business from America and 20% from Europe.
Advertisement
“If $7 billion was spent on online marketing last year and this system can save you at least 10% of that, we believe we can get a slice of the global market,” he said. “Most of the spend is coming from big companies but there’s also a huge market for smaller businesses that currently don’t know how to manage online campaigns.”
MarketWheel is currently testing its prototype system in the biggest e-commerce sectors, including travel, dating and shopping, where companies spend tens of millions of pounds a year on advertising.