Наталя ХандусенкоStartup
27 August 2026, 15:31
2026-08-27
Ukraine has its own Pinterest. How Mimeon works, where text captions and hashtags are unnecessary - only visual communication
A visual social platform, Mimeon, is being launched in Ukraine — a domestic alternative to Pinterest and DeviantArt. Its main uniqueness lies in the complete absence of a language barrier: there are no text captions or hashtags. The platform offers an endless canvas of art, where categorization and search are implemented using artificial intelligence and vector databases, and communication occurs exclusively through images.
A visual social platform, Mimeon, is being launched in Ukraine — a domestic alternative to Pinterest and DeviantArt. Its main uniqueness lies in the complete absence of a language barrier: there are no text captions or hashtags. The platform offers an endless canvas of art, where categorization and search are implemented using artificial intelligence and vector databases, and communication occurs exclusively through images.
The project's history began more than seven years ago with the observation of the problems of the creative community.
“One day, on various social networks, I came across several publications from my friends about how difficult it is to make money from creativity now and how complicated everything is on modern platforms in the process of design and publication,” recalls the founder and CEO of the project, Senior Project Manager Mykola Kalakutsky . “I felt this pain, and in February 2019, an idea came to my mind about how to make it all easier.”
Kalakutskyi had this idea in his head for several years, until in 2025 he decided to take a risk: in April he assembled a team, and in December they began active development.
Visual space without words
Mimeon is designed for those who think in images. Designers can quickly find references, photographers can publish shots without complicated preparation for stock photos, and artists can present art without long explanations.
Instead of the usual algorithmic feed, the user gets a space where algorithms are automatically responsible for scoring, profiling, and vector ranking of works.
“The platform makes it possible to post your creative or professional works in one tap and find a lot of content in an endless spatial feed,” explains Mykola Kalakutsky. “There is an opportunity to interact with objects of creativity and their authors through likes, comments, subscriptions, and collections.”
Today, a team of 20 specialists is working on Mimeon: project and product managers, business and data analysts, developers, testers, designers, and a content manager. The project is currently in the final stages of preparing an MVP version for the first test users.
"At this stage, the project costs are minimal — about $2,000 for infrastructure, services like Figma, and developer accounts in Google Play and AppStore ," the founder notes. "The MVP version does not provide for monetization. I plan to monetize after the release version is released with access to the European and American markets. At the same time, our application with all its functions will always be free for Ukrainians."
Plans for project development
After testing the MVP with the “first hundred” users, the team planned long-term expansion.
A full release with the launch of a broad marketing campaign is planned for January 2027. During the same year, they expect to attract approximately 2,000 paying users and become self-sufficient.
In 2028–2029, the team plans to scale to the US and European markets, and during 2030–2035, expansion to South America, China, and India.
The main ambitious goal for 2032 is to overtake the world giants Pinterest and DeviantArt in terms of the number of users.
