Ukrainian venture capital fund SMRK, founded by MacPaw owner Oleksandr Kosovan, has invested $500,000 in a seed round of startup MyChatBot. The team is developing a platform with AI agents that automate sales and customer communication in e-commerce and retail.
Ukrainian venture capital fund SMRK, founded by MacPaw owner Oleksandr Kosovan, has invested $500,000 in a seed round of startup MyChatBot. The team is developing a platform with AI agents that automate sales and customer communication in e-commerce and retail.
According to Forbes Ukraine, MyChatBot is creating CommerceOS, an omnichannel system that unites all points of contact with the buyer: from chats on the website to messengers. AI agents take on a significant part of the work of the sales and support department so that people are less distracted by routine.
The service’s clients are mainly online stores and online retailers. The platform already serves over a thousand companies. Virtual agents clarify the buyer’s request, select products, create a cart, carry out payment, and help with the choice of delivery. Automated upselling and collection of data on customer behavior serve as additional effects for the business.
The monetization model is built as SaaS: the business pays a monthly subscription, the cost of which ranges from $49 to $2,999 depending on the size of the company and the volume of the workload. SMRK explains that they became interested in MyChatBot because of its rapid growth and noticeable impact on customer processes, and not just the «fashionable» integration of AI into chat.
MyChatBot was launched in 2024 by business consultant Denys Kuprash and development engineer Yaroslav Bratashchuk. For the first year, the platform operated in closed mode, testing on a limited number of clients. Currently, the team consists of about 14 people, and the focus is on small and medium-sized companies that need automation without a large internal IT team.
SMRK has been operating since 2013 and invests in Ukraine-related startups at early stages. The fund’s portfolio already includes more than two dozen deals and several successful exits. Among the well-known companies SMRK has invested in are security systems manufacturer Ajax Systems, educational platform Preply, as well as projects in the navigation and robotics industries.
The investment in MyChatBot fits into the global trend of «commerce in chat», when sales are moving from catalogs and landing pages to live dialogues. For the Ukrainian market, this is also an example of how local capital strengthens a local AI product that can compete internationally.
Previously, dev.ua wrote about how Ukrainian IT product company MacPaw created an application for macOS gadgets that helps users strengthen their cybersecurity.
