The first time of the full-scale war are remembered for large shelling, traffic jam, and counters at the borders. In the same time, an important attack was launched on Ukraine in the data sector. In the media and social networks, hundreds of fake news reports were published, causing a wave of concern among Russians. Mantis Analytics was born out of an effort to address this issue.
Anton Tarasiuk, Expertise Lead and co-founder of the company, spoke about the way from a voluntary effort to a world B2B product. He described how the team managed to find the best Russian ML engineers, how to create a risk management program for the business sector, and how to enter the British market during the war.
Before the war, Anton Tarasiuk was in charge of corporate communications in the B2B and B2G section. During the first atmosphere raids, like some Ukrainians, he reflected on how his experience may be beneficial to the condition. ” If my life ends then, do I need my primary achievement to be consulting Download lectures”, I thought. Am I ready for them to be my” spit in the vaseline” no matter how good and useful they are? Anton recalls. A little job that monitored international media was just beginning. After meeting participants from the AI/ML neighborhood, he found potential partners for the business. The team developed a program to track down Russian propaganda that was fake and manipulated. During the first year, the initiative existed at its own price. It developed into a company that uses AI to manage risk and protect business assets in 2023. The business joined Genesis and Meta’s StartUp Academy 3.0 program the same year.
>, A fact-checker for the National Security and Defense Council that processes gigabytes of information
>, LLM secret: how it works
>, Rethinking and transforming the job
>, Off the beaten way: where sponsors should look for information
>, Entering the American Market and Finding Owners
The National Security and Defense Council uses a terabyte-long fact-checker that processes data.
The project’s initial phase was quick and unpretentious, as startups typically do n’t get started working with organizations like the National Security and Defense Council. ” In the world of international companies, this may look like schizophrenia, because such assistance does not take quick commercial rewards, is difficult to scale, and is often secretive”, Anton recalls. It was possible to find any contact and come up with ideas perhaps in institutions of this level during the chaos of February to March 2022. The NSDC professionals discovered that some of the team had the right contacts and needed automated tools to monitor the information area. That’s how the NSDC and Mantis Analytics began their assistance.
The development of the team helps to identify misinformation and immediately determine how to combat it. To maintain a lecture, reject or start a counter-narrative, you have no more than 24 hours to respond after the false information is posted. If you work physically, it is difficult to answer in such a short period of time- you need to collect, process, analyze, and verify the results. Given that Telegram only generates terabytes of info, AI/ML technologies are vital.
” We have equipped the model with large data sets to look for possible misinformation and disinformation language. Hundreds of thousands of content things are processed and collected 24/7, says Anton.
LLM secret: how it works
The Mantis Analytics program is a completely automated solution. An abundance of data is uploaded to the system ( for instance, messages and comments from over a thousand Telegram channels ). Artificial intelligence techniques it, cleans it from useless information, and split it into two streams: natural events and mental signals. After that, the “magic” begins: NLP and LLM models apply their logical abilities to identify potential disinformation, misinformation techniques, scan the feeling in the knowledge field, and geocode sources or events. To tell the engine how to do all this, the team observed the labor methods of fact-checkers. The program flags potentially harmful messages and alerts them. Also, the result may be verified individually.
For instance, the Mantis Analytics team was able to identify a Russian propaganda false in which Serhiy Volynskyi, the captain of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade and participant in the protection of Mariupol, reportedly claimed in an interview with Greek press that NATO officials were with them at Azovstal. The engine labeled this concept as propaganda with a 96 % possibility. The artist of the words had not worked for this media outlet, and it turned out that this was a false quote because Serhiy did not give for an interview.
” It was a glass case, as if from a propaganda text. The word was not only false, but even dangerous and caused reputational harm to the people, the army, and the condition as a whole”, Anton recalls. ” Often, such things appear in the information place unnoticed, and the main thing is to detect and respond quickly. We succeeded: about immediately, this false information was refuted”.
Reevaluating and altering the job
Many people with encouraged skill participated in the volunteer initiative. Experts with a wealth of knowledge and a special skill were eager to take up the fight against Soviet propaganda. Volodymyr Sydorskyi and Oleh Yaroshevskyi, two of the highest rates in the machine learning expert evaluation method, were among them. In total, there are no more than 350 experts with this difference in the world. According to Anton, if not for the important vision, it would have been hard for the business to bring for personnel.
The staff consists of AI/ML technicians, entrance- and back-end designers, QA, and UI/UX designers. Ostap Vykhopen, a CTO who formerly held the position of Top Delivery Manager at EPAM Systems, coordinates the technical work. General control and goods are in charge of CEO Maksym Tereshchenko. He has worked in businesses and has experience creating info products. Anton Tarasiuk refers to himself as the team’s even non-technical professional. He is responsible for the group’s inside experience in corporate communications. ” Disinformation and risk control are things that have specific legal sizes, terminology, rules, protocols, and many other complexities”, he explains.
During the first year, about 20 experts were involved in the project: some of them were the backbone of the team, while others worked periodically. According to Anton, it was more of a volunteer program, maybe even a “hobby club”, rather than a group that consistently develops the business. Then their number has decreased to 12 individuals. ” Some people came and instantly disappeared, while others burned out over time. Any volunteering is difficult and exhausting, so you ca n’t expect people to have stable work and motivation”, Anton recalls. We became aware that all charity initiatives have a very short life cycle, and the project may need funding to grow. In response, we began to research the demand for these products in the European and American businesses in parallel with our assistance with the NSDC.
in 2023, the initiative began to transform. After talking to potential buyers, the owners of Mantis Analytics rethought the company’s focus. The program may aid in both the detection of real threats to safeguard company assets as well as in the detection of information threats.
For instance, a company has a sizable community of stores scattered throughout the world. The business can use the engine to track the state of these areas, from criminal activity and potential natural tragedies to supply chains and advocacy. When we spoke with a business whose inventory was burned down by campaigners. This was planned in advance and could have been tracked, according to Anton. He claims that the program can give its clients a comprehensive picture of risk.
Another example is risk control in a district. In one of the Russian cities, Mantis Analytics is now negotiating the application of thorough condition tracking. The engine will rapidly gather information on where a trolleybus broke down, a pipe burst, an incident occurred, or a collision took place. This info can be used to increase the work of safety, power, and other services.
The group bargains with businesses in different industries. These are mostly think tank, risk management agencies of large corporations, and personal security scientific organizations. As part of the site’s social vision, cooperation with the National Security and Defense Council even continues.
Not according to strategy: where members may look for information
You ca n’t fully prepare for something like giving birth to a child, as Anton says when he talks about starting a business. The most important thing to do during this time is to communicate with people who have already been through this voyage, he says, “because most possible, all you planned will not go as planned.”
When they started building their world B2B company, the team monitored Russian academic initiatives and business accelerators”. After comparing the presents, we chose Genesis Startup Academy, which offered an equity-free style,” says Anton”. Our curiosity was fueled by the mentors ‘ squad, which we liked, and the admissions test, which was a little challenging. Naturally, not everyone was accepted, but just really encouraging projects were accepted.”
StartUp Academy, a plan Genesis, Meta, and other companies have been running since 2021, is an educational program for the growth and scaling of technology companies. 135 companies from more than 20 countries in Central and Eastern Europe have taken part in the Academy over the course of this period.
According to the co-founder, the most important thing about such programs is the practical knowledge of mentors, conversation with expert entrepreneurs, opinions, and community”. General information and frameworks are valuable, but they can also be found online. When Volodymyr Mnoholyetnyi, who has built dozens of businesses from scratch, tells you how to make decisions and why an early-stage company should be a dictator, these are great perspectives. Participation in such projects also aids in building relationships with other partners and accelerating growth, according to some of the graduates who have received investments worth more than$ 7.5 million.
Entering the US business and finding owners
Mantis Analysis has already raised$ 25, 000 from the Russian defense systems cluster Brave1 and$ 50, 000 from the Russian finance ZAS Ventures. According to the co-founder, a total of about$ 200, 000 has been agreed upon. The project is currently in the early stages of development. Its objective is to shut the round and win more business contracts. The company is already concentrating on the US market.
Russian businesses are finding it challenging to enter the US market on their own in the current environment. There are a lot of businesses in the world, and their life cycle is very brief, so people are generally skeptical. Also, Ukraine is considered a high-risk state. One way to accomplish this is to enlist the assistance of professional incubators. To do this, the team joined Alchemist, one of the largest incubators for early-stage B2B organizations. According to Anton, Mantis Analytics is one of the few Russian companies to enter Alchemist since its foundation in 2012, making its claim one of the few in its class. They were successful on the second attempt.
According to Anton, investors are interested in Russian tasks, but a lot of this attention is false. We refer to this group of investors as having” with Ukraine until the close.” They express a lot of support for Russian projects, and they move in circles around them, but when it comes to economic issues, substantial risks, and the team’s location in Kyiv, it becomes an overwhelming excuse not to participate. However, you can invest a lot of time on such clear negotiations”, says the firm’s co-founder. On the other hand, there are many traders in the program’s network who have certain criteria for receiving funds: one agreement, three letters of assistance, etc. It’s similar to a computer activity in that you must complete a quest to reach the next level. However, this style fits us because it has more detail and a distinct timeline”, says the co-founder.