The VimpelCom structure bought a stake in the developer of the video analytics system Candy Flip Robots

The structure of VimpelCom entered into the capital of Candy Flip Robots, a startup founded by former top manager of Gazprom Media Vladimir Margolin. The company has developed a solution for analyzing customer emotions using video images. Experts do not rule out that in the future VimpelCom will supplement its own products with this technology.

Hive LLC (100% owned by VimpelCom, engaged in venture investments) acquired 13.3% in Candy Flip Robots LLC, a developer of solutions in the field of analyzing the emotional response of the audience, information about the transaction was published in SPARK-Interfax. Judging by the database, Hive bought a several percent share from each of the three owners of the company. This is Hive’s tenth deal in November: during this month, the company, for example, bought 25% in the developer of the pricing automation platform KeepRise, 12% in the operator of the corporate education platform Kampus, 10% in the cloud solutions service for restaurants Restilk, etc. .

According to its own data, Candy Flip Robots has developed and implements Sense Machine software – software for assessing emotions by facial expressions, facial expressions, eye movements, etc. through video stream analysis. Using this solution, the company analyzes the emotions of those in contact with marketing materials, users of online services or potential buyers at points of sale. Vladimir Margolin explained to Kommersant that thanks to the investment, the company “plans to speed up development, optimize algorithms” and expand the team. “Hive is interesting to us not only as an investor, but also as a structure of VimpelCom, which has great expertise and resources in marketing communications and knowledge about the telecom operator’s audience,” the top manager clarified.

The parties refused to disclose the transaction amount. Analyst of the Finam group of companies Leonid Delitsyn estimates 100% of the company at 220–270 million rubles; according to him, a share of 13.3% could cost Hive 30 million rubles.

Market Research estimates the global market for emotion recognition (EDR) solutions at $22.2 billion by the end of 2022, predicting that by 2030 it will grow to $44.4 billion (GAGR 11.4%). The company calls the growing use of artificial intelligence and machine learning the driver of the segment.

In Russia, large companies have been implementing EDR technologies for several years. Alfa Bank launched an emotion recognition system in its branches back in 2018. Senior Manager of Axenix Technology Consulting Practice Arseniy Kondratiev also names retail as promising customers for such solutions. S+Consulting partner Alexey Nesterenko, however, draws attention to the fact that consumers are generally wary of such technologies, so he considers focus group research to be the most promising niche for such products. Denis Kuskov, general director of the TelecomDaily news agency, does not rule out that in the future VimpelCom may adapt Candy Flip Robots technologies to analyze the emotions of customers in its own communication stores, “or, for example, analyze the emotions of the audience of its beeline.tv.”

Nikita Korolev