Ring, the much-hyped US startup (acquired by Amazon in 2018) which develops outdoor home-security solutions , is opening a second R&D office in Ukraine. After Kyiv (Kiev), Lviv (Lvov) will host the new facility starting from March 1st, the company announced earlier this week.
The company sees in Lviv, a tech-friendly, European-minded city of Western Ukraine, a “big pool of IT talents at a high level of quality.”
“At Ring Ukraine, there’s always more work than hands to do it; and as we have plans to develop lots of new products, we can offer jobs to a lot of people who can and are willing to work,” said Ring Ukraine CEO Kira Rudik.
The Kyiv office, which integrates computer vision, artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies into the company’s products, launched in 2016 with just three specialists. Just weeks later, the office had a hundred team members; and now Ring Ukraine is served by “more than 900 of the best Ukrainian IT specialists,” according to the company.
While brain drain affects entire industries, notably the IT sector with many Ukrainians moving to Europe and the United States, Ring Ukraine attracts the local workforce with better-than-average work conditions. “Our salaries and corporate culture are at the US level,” says Rudik. “And that motivates people to stay in the country.”
Ring Ukraine made the news a few months ago, with allegations of security breaches, user privacy violations and fake AI technology appearing in US media. An investigation from Ukrainian tech blog AIN.UA attributed the accusations to disgruntled company employees, and found the claims were at least exaggerated.
