Who Works at the OneSoil Startup and Why
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How it started and how it's going
Our team develops a platform for precision farming based on big data and machine learning methods. The initiative came from two friends, and the project began life in 2014. In 2017 and 2019, OneSoil received investments from the Haxus (Palta) and Bulba Ventures funds, and in 2021 — from Almaz Capital and PortfoLion.
OneSoil founders Usevalad Henin and Slava Mazai met in 2014 — both
were looking for a new way to apply their skills. Slava, a programmer by trade, had been fond of aerial drone photography for several years. Vsevolod, an expert on Geo-Information Systems, worked in the agriculture sector. In the beginning, the guys did work for farmers by request. Slava would take pictures from a drone, and Vsevolod would make maps for the differentiated application of fertilizers based on their analysis. The amount of data from the fields was increasing over time, and it became clear that processing this information required automation.
In 2016, Sasha Yakovlev became the third founder of OneSoil. Back then, he lived in Argentina. He began to develop the product and look for the first business contacts in Latin America. At the same time, the idea arose that accumulated data can be processed via machine learning. Sasha spoke to a childhood friend Arseny Anisimovich, a specialist in machine learning. With his help, the team began to process the data and develop their first prototypes, in particular, on yield analysis based on satellite imagery.
At the same time, the back-end developer Evgeny Voronets joined the team. He began to create an online platform for precision farming. It was planned that farmers would receive access to it on a paid subscription basis. Soon electronics engineer, Nikita Bedunkevich, and data analyst Christina Butsko joined the team — that's how the backbone of the OneSoil team was formed. The office was provided for free by the local business incubator. The whole team worked on pure enthusiasm. For a year and a half, no one received a salary.
Since that moment, the new OneSoil team began to participate in various hackathons and IT-conferences.
OneSoil founders Usevalad Henin and Slava Mazai met in 2014 — both
were looking for a new way to apply their skills. Slava, a programmer by trade, had been fond of aerial drone photography for several years. Vsevolod, an expert on Geo-Information Systems, worked in the agriculture sector. In the beginning, the guys did work for farmers by request. Slava would take pictures from a drone, and Vsevolod would make maps for the differentiated application of fertilizers based on their analysis. The amount of data from the fields was increasing over time, and it became clear that processing this information required automation.
In 2016, Sasha Yakovlev became the third founder of OneSoil. Back then, he lived in Argentina. He began to develop the product and look for the first business contacts in Latin America. At the same time, the idea arose that accumulated data can be processed via machine learning. Sasha spoke to a childhood friend Arseny Anisimovich, a specialist in machine learning. With his help, the team began to process the data and develop their first prototypes, in particular, on yield analysis based on satellite imagery.
At the same time, the back-end developer Evgeny Voronets joined the team. He began to create an online platform for precision farming. It was planned that farmers would receive access to it on a paid subscription basis. Soon electronics engineer, Nikita Bedunkevich, and data analyst Christina Butsko joined the team — that's how the backbone of the OneSoil team was formed. The office was provided for free by the local business incubator. The whole team worked on pure enthusiasm. For a year and a half, no one received a salary.
Since that moment, the new OneSoil team began to participate in various hackathons and IT-conferences.
At this time, Arseny Kravchenko, the current head of the R&D team of Wannaby startup, was also involved in the work of OneSoil. Alexander Chekan, one of the partners of the Haxus (Palta) investment fund, actively provided his expertise and connections.
In 2017, Belarussian entrepreneur Yury Melnichek, the founder of Maps. me and AiMatter, became interested in OneSoil. He suggested they change the startup concept — make a free platform that would provide access to analytics to farmers from around the world in real time.
After receiving investments, the pace of OneSoil's work accelerated. Now 69 employees are engaged in the creation of an online platform for precision farming.
In 2017, Belarussian entrepreneur Yury Melnichek, the founder of Maps. me and AiMatter, became interested in OneSoil. He suggested they change the startup concept — make a free platform that would provide access to analytics to farmers from around the world in real time.
After receiving investments, the pace of OneSoil's work accelerated. Now 69 employees are engaged in the creation of an online platform for precision farming.
OneSoil team
Slava Mazai, CIO
I'm an engineer by education. Though, in OneSoil I almost don't do technical work. I manage the team, communicate with farmers, investors and lawyers. All this is a new experience and challenge for me, which I gladly accept. In particular, I had to overcome a fear of public speaking.
It was quite difficult to find people to join our team, because very few experts in the world work with the same type of data we do. There is a lot of information, all the data is in different formats, and companies rarely approach its analysis as comprehensively as OneSoil does. In the end, we managed to find specialists that were ready to throw themselves into this sector.
Unlike some of my friends, I enjoy my work. Earth, agriculture, maps, drones, satellites — I love all of it. Almost every day we communicate with farmers and often go to the fields, which is my favorite part of the job. In the future, I'd like to see OneSoil products help farmers from all over the world use their land to 100%.
It was quite difficult to find people to join our team, because very few experts in the world work with the same type of data we do. There is a lot of information, all the data is in different formats, and companies rarely approach its analysis as comprehensively as OneSoil does. In the end, we managed to find specialists that were ready to throw themselves into this sector.
Unlike some of my friends, I enjoy my work. Earth, agriculture, maps, drones, satellites — I love all of it. Almost every day we communicate with farmers and often go to the fields, which is my favorite part of the job. In the future, I'd like to see OneSoil products help farmers from all over the world use their land to 100%.
Sasha Yakovlev, ex-Head of Product
In 2016, I lived in Argentina, and I came to Belarus for a summer vacation. Slava is an old friend of mine, and we met up to go kayaking. He told me about an idea they'd worked on with Vsevolod. I was impressed and began to help the guys remotely. Soon enough, I'd packed up everything, took my family back to Belarus and joined them. Now, I am responsible for product development at OneSoil.
I have an engineering background and a lot of design experience. This helps me understand users and how the whole system works from the inside. We are building a technologically complex product that should be simple and understandable for users. It's complicated and interesting. OneSoil has a rare opportunity, for technology companies, to create things that are useful for the real world and receive feedback very quickly. It's inspiring.
The main value of OneSoil for me is the team. I'm lucky to work with wonderful, motivated and smart people. There are 13 of us, but we do things that nobody else in the world did before. I appreciate the trust of our first users, and the courage with which they try new approaches and technologies in their fields. I dream of our products being used by hundreds of millions of people around the world.
I have an engineering background and a lot of design experience. This helps me understand users and how the whole system works from the inside. We are building a technologically complex product that should be simple and understandable for users. It's complicated and interesting. OneSoil has a rare opportunity, for technology companies, to create things that are useful for the real world and receive feedback very quickly. It's inspiring.
The main value of OneSoil for me is the team. I'm lucky to work with wonderful, motivated and smart people. There are 13 of us, but we do things that nobody else in the world did before. I appreciate the trust of our first users, and the courage with which they try new approaches and technologies in their fields. I dream of our products being used by hundreds of millions of people around the world.
Usevalad Henin, Specialist in Geoinformation Systems
In the second year of studies, I already began to apply my knowledge of geoinformatics in agriculture. Soon after, I threw myself in it. After university, I went on an internship in Germany, Slovakia, and Vietnam.
I like that at OneSoil we make an innovative product. The first serious research in this field only began in the late 2000s. The answers to many questions have yet to be found. We are one of the first companies in Eastern Europe that are seriously developing methods of precision farming. The main challenge for me is to make a system that will be really useful for the clients. I would like the company to reach a point when OneSoil products are being used by millions of farmers around the world.
I like that at OneSoil we make an innovative product. The first serious research in this field only began in the late 2000s. The answers to many questions have yet to be found. We are one of the first companies in Eastern Europe that are seriously developing methods of precision farming. The main challenge for me is to make a system that will be really useful for the clients. I would like the company to reach a point when OneSoil products are being used by millions of farmers around the world.
Alexander Kalinovsky, Data Scientist
I studied physics and worked as a research fellow, but then I switched to solving computer vision problems and processing medical images. I joined the OneSoil team in January 2018. My department works on the allocation of fields, the definition of crops and stages of their development, monitoring of plants and data visualization for our applications.
Perhaps, the most difficult and interesting task is to locate fields in any place in the whole world with high accuracy. There are few specialists in our sphere, and we often need to come up with very specific solutions. I think that working with this kind of data is very promising. More and more satellites will be launched, the amount of information will increase, and automatic processing will become more relevant.
Perhaps, the most difficult and interesting task is to locate fields in any place in the whole world with high accuracy. There are few specialists in our sphere, and we often need to come up with very specific solutions. I think that working with this kind of data is very promising. More and more satellites will be launched, the amount of information will increase, and automatic processing will become more relevant.
Christina Butsko, Data Scientist
I worked as a data analyst on different projects. I met the OneSoil team at the IT conference in 2016 and offered to help.
I work with geo-data, and it has several important features. First, it is linked to a specific point on a map. Secondly, it changes over time. Thirdly, this data is collected by an equipment that can make errors, and people that can make mistakes. This is very complex and interesting data, and very few people in the world work with it. Questions without answers often appear, and perhaps we will be the first ones to answer them. Being a pioneer in this field is both a great challenge and a nice feeling.
I work with geo-data, and it has several important features. First, it is linked to a specific point on a map. Secondly, it changes over time. Thirdly, this data is collected by an equipment that can make errors, and people that can make mistakes. This is very complex and interesting data, and very few people in the world work with it. Questions without answers often appear, and perhaps we will be the first ones to answer them. Being a pioneer in this field is both a great challenge and a nice feeling.
Alexey Sholomitsky, Data Scientist
While studying at university, I met Alexander Kalinovsky, and he offered me to do a coursework on computer vision and medical data processing. After graduating, I worked for six months at a medical institute and then joined OneSoil in February 2018.
I was working on the clarification of field crops, whereas now I'm working on the task of recognizing clouds and shadows. I like that there is freedom in the startup, I can choose what I want to work on. I think that the processing of satellite imagery is a very promising sphere. There are plenty of satellites, they are all different, and specialists who are able to analyze data of this kind are hard to find. I want to develop professionally in this direction.
I was working on the clarification of field crops, whereas now I'm working on the task of recognizing clouds and shadows. I like that there is freedom in the startup, I can choose what I want to work on. I think that the processing of satellite imagery is a very promising sphere. There are plenty of satellites, they are all different, and specialists who are able to analyze data of this kind are hard to find. I want to develop professionally in this direction.
Nikita Bedunkevich, Engineer
Before joining OneSoil, I developed educational games for children, then for several years I built my own "smart home". One day my ex-groupmate introduced me to Slava Mazay. He proposed creating a modem that would remotely transfer data from agricultural machinery to the OneSoil online system. Within four months, I completely designed this device. It passed several field tests, and now the modem is under refinement.
My next challenge was the development of a cheap and functional weather sensor. At that time, the whole team worked on a voluntary basis, and often I had to choose between buying food and a chip. Usually, I would go for the second one. Now I'm improving the meteorological sensor.
My next challenge was the development of a cheap and functional weather sensor. At that time, the whole team worked on a voluntary basis, and often I had to choose between buying food and a chip. Usually, I would go for the second one. Now I'm improving the meteorological sensor.
Evgeny Voronets, Back-end Developer
I joined OneSoil in 2016. First I was helping the team in my spare time and then moved full time.
The main feature of a precision farming startup is the work with GIS (geographic information system, the system designed to capture, store, analyze, and present spatial data — OneSoil). At first, it was difficult, because I was a classic web developer and used to work with other data. Here at OneSoil, all the data is plotted on the map — they have their coordinates and resolution. That's how my fascinating journey into the world of geoinformation systems began, and it continues to this day.
The main feature of a precision farming startup is the work with GIS (geographic information system, the system designed to capture, store, analyze, and present spatial data — OneSoil). At first, it was difficult, because I was a classic web developer and used to work with other data. Here at OneSoil, all the data is plotted on the map — they have their coordinates and resolution. That's how my fascinating journey into the world of geoinformation systems began, and it continues to this day.
Dmitriy Kabak, Front-end Developer
I joined OneSoil in February 2018. I had developed OneSoil Scouting and OneSoil Nitrogen web applications and also helped with creating a mobile version for one of them. I like that here at OneSoil we do something useful and tangible. It is especially important for me because for some time I worked in advertising, and there the result of my efforts had always been virtual.
I'm interested in different areas of OneSoil's work, such as engineering tasks and data science. I would like to grow professionally in all directions, but my current task is to develop an online platform for precision farming that would unite all our products.
I'm interested in different areas of OneSoil's work, such as engineering tasks and data science. I would like to grow professionally in all directions, but my current task is to develop an online platform for precision farming that would unite all our products.
Philip Kondratenko, Agronomist
As a child, I wanted to become a doctor. By coincidence, I became an agronomist and realized that a plant is just as much a living organism as a human being. It is the beginning of the whole life chain. Roughly speaking, if there was no agriculture, we wouldn't exist.
After graduating from university, I worked as an agronomist and seed grower on a farm. Then I worked on the district executive committee and the Zhdanovichi agro-industrial complex. At the end of 2016, I had read about OneSoil in an online article and I wanted to join them immediately. I am the main agricultural specialist on the team. The most interesting part about our work for me is the opportunity to simplify everything. In my understanding, the main goal of our future platform is that any person can understand the meaning of each agricultural operation.
After graduating from university, I worked as an agronomist and seed grower on a farm. Then I worked on the district executive committee and the Zhdanovichi agro-industrial complex. At the end of 2016, I had read about OneSoil in an online article and I wanted to join them immediately. I am the main agricultural specialist on the team. The most interesting part about our work for me is the opportunity to simplify everything. In my understanding, the main goal of our future platform is that any person can understand the meaning of each agricultural operation.
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