Apostera: the path from idea to sustainable company

Apostera - is one of the best Ukrainian startups, and it has grown into a huge company over time. Infosoft brings you a story of the growth of this project, which Ukraine can be delighted with.

Viktor Sdobnikov, Andrey Golubinskiy, and Olga Mirkina met in Luxoft - one of the most well-known outsourcing companies of Ukraine. Now, software of the automotive industry is also created by other Ukrainian outsourcers, like GlobalLogic, EPAM, TietoEVRY. Although, the first implanted and in-vehicle infotainment systems were thought up in Odesa's Luxoft in 2006.

The intention for the Apostera was made in 2012 with a scheme that was looking amazing at the time. Andrey and Viktor were riding in a car by German streets and ambitiously told their driver about how the world was progressing and how the navigation of the future would be looking.

Thereat, the technology which would help make it possible, hadn't existed. They had put it aside but hadn't forgotten about it. Andrey and Viktor were working in automotive production for quite a long time (10 years) so they understood the main problem.

In 2012, there were navigators with quite detailed maps and accurate routes in the market. It seemed like it was already perfect like there's nothing to fix or upgrade there. But Apostera organizers' attention was attracted by one problem.

The approach to way navigation was unchanged for thirty years. People watched their electronic navigators or apps on smartphones and other devices like they were watching paper maps - exactly nothing has been changed. The driver had to analyze both pictures: the road and the navigaton device. It was quite… hard, risky, and dangerous way to travel by car.

In 2014, the Luxoft team created some prototypes of this system. By the way, they gladly interacted with the client, Daimler, which already had its internal advancements.

Nowadays, there are two active AR-HUD navigation systems globally with linkage to the real world. The first system in Audi, which was created by the Ukrainian Apostera. Daimler has the second system, which is internal development.

Throughout their ten years at Luxoft, the creators of Apostera have achieved acquaintances in automotive production. At the time of the company's creation, they protected agreements with a possible investor, who was presumed to be the first customer of the system. Unfortunately, the buyer changed his mind. It was a big blow for the Ukrainian company. But they refused to give up.

Apostera made a representation of their project in China, which wasn't their target market. It was an AR-HUD augmented reality prototype in partnership with a major Tier I in a Chinese automaker's car.

Despite the peculiarities of the Chinese corporate culture, the collaboration was quite successful. For Apostera this scheme confirmed hypotheses and checked its design under certain operating conditions. And now they had a new objective. To conquer Europe.

In 2018, the Ukrainian team brought the product to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. They demonstrated the system installed on a real car, and Audi commissioners got interested in the development. Right there, in Las Vegas, Apostera held its first meeting with them and determined to join in on the upcoming Audi tender. The automaker was searching for the developers of an AR navigation system.

And so on, several people with sharp accents drove the test car to the Audi commissioners. A few weeks before that, other suppliers showed their creations - huge companies with a global reputation. Tributes should be paid to Audi engineers - they chose to give a startup a chance. And they weren't mistaken. Ukrainians creations were the most suitable and more interesting than others.

Apostera, an automotive automation company that brings radical info-ADAS mixed reality products to global OEMs, announced that it was advertised in AutoTech Outlook Magazine Europe as a leader of a new era of autonomy and known among the top 10 automotive tech solutions providers in Europe in 2019.

Appropriately, Audi signed a contract with Apostera to install the new technology in the upcoming at that moment, Audi e-Tron Q4. It was released in May 2021. Right at this time, the information about the cooperation of the Ukrainian tech team with the German auto company became public.

After the collaboration with Audi, Apostera got confirmation on the lookout. The Ukrainian company already has contracts with four vehicle brands and tenders for four supplementary agreements. The organization decided to not show the client brands yet. However, as Andrey Golubinskiy said, these are the leaders of the outstanding part of the automotive industry of the USA and Germany.