In the early 2000s, the Ukrainian segment of the internet was called Uanet, and listed the projects with which it began for many users. First on that list is the Ukrainian Banner Network (UBS), which Mas launched in 1999 with his fellow student Ruslan Dmytrakovych. The network sold advertising on Ukrainian websites, and in 2006 Dmytrakovych sold his share.
Next came Infostore, a file-sharing and photo-hosting service supported in 2003 and 2004 by investors including Oleksandr Olshanskyi of Internet Invest Group. In December 2008, the police seized the project’s servers, and it closed. Forbes notes that, the popular file-sharing service of that time, was created by Ivan Savchenko, a native of Infostore, not by Mas, although some publications mistakenly linked his name to that project.
In 2012, Mail.ua, the email service Mas founded with Olshanskyi, was sold to Mail.ru for approximately half a million dollars. The deal was considered one of the first major sales of a Ukrainian internet project to a Russian holding, and it became a notable event for the market.
From portal to telecom
In 2000, Mas took part in the launch of UAportal, a portal with investor Oleksandr Soroka. It hosted “Tree of Friends,” the first social network on a Ukrainian portal. In 2007, UAportal was bought by the holding.
In 2015, Mas joined Kyivstar as IT&Digital adviser to the company’s president, Petro Chernyshov. He later headed the operator’s innovation laboratory and worked there for three years. In April 2016, the company announced the telecom accelerator “VDNH-TECh-Kyivstar,” and in December of that year four of its startups went into production. Mas left Kyivstar on 31 July 2019.
In parallel, he was a co-organizer of iForum, one of Ukraine’s main internet conferences. The first iForum took place in 2009, and Olshanskyi headed its organizing committee. Mas led the “Internet Business” track. In March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the organizers postponed iForum-2020 to the autumn.
Craft social networks
Mas’s last major project was “Craft Social Networks,” which he launched in August 2019. It was an attempt to build social networks without an advertising model, funded by syndicate members’ contributions of $100 each. In November 2019, the syndicate had about 280 members. The project was financed by donors, and by August 2021, according to Mas himself in a response to criticism, it had 411 investors and had raised about $58,000. At that point, prototype number 77 was ready.
In early August 2021, the “Cringe of the Week” column criticized the project, and Mas publicly responded to it. The dispute was about how realistic the timelines were and how much money was needed to launch. For many readers, it was the last notable public discussion in which he took part.
Mas himself was also known for blunt statements. In May 2017, his post comparing the blocking of VKontakte to deportation sparked widespread discussion. Colleagues and readers remembered him as an entrepreneur who was not afraid to argue.
On 6 October 2021, Oleksii Mas passed away. On 8 October, his brother Viktor wrote about it on Facebook, and the same day published an obituary, followed by other publications about his work.
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