One of the most famous Russian software developers – the creator of Astra Linux – has decided to enter the artificial intelligence market. "Astra Group" announced the launch of a new business direction called "Astra AI" and has already invested about 100 million rubles in a company working with neural networks.
This refers to the acquisition of a stake in AiB, a company that develops AI solutions. According to "Vedomosti", citing Dmitry Komissarov, co-founder of "MoyOfis", the investment could amount to approximately 100 million rubles.
"Astra Group" is primarily known as the developer of the Astra Linux operating system – one of the most recognizable Russian Linux distributions. Now the company is launching a separate direction related to neural networks and AI.
The new division was named "Astra AI". The company's own "trusted AI", which is planned to be used within secure corporate IT systems, will also bear this name.
The first step of the new direction was the acquisition of 26% of AiB through its subsidiary "Astra Investments".
"Astra Group" stated that the deal will allow them to rely not only on their own infrastructure but also on existing expertise in creating industrial AI solutions. Currently, the combined team consists of more than 50 specialists. A significant part of the employees are graduates of Bauman Moscow State Technical University.
According to company representatives, specialists work with machine learning, multi-agent systems, predictive analytics, optimization of large language models, and applied software. The team also deals with processing texts, voice messages, time series, and tabular data.
According to "Kontur.Fokus", OOO "AIB" was founded in Moscow in March 2022. The main activity is software development. After the deal, Andrey Gantimurov's share decreased from 33.3% to 24.64%, and the share of the company's CEO Vladimir Nelyub decreased from 66.7% to 49.36%. Vladimir Nelyub was previously associated with "Astra Group": he previously held the position of Director of Science and Artificial Intelligence.