Ukrainian internet entrepreneur Alexey Mas has left his role as head of the innovation laboratory at Kyivstar to launch a new venture, «Kraftovye Sotseti» (Craft Social Networks). The project, announced after his last working day at the telecoms company on 31 July 2019, aims to provide businesses and communities with bespoke social networking platforms tailored to their specific needs.
Mas describes the initiative as a return to a decentralised internet in the form of social networks. He argues that existing major platforms have become overly centralised, leaving companies and communities without adequate tools for communication, audience engagement, and management. The project is designed to fill a gap between Facebook and Telegram: while Facebook allows groups, users remain subject to the platform’s rules and algorithms, and Telegram offers channels and chats but lacks advanced community structuring, gamification, and user engagement features.
«Kraftovye Sotseti» will not be a single social network but a set of individual online communities built to order. Each network can be adapted to a specific audience, theme, and use case. According to Mas, the product is intended for companies that need not only to broadcast information to users but also to foster sustainable interaction within a community. The platform would allow organisations to create their own social networks without being fully dependent on large centralised platforms.
In the initial phase, the project team plans to gather technical requirements, build a team, attract investors, and develop several prototypes. From these, a primary product version will be selected. The roadmap also includes launching a mobile web version and developing applications for Android and iOS. The project is seeking early customers to test the model in practice, and Mas reports that several potential clients have already expressed interest.
The financial model involves attracting a title investor and a syndicate of small investors. Syndicate members can invest modest sums and receive a stake proportional to their contribution. Mas believes this approach will not only raise capital but also build a community of people invested in the development of a new social network model.
Alexey Mas is a well-known figure in the Ukrainian internet space. He has been involved in several online projects, including,, and «Derevo Druzei» (Tree of Friends), and was a co-founder of the iForum conference. For the past three years, he worked at Kyivstar on innovation initiatives. He views «Kraftovye Sotseti» as an independent business with global potential, aiming to create a tool that allows companies and communities to launch their own social networks without being fully reliant on large centralised platforms.
The project comes at a time when concerns about data privacy, algorithmic control, and platform dependency are growing among businesses and online communities. By offering customisable social networks, Mas hopes to give organisations more control over their digital spaces and user interactions. The success of the venture will depend on its ability to attract both investors and early adopters willing to test a decentralised approach to social networking.
