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Universe Group

Tech (Product)

Kyiv

Verified

Simplifying the present, we create a better tomorrow

Universe Group is a Ukrainian company that launches global IT products. The Universe group of companies creates mobile applications and web platforms to simplify and improve the quality of people's lives. In five years, Universe Group has built three successful businesses — Guru Apps, Forma and Wisey. It is also developing its own R&D center.

6years on the market

1office in Kyiv and 2 working spaces: in Warsaw and Limassol

130+employees

83.5million users from 180 countries

#3in the world by revenue as a publisher of scanning utilities

Universe Group products simplify people’s life

The history of Universe Group began in 2018. The future founder of the company, Yaroslav Morozov, worked as Team Lead of iOS development in Ukrainian co-founding IT company Genesis at that time. He headed up with the idea of developing his own product — VPN utility application. His initiative was supported. The product proved itself very successfully. Later, the project grew into a separate company in the ecosystem of Genesis businesses.

The name Universe was not chosen by chance. Firstly, the company strives to create large-scale projects that resemble separate universes. Secondly, each employee is also a separate universe that brings something of its own to the common macrocosm of the company and thereby stimulates the company's development.

In the first year, Universe Group developers created two applications — VPN and Scan Guru. In 2019, the video editor and Translator Guru, which supports 100+ languages, appeared in the portfolio of products. As a result, the company earned its first million dollars. In 2020, Universe Group began to look for new niches and launched the first project in the R&D centre — the online style guide. In 2021, the company presented the first product for Android, as well as the educational platform Wisey.

In 2022, the company confidently withstood the beginning of a full-scale war. It organized the relocation of the team to safe regions, provided comprehensive assistance to employees who stayed in Ukraine or relocated to Poland, adapted the office to new challenges. Also, Universe Group supports the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In addition, the company launched new products for the web and mobile devices. Now the company operates three separate businesses and its own R&D center.

Now the company operates three separate businesses and its own R&D center.

Guru Apps is an ecosystem of iOS mobile apps. The most popular of them are: Scan Guru, Translator Guru, Cleaner Guru and Assist. Guru Apps products are used by 83.5 million people from 180 countries. The company is on the third place in the world by revenue as a publisher of scanning utilities.

Wisey is an education platform for productivity increasing with 27 courses. More than 35 thousand people from all over the world uses it.

FORMA is a business that creates SaaS solutions for document management. The company's product is actively used by more than 1.5 million users per month in more than 30 countries of the world.

Yaroslav Morozov,
CEO

Five years ago, I envisioned Universe Group creating products that made people's lives easier. It was supposed to be an ecosystem of simple and convenient applications that help to solve routine tasks quickly. We have reached a lot of our goals, so we keep moving in the same direction. We have become the third-largest utility publisher in the world by revenue, and we have a plan to lead this ranking. Universe products are used by approximately 83.5 million users from 180 countries.

The company is proud of its official partnership with such international giants as Meta, Google, and TikTok. For example, during the launch of Wisey, Facebook representatives helped the company involve specialists from the University of Berkeley (USA) in audience research.

Yaroslav Morozov,
CEO

5 years ago, I imagined Universe Group as a holding in which key areas are headed by employees who developed in the team. I wanted to give my specialists the same cool opportunity that I was once given in Genesis. And we did it, now we already have three separate businesses that are growing. So we have a new ambitious goal — to become a Ukrainian "unicorn" in a few years.

An office where you are always welcome

The Universe Group team has been working in a hybrid format for a long time (it is possible to work both in the office and from home). It does not matter where you live: in the capital, other cities of Ukraine, or abroad. The doors of Universe Group are always open for talented candidates. However, if you live in Kyiv and would like to work close to your colleagues, you will always be welcomed in a cosy office in Podil. For example, the R&D center teams usually work specifically in the office to maintain a startup culture. In addition, the company has two great workspaces in Warsaw and Limassol, where you can also interact with colleagues.

The Universe Group team is actively growing, so it currently occupies two floors of the business center. The administrative team is located on one of the floors in the open space, and the business teams and the R&D department work on the other. There are conference rooms for meetings, and a corner with a walking track, a desk and other sports equipment for sports fans. Employees can have a snack, drink coffee and chat with colleagues in the kitchen.

The main feature of the office is the silent room for work or rest. The rule is not to disturb others with conversations – only peace. There is also a library here. Employees can read in the quiet room or choose a book to read at home. Another pleasant bonus is a dizzying view of St. Andrew's Church. On Friday evenings, the silent room turns into a space where colleagues can listen to music on a vinyl record player, play board games, just chat and attend trainings from guest lecturers.

The company provides meals to those who work in the office. Everyone can find fresh dishes for breakfast every morning in the kitchen and order lunch from one of the corporate suppliers in the afternoon. Coffee, tea, fruit, snacks, and other goodies are always available in the kitchen.

I have been working with various content remotely for quite some time. But at Universe Group I received the biggest boost. This story is not really about the office, but about the people in the office. Instant communication, quick feedback, pleasant atmosphere and creativity. This is 90% motivation to wake up in the morning and run to work, another 10% is, of course, delicious breakfasts.

Working from office gives an opportunity to participate in live brainstorms, to be more efficient and maximally involved in business. People in the office help you find your growth areas and upgrade yourself as a specialist as much as possible. Those who work in the field of performance marketing always need to be on the wave. And our office and "our" people give me this opportunity.

Maksym Hrabar,
Motion Designer Team Lead

Everyone affects the overall result and their career

The entire company works according to the OKR system (Objectives and Key Results). The CEO defines the main business goal of the company for a certain period. Based on the main goal, heads set goals for their departments. Each employee analyses what contribution to the overall goal he/she has to make, sets appropriate goals, and approves them with management. It has a superb effect on motivation. People realize how exactly their work helps the company. They are more willing to work on tasks that have been set by themselves, not by a manager.

The following meetings are held in Universe Group for the team to be aware of everything that is happening on the projects and beyond:

all-hands (once in two months) — more informal meetings where CEO or Head of People talks about various organizational points and company news;
episodes (quarterly) — every business unit has their own meetings to evaluate work results, summarize the results of this period, and define goals for the next one;
daily team meetings, scrum-meetings, individual meetings of specialists with managers, etc.
Uni Crash Test — an event where business orientation and entrepreneurial spirit are developed. During the meeting, you can present your own business idea and, based on this information, the CEO and other experts give recommendations for improving the future product;
and three team-wide informal events a year to spend time together and summarise the results of work.

The company has developed its own matrix of competencies that determine the level of specialists. If you develop new competencies, you can move to higher positions and be promoted. When closing management positions, preference is usually given to internal hiring. If the employee understands that he/she has achieved a lot, or simply wants something new, he/she is allowed to try himself/herself in a new position.

Before Universe Group, I worked in marketing for 5 years. The beginning of a full-scale war became a stimulus to stop and rethink my attitude to work. I wanted a job where I could quickly see results and qualitatively improve my expertise. Therefore, I decided to narrow my specialization and focus on performance marketing. It was important for me to objectively analyze my impact on the product, but I didn't want to chase the numbers.

I started working at Universe Group as a Creative Marketing Specialist and in 2 years I grew to Creative Team Lead. Our team creates campaigns for our products, which are seen by over 10 million users daily. This figure is growing progressively as we actively create new products.

Demand for a Creative Marketing Specialists has grown significantly in the market over the last year, and it is still growing. So I'm proud to have the opportunity to find talents and grow expertise within the team. I love working as a Creative Marketing Specialist because of the mix of creativity and analytics. For me, it is one of the most interesting occupations. The lack of experience in creative marketing in IT did not prevent me from switching and developing in a new direction.

Diana Voloshchenko,
Creative Team Lead at Guru Apps

Employees are encouraged to take care of their health and rest

The duration of vacation in Universe Group depends on the number of days worked. Each employee is credited with 1.6 days of vacation for the month of work. In total, employees accrue 20 days of vacation for the year of employment. Universe employees can collect days to have a longer vacation, use them at once, or use them next year.

The company fully pays for all sick days: up to three days — without a certificate, from three days — with a certificate from any clinic. Universe takes the health of its employees seriously. If employees do not feel well, then they will not work very efficiently. Therefore, employees are always encouraged to rest and fully recover after illness.

All employees are provided with medical insurance after a trial period of three months. It covers consultations with various specialists, a full check-up of the body once a year, dentistry, and prophylactic massages.

Universe Group promotes the development of employees

The company pays a lot of attention to the professional and personal development of employees. Therefore, they are encouraged to do various training. In particular, they compensate from 70% to 100% of the cost of external courses (depending on whether the acquired knowledge will be needed during work).They also cover 70% of the cost of learning English on courses or with a tutor.

In addition, the Universe Group HR team regularly organizes internal educational activities for all employees who are really interested in it. The courses on public speaking, conflict theory, networking, sales and emotional intelligence have already been conducted. They also encourage the exchange of experience among colleagues. Once a month, the company holds Universe Slides Night — team meetings where one of the employees presents a topic in which he/she considers himself/herself an expert. It can be anything related to professional activities or hobbies.

Roman Shevchenko,
Head of Operations at Guru Apps

I joined Universe as a Manual QA Engineer six months after the company was founded. After working for some time, I became more interested in how the mobile application development business is organized in general. Later, I began to take on more responsibility and help colleagues with their tasks. Our CEO Yaroslav noticed my proactivity and offered me the position of Delivery Manager, who is responsible for the release of new versions of products. Today, my position is Head of Operations and my area of responsibility is the technical and operational implementation of the strategy of the entire Guru Apps. I already have 26 people in my team, and we continue to grow.

Loud corporate parties will be held after the victory, but now the priority is to support the army

Before the start of the full-scale war, the company often arranged corporate parties. Once a year, the entire team went abroad for a few days on vacation (in particular to Turkey and Croatia). In this way, employees could relax and get acquainted with their colleagues at the same time. They also liked various quests and team games.

Nowadays, the team building formats have been changed. From the beginning of the full-scale war, the company donated approximately 13 million hryvnias for the needs of the Defence Forces of Ukraine. One of the key directions of assistance is supporting of personal requests of relatives and friends of employees who have stood up for the defence of the country. The company constantly doubles the amounts of money that employees collect by themselves.

Universe Group also supports the educational project Captains' Training, created by the Territorial Defence Forces in cooperation with the Come Back Alive Foundation. Its purpose is to develop military leadership in accordance with NATO standards. They help officers to develop skills needed to effectively perform combat missions and maintain personnel.

On February 24, 2022, everyone was evacuated to a safe place

The company had a clear plan for evacuating employees in case of a full-scale war. Managers instructed everyone on what to do in different dangerous situations. All employees were ready for all scenarios and knew how to behave in danger.

On February 24, not only the company's employees but also their relatives and pets were evacuated to the west of Ukraine. All people were accommodated in a hotel in Bukovel. The company paid for three-month accommodation. Later, most of the workers returned to Kyiv.

Employees who expressed a desire to go to Poland were helped by Universe's Group partner, Meta. Employees of the Warsaw office contacted the company on the first day of the full-scale war and offered their support. Universe Group helped the girls with renting an apartment and buying equipment. Meta set up a separate mini-hub for them in their office.

About 5 days before the start of the full-scale invasion, Yaroslav, our CEO, shared an evacuation plan in case the situation worsened. At that time, no one believed that it was possible. Everyone was persistently asked to say whether they were ready to evacuate and how many relatives they would like to take with them. This preparation helped a lot when the full-scale war started.

On the morning of February 24, we called and discussed the action plan. The company pre-booked a bus for evacuation to the west of Ukraine. Later, the women and girls were offered to move to Warsaw temporarily. The company rented housing and an office. Our partners in Meta helped us a lot with accommodation. I decided to go with the cat. We had been living in Warsaw for about three months. However, we were thinking about returning to Ukraine all that time.

Rita Havryliuk,
Chief Marketing Officer at Guru Apps

During the blackouts, the team that stayed in Ukraine was provided with generators and charging stations. The company compensated 50% of the price of EcoFlow and organized the purchase process. The Universe Group office is fully adapted to cut off electricity, water and heating. There is always an Internet connection and a water supply. Thus, employees even can take a shower in the office. During blackouts, not only employees, but also their relatives are welcome at the workspace.

The team is united by proven values

Sometimes companies try to provide the employees with preconceived frameworks. Universe Group did it differently. They formulated values based on those patterns that were already working effectively in the team.

Proactivity
Universe Group workers are engaged and proactive. They dive deep into processes and offer ideas. Even if the initiative goes beyond the employee's area of responsibility. The team quickly overcomes difficulties to reach the final goal. Employees are the drivers of business improvement.
Focus on the result
The company's specialists are always focused on the result and try to do their best. It is important not to focus on the process for the sake of the process. You should create ambitious goals and never stop conquering new peaks.
Openness
Universe Group specialists always openly talk about the results, achievements and opportunities. The team is used to building honest communication and sharing constructive feedback in order to become better every day.
Flexibility
At Universe Group, it is important to quickly adapt to new business realities. If necessary, change processes and approaches for the best result. Here you should accept challenges as growth points and test all hypotheses.
Unity
Universe Group is a close-knit team whose members always help each other and share their experiences. People with different views are united here to achieve a common goal.

Ambisious Universians earn UniCoins, which can be exchanged for gifts

The company has a special gamified motivation system — the internal currency UniCoins. It is an element of the company's culture that helps unite the team and increase its efficiency. Currency allows you to publicly thank colleagues for help or sharing expertise.

Every achievement can be rewarded with UniCoins. Employees can use them to purchase goods and services from the company. You can get coins for showing involvement in team life. It can be helping a colleague, exceeding standard work duties, etc.

How is the hiring and adaptation process organized in the company?

Selection for the Universe Group team takes place in several stages:

resume screening (it allows to determine to what extent the candidate meets the requirements of the vacancy);
a preliminary call with a recruiter;
test task (needed for 70% of vacancies); candidates for technical positions are usually offered to do a small task during the interview in order not to delay the recruiting process;
interview with the hiring manager (future manager of the employee);
bar raising — an interview with one of the C-level managers to test the candidate for compatibility with the company's culture and values.

In order to get the job, everyone needs to have a high-quality CV, read some information about the company before the interview, and think about questions to ask a recruiter. In this way, the interview will not look like an interrogation, and you will immediately understand whether your expectations match what the company offers. During self-presentation, the candidate should focus on results from previous experience, and confirm all words with specific facts.

The results do not have to be incredible, like launching a rocket into space or creating an app in two weeks. Small achievements, such as a gold medal at school, organization of a club at university, volunteering, and optimization of some work processes are also important. They just need to be noticed and highlighted.

Adaptation is possible both ways — online and offline. New employees listen to a presentation with all important information about corporate processes and receive a checklist of what he/she needs to do during their first time working in the company. Also, each newcomer gets acquainted with a Buddy — a co-worker with whom the newcomer does not cross paths at work. However, Buddy always helps the newcomer to adapt.

During the trial period, which lasts three months, the newcomer meets with the HR specialist three times to discuss all the issues that concern him/her. During this time, he/she also gets acquainted with colleagues from other departments and the CEO of the company.

I joined Universe Group in the summer of 2021 thanks to Genesis IT School. My first challenge as a Product Manager was to relaunch the Cleaner Guru and Translator Guru apps. I had to analyse the market, understand what functionality our competitors had, what we lacked, update the onboarding, etc. This allowed me to understand how these markets work, grow quickly and improve my skills, so I am grateful to the team for their trust.

For the past year and a half, I have been working in the position of Head of Product in FORMA's business, which develops PDF Guru — a web-based document editor. I was lucky enough to work with the platform from the very beginning, when the idea was chosen, to today, when we are one of the fastest growing businesses in the Genesis ecosystem. Now, as Head of Product, I have even more challenges and opportunities, and I'm glad to grow and develop with the company.

Dmytro Kanyevskyj ,
Head of Product at FORMA

More than 90% of Universe Group employees recommend working at the company

The founder of Universe Group often says that it is needed to offer a position in the company to those people who are not looking for a job. That is why the company operates the Race of Recommendations Program within which employees can recommend candidates they know. In 2021, the employee who recommended a lot of people won two tickets for a trip to Italy. Now employees receive UniCoins for each recommendation.

Employees recommend candidates not just for the potential profit, they really consider Universe Group a worthy place to work and are ready to recommend the company to their friends. According to a monitoring conducted by the HR department, the eNPS of the team is 91.3%. This is the percentage of people who would recommend working in the company with 9 and 10 points on a ten-point scale.

The survey among employees also showed that 66% of respondents consider career opportunities the main advantage of working in the company; 54% like expertise of colleagues and the team in general; 52% chose salary and corporate culture in the team as the main advantage.

Do you want to create products for millions of people around the world?
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