As real estate continues to adapt to a changing digital landscape, Artificial Intelligence is taking its share, and one company has positioned itself at the forefront of this transformation: Placy, a Cyprus-based startup leveraging AI to revolutionise property transactions.
Founded in late 2023 by a team of seasoned professionals with a shared vision, Placy has swiftly gained traction, securing a €1 million pre-seed investment in early 2024 to accelerate its growth.
The company’s innovative approach, spearheaded by co-founders Sergei Osipov, Mike Vasiliev, and Alexey Alexeev, challenges the conventional boundaries of real estate by automating core functions such as property valuations, market research, and contract management.
With its flagship products—Placy Pro, aimed at real estate professionals, and Placy Assistant, designed for private buyers and sellers—Placy seeks to streamline the complexities of property transactions, enhancing productivity and allowing real estate professionals to focus on high-value activities.
In an exclusive interview, Sergei Osipov, co-founder of Placy, offers insights into the company’s journey, its vision for the future, and the critical role AI will play in reshaping the global real estate market.
Below, Osipov provides a candid look into Placy’s growth trajectory, its partnership with Zubr Capital, and the strategic priorities that will define the company’s next phase of expansion.
1. Can you tell us a bit more about Placy’s journey leading up to this €1 million pre-seed round?
Placy was born in the Autumn of 2023 out of a simple idea: disrupt real estate with AI. Three ex-CIAN colleagues (Osipov, Vasiliev, Alexeev) got together, brainstormed, and voilà—on Halloween October 30th, we shook hands, registered placy.ai, and called it our startup birthday.
By January 2024, we had Placy Ltd, €250k committed by founders, and I started my blog, “Placy AI Startup Insights”, which now has 4k subscribers—the community of AI enthusiasts, investors, and startuppers. Check out my historical post about this €250k: https://t.me/s/placy_ai/21
The community chose the SMM strategy (https://t.me/s/placy_ai/18), voted for Placy’s avatar (https://t.me/s/placy_ai/22) and so forth—everything went smoothly, we simply listened to our followers’ thoughts.
Then opening a bank account in Cyprus. That was a Greek comedy in itself. You know, Revolut set us up in 2 weeks. A Cypriot bank took 3 months, a truckload of papers, and sacrificing a goat.
One February day, we received an email from Microsoft. Since we were already using Microsoft Azure infrastructure, they invited us to apply to Startups Founders Hub. We applied, sharing our one-page site and PDF with the Placy Ltd registration (we didn’t have anything more to share at that early stage). The next day, I got the second email, confirming a fantastic $150k grant. It was awesome because the grant helped us cover all the Azure and OpenAI expenses!
By April, we launched the Placy Assistant prototype on WhatsApp and Telegram—just posted in the blog (https://t.me/s/placy_ai/55), and boom, the first 100 users spoke with Placy.
So, to sum it up, we invested about €300k (in cash and grants) altogether prior to the €1M pre-seed round.
2. How did the deal with Zubr Capital come about? How long did the negotiations take?
My Telegram channel blog didn’t just attract startuppers — it attracted investors too. 15% of subscribers said they might invest in Placy (https://t.me/s/placy_ai/76). Got 2-3 VC inquiries weekly, but most were from new folks I’ve never met. By May, I had a good sense of the VC landscape. Knew we needed €1M and a fund with an EU licence for future gov grants
I sent our pitch deck to Zubr Capital first—a team I knew well. After two months of due diligence and negotiations, we had a deal. The money came just in time. We paid the July salaries, and our bank account was empty right before the first transfer from Zubr
3. Besides Zubr Capital, who were the other investors involved in this round? What made them the right partners for Placy?
Nope, just Zubr. Their term sheet checked all the boxes. Why waste time on a VC roadshow when we could be building products? Zubr has a killer portfolio and partners like EBRD and Wargaming—What else does a startupper need?
I’ve worked with Victor Dzenisevich, Zubr’s investment director, on a few boards. He’s the guy who keeps dreamers like us grounded. Our board? A perfect mix: two dreamers, Mike (Placy’s CEO) and me, balanced by two seasoned rational pros: Marianna Pantelidou (Wargaming, Hellenic Bank) and Victor Dzenisevich (Zubr). Such a board members mix creates value for both the business and the future round investors
4. Can you share some insights into how many investors you engaged with before finalizing this, A portion of the funds will go towards developing Placy Assistant for “real estate Perplexity.” Can you elaborate on what this entails and how it ties into your broader strategy?
Met with about 30 experts/investors. Shared this idea: experimenting with a Perplexity-style AI search for real estate. It’s a unicorn, “Google’s killer”. Perplexity provides you with direct answers, while Google still offers links, making you handle cookies, notifications, scroll SEO junk… Marketplaces? They’ve added AI search on their home pages, but what about the second click? It’s still paid links, not answers. We think a Perplexity-like model could be a game-changer in property listings. Now, we’ve got the budget to find out.
5. What are the immediate priorities for the company with this new capital?
Connect more Cyprus realtors to Placy Pro. Test 2 more countries. And R&D for Placy Assistant
6. How will this funding specifically accelerate the development of Placy Pro and Placy Assistant?
Placy Pro’s found its market fit, but it’s still a baby. Needs more development to really shine. We’ll build out sales, support, and analytics, and then expand to new markets. We’ll also build a second team focused on Placy Assistant, bring in more devs, refine UX, and run endless A/B tests. More attempts = a higher chance of a unicorn.
7. Placy is already operational in Cyprus and has plans to expand into Greece, the UAE, and the UK. What are the biggest challenges you foresee in these markets?
I won’t be smart until we enter these countries. Ask me in 6 months
8. What are your long-term goals for Placy, and how do you see the company evolving over the next few years?
€1M ARR for Placy Pro within a year. Find PMF for Placy Assistant. Then a €5-10M seed round to scale fast and secure first-mover advantage. We’re here to build a profitable business, reinvest the profits, and grow as long as the market lets us
9. There’s a lot of buzz about AI replacing traditional roles. How do you see Placy’s role in the future of real estate?
“When asked if AI will replace real estate agents, I say: we’re not here for optimization, we’re here for growth,” says Sotiris Komodromos, Placy’s Commercial Director. “Our tools are designed for savvy professionals who aim to double their sales with a fraction of the effort”.
10. Is there anything else you’d like to share about Placy’s vision or the impact you hope to make in the real estate industry?
Everything’s changing because of AI, especially in people-centric sectors like real estate sales. Startuppers, don’t miss this momentum! Do you have an idea and some industry knowledge? Now’s the time. The momentum makes it easy to find partners—so many office-goers are excited to step out of their comfort zone and discuss an AI project. Such a big paradigm shift doesn’t happen often. You’ll never forgive yourself if you miss your chance this year. Go!
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