written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . august 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message i free industry mobile technology founded 2001 headquarters st. petersburg russia products apps for smartphones and tablets nfc solutions digital products for b2c and b2b market website http i free.com en i free is a group of companies operating in various segments of it market . the group evolved from i free company founded in 2001 in st.petersburg russia that was focusing on creation and distribution of mobile content . currently i free group includes more than 20 companies and startups . i free is a specialist developer and implementer of cutting edge projects in mobile and nfc technology digital content distribution electronic payments and micropayments applications for smartphones and new network devices ai technologies creation of smart home interfaces promotion of digital products on b2c market and b2b projects in mobile marketing . in 2014 i free was ranked sixth in the list of top russian internet companies by forbes . in 2013 i free turnover was equal to 250 million . i free is present and operates successfully outside russia with offices in mumbai india beijing china minsk belarus and almaty kazakhstan . i free products and services are now available in more than 100 2 countries 3 . group headquarters are located in st.petersburg russia . i free is partnering with manufacturers of mobile devices mobile networks operators in russia cis india and china with banks transnational brands highly rated tv networks publishers media groups internet resources as well as engineering startups . contents 1 group structure 2 history 3 company management 4 technological contribution 5 corporate culture 6 i free academy 7 social responsibility 8 trivia 9 criticism 10 references 11 external links group structure edit currently i free group includes more than 20 companies and startups . companies working in priority areas of activity beskontakt llc founded in 2012 as a department for the development of innovative solutions based on contactless technologies . one of its key directions is nfc payments . beskontakt s flagship product is the wallet nfc wallet a mobile app that enables over the air download of mobile mastercard paypass cards as well as lets pay for goods and services with just one touch of phone . apart from bank cards one can also download transport cards into the wallet . to pay for the passage in urban transport the passenger has just to put the phone against the busman s mobile terminal . this technological solution stands out among similar solutions on the russian market as the user doesn t need to get a special sim card from mobile network operator ; it is also possible to add money to the transport card directly in the nfc wallet using the banking card . currently the wallet is integrated into sony htc and philips smartphones ; urban transport payments are available in ten russian cities . wallet app is based on beskontakt llc proprietary platform tsm trusted service manager that has got pci dss and mastercard gvcp compliance certificates . i free ventures founded in 2011 provides funding training and mentoring for startups and engineering companies at any moment from seed to early growth stage . considers not only projects with approved business models for well known markets but also projects with unobvious monetization system dealing with segmented markets . startups sponsored by the foundation are targeting the russian market as well as european asian and north american markets 6 . depending on the project investment volume may vary from tens of thousands up to half million dollars . the foundation also assists its projects in their search for funding of following development stages . i free business solutions founded in 2004 focuses on marketing projects based on mobile technologies . competencies digital marketing mobile crm sms notifications development of mobile apps for any mobile platforms implementation of promo offers for fmcg brands and retail . company equipment makes it possible to deal with marketing tasks of any complexity as well as to conduct national scale campaigns including complex ones that integrate all types of mobile technologies sms ivr wap web java and qr code . another area of company activities is the development of mobile banking apps for various platforms ios android windows mobile and the implementation of sms notification services and banking account remote management via mobile devices . banks partnering with the company have access to the full line of ussd hlr imsi and nfc services . herocraft is a developer and publisher of mobile and pc games . the company was founded in 2002 and headquartered in kaliningrad russia . it also operates offices in st. petersburg minsk krasnodar novokuznetsk russia donetsk ukraine as well as in china spain and uk . herocraft develops games for ios android blackberry windows phone and pc as well as social media games ; it also distributes games in 15 languages . herocraft is ranked top developer in google play . smsdirect founded in 2008 focuses on sms notification services . it owns a complete set of tools necessary for providing sms notification services from web interface for independent work and working through a personal account manager up to an api for integration with internal systems http xml api smpp 3.4 . today the company provides integrated direct notification and advertising services using various technological channels such as voice ivr system sms e mail ussd . synqera is focusing on technologies of marketing communication personalization in retail business . by analyzing big data that include the sales customer profiles in the loyalty program efficiency of previous promo campaigns and even the weather at the moment of purchase the solution provides exact targeting of special offers made by the retailer or a brand . this platform ensures the management of multichannel campaigns by delivering individualized content via interactive devices at the points of sale mobile apps text messages and e mail . synqera was founded in 2010 and operates on russian european and north american markets . history edit i free has been founded in 2001 in st. petersburg russia by kirill gorynya kirill petrov and serguey shulga . 2001 2003 company becomes one of the first additional mobile services developers and providers in russia . it provides a wide selection of mobile content and is among the top 3 content providers on the russian market . 8 2004 2006 the company starts operations outside russia first providing services in ukraine then in kazakhstan ; in 2006 it starts working in india china brazil and mexico . today i free runs offices in india china kazakhstan and belarus . via uft i free products and services are available in more than 100 countries . 2005 2010 active market development in various mobile content services and related areas . several highly specialized divisions are created such as foundreams planet3 i free business solution and smsdirect . 2013 2014 in 2010 2014 the total volume of investments into innovative projects and startups was about 50 million . i free was supporting more than 50 innovative projects dealing with ai electronic finance smart home systems smart tv multiplayer games electronic media nfc based services retail technologies mobile payments e commerce electronic advertising networks and mobile messengers . as startups and engineering projects continue to consolidate around the company a reform becomes a logical necessity in 2013 i free is transformed into a group of companies . in 2014 i free undergoes restructuring which aims at switching all available resources to the most promising business areas such as mobile games producing and publishing b2b projects implementation of nfc based solutions investment and external assets management solutions for mobile devices manufacturers . close attention is paid to projects that make use of artificial intelligence . ai platform created by a russian developer v.veselov and acquired by i free wins the main prize at turing 100 competition ; then i free provides it for the creation of the first bionic man 1 in the world . in june 2014 chat bot eugene goostman built on this platform becomes the first chat bot in the world that has successfully passed turing s test . 2 in 2014 i free has signed a partner agreement with skolkovo foundation which includes researches inn the domain of payment security and mobile phone user identification as well as the creation of unique algorithms and software that ensure user identification for the payments obtainment of governmental services remote conclusion of contracts and urban transport ticket payments . besides this agreement also covers researches in the domain of bigdata processing and the creation of effective models of customers interaction with mobile terminals in the points of sale . plans are to create i free r & d center on the premises of skolkovo foundation . company management edit person position vasiliy kuntsevich general manager dina popova executive director kirill gorynya general manager i free innovations serguey shulga executive director i free innovations kirill petrov managing director i free innovations technological contribution edit i free groups takes part in all main events aiming at the development of mobile industry and market of mobile and contactless based innovative services . in 2004 i free was the mover of mobile vas conference mobile vas & apps conference since 2011 mobile trends forum since 2013 the biggest international conference in eastern europe . until 2013 i free acted as forum key partner ; then in 2013 the company became forum organizer . in 2005 i free was one of the driving forces behind the association of mobile services and content providers . in 2007 united fun traders uft alliance has been founded whose task is the global promotion of products created by russian content providers . in 2009 i free together with other key players of electronic and mobile payments market took part in the foundation of russian e money association . in 2010 in order to stimulate the development of contactless technologies in russia i free has produced an educational movie possibilities of nfc in the modern world ; in 2012 this movie was awarded the silver dolphin at cannes corporate media & tv awards . 3 since 2011 i free is a co organizer of the only russian scientific and engineering conference dealing with artificial intelligence issues sainl artificial intelligence and natural language . an important contribution to the development of russian mobile industry is also made by i free academy . this is a unique educational project aiming at professional development and extension of competencies of people involved in mobile industry corporate culture edit corporate culture is one of the most important i free features . it incarnates the notions of personal freedom and freedom of expression . key values supported by all employees are initiative and development respect for the individual responsibility trust mutual consideration and support . since the very beginning i free was committed to these principles which allowed creating a unique atmosphere and comfortable working environment where people are involved not only into formal but friendly relations . all companies that constitute i free group are built as teams of friends and soul mates . people from different companies can initiate independent joint projects and obtain funding from i free . i free is committed to open communication style ; unsupervised work self development and self motivation are highly appreciated . i free group does not impose any strict business hours clock in time or dress code ; employees may define their timetable themselves in coordination with their colleagues . at the same time personal responsibility ability to formulate problems and to find solutions result orientedness are encouraged . i free group employees work in various countries . team integration is ensured by multidirectional communications informal socializing team building educational programs