The team will be developing new, AI-based technologies for Velocity, which is currently one of the world’s fastest-growing venture-backed tech companies. The company, which has offices in London, New York and Los Angeles, plans to partner with technical universities in Lithuania and intends to integrate itself fully into Lithuania’s developer community.
Velocity Black’s core product is the lifestyle management service. This product functions both as an exclusive member’s club and a fully digital, AI-assisted concierge service. It is the first AI-assisted conversational commerce marketplace for premium consumers, and its 24/7 chat feature promises a response for users within 1 minute.
Last year it became one of the fastest growing startups in the UK. And the company has ambitious expansion plans, some of which will be facilitated by its new office in Lithuania.
According to Sune Westphalen, Velocity Black’s Global Head of Engineering, Lithuania’s motivated and talented workforce, the accessibility and innovativeness of the government incentives on offer, and the country’s strategic geographical location, all led the company to choose Vilnius for its first technology centre.
The team in Lithuania will be operating independently, researching and developing new technologies to solve some of the unique challenges that Velocity Black is going to face as it plans to quickly scale. Further on, Velocity Black intends to fully integrate into the Lithuanian developer’s community, as well as partner with technical universities in Lithuania to train world class engineers.
Mantas Katinas, Managing Director of Invest Lithuania, believes the level of experience in Lithuania’s startup community is growing quickly, a trend that will be strengthened by Velocity Black presence. “We are very happy that Lithuania’s tech ecosystem is proving attractive to fast growing startups from London. Velocity Black technology centre in Lithuania will not only support the company’s growth, but will also broaden the experience of Lithuania’s startup community,” comments Mr. Katinas.
The Velocity Black technology centre will be based in the brand new UMA Workspace in Vilnius. The Lithuanian team will be led by Vygandas Pliasas, who brings a wealth of experience in travel and ecommerce from brands like KAYAK and more to the role. “I plan to hire experienced specialists to work with the latest technologies in our mission to build new products that will ultimately benefit the business and allow it to scale even faster”, says Vygandas.
Career opportunities are already open for Product Managers, Product Designers, TypeScript Engineers (Node.js, React.js, React Native), DevOps and AI/ML/BA/data specialists.
Velocity Black has raised $32m of venture capital to date. Investors include DIG Investment, Spark Capital and Barry Sternlicht, founder of Starwood Hotels. Velocity Black was founded in London by Zia Yusuf and Alex Macdonald. It now has offices in London, Los Angeles, New York City and Vilnius.