Serokell

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the co-founder of Symbiosis. We’re a cross-chain protocol liquidity enabler. We enable businesses and other users to swap any token from different blockchains. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Serokell?

We launched the first version of our protocol back in March 2022. The initial design was visible enough to launch the product, but we wanted to make it even more competitive. We had a particular design we wanted for our second version and needed a partner to help us develop it.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Serokell has helped us develop the second version of our platform. This design is similar to most of the existing decks, but we wanted a version that was more secure. We already had a new design in mind but didn’t have the resources to develop it on our own, and that’s where Serokell came in. 

Serokell built the platform from scratch since they’re specialized in software development rather than modifying existing software. They used Solidity for programming, and I also ask them for our platform to be compatible for integration with Cardano cryptocurrency.

Serokell developed the platform based on our criteria, presented us with the results, and we performed security audits on the platform for about a month and a half. Then, we went live with the platform. 

What is the team composition?

My main point of contact with Serokell was Roman (Chief Business Development Officer). Overall, we worked with a team of 5–6 specialists, most of them were software developers.

How did you come to work with Serokell?

Our biggest investor, who is in the financial industry, referred Serokell to us. When I was looking for a service provider, they mentioned Serokell could handle this kind of project, so I reached out. 

I had a call with Serokell to discuss the project’s scope and realized they had expertise in classical programming. I also noticed they had experience with blockchain development by looking at their portfolio, and that’s why we decided to go with them. 

Moreover, the scope of work and price they presented were reasonable for us, especially in terms of timing. We already had a timeframe in mind to present our protocol’s second version and needed a partner that could work with that timeline. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested around €300,000 (approximately $320,000 USD) with Serokell. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2022 and ended the contract at the end of October 2022. 

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Because Serokell mostly concentrates on providing software development services and audits, we were interested in having several auditing partners for this project. We actually developed criteria to ensure there weren’t security breaches in the code Serokell presented. If the product had many security breaches, we wouldn’t be able to put it into the production phase because we’re in the blockchain and crypto industry — it's all about money.

For us, it was vitally important to be 200% sure about our software’s security. We established the KPIs to ensure this, and Serokell met all our criteria. After that, they passed two security audits by third-party companies and proved there were no security breaches in their code.

After Serokell’s finished development, we realized audits for a month and a half, and then we went live with this second version. We haven’t had any security issues so far, and the platform works fine. 

How did Serokell perform from a project management standpoint?

There was a designated teammate from Serokell communicating with us on a regular basis, as well as a team lead. They answered all the questions we had along the way. We had a channel with Serokell’s team on Slack and used Telegram for informal communication. We also had several calls through Zoom and Google Meet. 

Overall, Serokell’s project management was good. They met deadlines and kept track of the project through Trello. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was most impressed with Serokell’s deep and profound blockchain expertise. The crypto space has been booming for the past two years, and now there’s a slight decline. However, Serokell started their blockchain development career in 2017 — they aren't new to the industry.

I was particularly impressed with Serokell’s expertise with the uncommon programming languages used in this industry, showing deep and profound knowledge. 

That's what sets them apart from other teams. We had worked previously with several teams and had both good and bad experiences. In comparison to other companies in the market, Serokell is definitely above the average.

Moreover, we already had a design in mind for our platform’s second version, and we were open to suggestions. Serokell helped us greatly. They weren’t the kind of team that need a detailed and very technical description of how things should work and execute just as it's written on paper. They suggested improvement based on their understanding of how to meet our criteria, and that was very helpful.

I would recommend Serokell for a creative approach. They try to get deep into what they're developing, not just manually execute what is asked of them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything for Serokell to improve. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend going to Serokell as early as possible, so they can find a way to collaborate with you and schedule your project since they have several projects they work on.

Serokell is not just another software development company. They can really help you with deep expertise to push your product to work. I wouldn’t say Serokell can replace the core development team for a blockchain project, but they can be a trustworthy contributive partner. Treat them as partners.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a free web application that enables users to connect via DeFi wallets and to make multiple-input and multiple-output transfers in single transactions. Users can swap several units of USC Coin and USDT for Ethereal or Bitcoin in one transaction and do it cross-chain. In a sense, we’re a liquidity aggregator.

What challenge were you trying to address with Serokell?

When we started the company, we lacked a development team, specifically full stack developers. We needed a company that could help us develop our product. At the same time, our service provider needed crucial expertise in algorithms, a Web3 technology stack, and Sphere; the latter two are uncommon in the market.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Serokell provided us with full-cycle development; they helped us with our requirements, development, testing, and deployment. Initially, the founding team prepared pre-requisite documents such as technical requirements. We described the MVP’s scope in terms of which blockchains to target first and presented that information to Serokell. Then, we worked together to finalize the requirements. 

The first thing Serokell developed was a routing algorithm; it collects the data from third-party protocols, analyzes it, and finds the best route for our transaction. Secondly, Serokell developed the backend, which is the product’s core and processes multiple requests at once in real time. 

As for technologies, Serokell used a Web3 technology stack that enables the product to connect to blockchains. Users can log in through a Web3 library and connect automatically. The Serokell team also used Python, JavaScript, Solidity, and optimization tools, such as algorithms that optimize financial flows. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with at least three full-time teammates from Serokell, including a team leader. If we needed expertise in other fields, they put us in contact with experts. 

How did you come to work with Serokell?

I found them online, searching for an IT company that could develop my product. I made a shortlist and had multiple calls with the candidates. Ultimately, I chose Serokell. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent just over $200,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Serokell from around June 2021–February 2022.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Since we're a startup, our measure for Serokell's success focused on on-time delivery. Aside from that, we needed the product to be user-friendly, though we didn't discuss that in-depth because it was a given. Overall, we were very happy with Serokell's deliveries; the product worked well.

How did Serokell perform from a project management standpoint?

They delivered on time. Like in every process, there were some timeline discrepancies of 2–3 days at certain points. However, I was overall happy with their timeliness.

When they had difficulties, they never hesitated to contact me and ask for extensions. Therefore, their communication was good. They were fast to contact me with any questions they had or to answer my questions. We used Telegram for irregular requests and Slack for regular requests and to check on progress. 

Additionally, Serokell was very agile in scheduling meetings with experts when we needed them. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed with Serokell's expertise. Some aspects of the project were new to them, and they responded well to those challenges. They allocated time and resources to problem-solving and worked efficiently. For example, the team found new software to solve a problem we faced, which was helpful. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

During the initial stage of the project, we spent almost a week clarifying what we wanted from them and what they could deliver. In a way, we were speaking different languages because Serokell's team was very technical. Therefore, they could have improved their onboarding process. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Serokell isn't the cheapest in the market, but if you have the budget to work with them, put all your eggs in one basket and give it to them. Don't try to control everything; the team knows what they're doing in their field of expertise. Therefore, don't hesitate to present them with any problem or ask for advice from Serokell.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Cometa, an aggregator and single-sided security lending company on the Algorand blockchain. We build DeFi applications to help users and projects to attract liquidity.

What challenge were you trying to address with Serokell?

We had hard tech challenges because we used Reach language, a functional framework to write smart contracts. Reach was written in Haskell, another functional language, so we needed someone with expertise in that language to help us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Serokell had to achieve three goals. The first one was verification for the smart contract to ensure they were secure enough for our users. The second one was testing the smart contract to cover it, and the third was the integration of the smart contract with the frontend. Serokell had their own verification framework, and they used Reach, Python, and React TypeScript for the frontend.

Since we help projects attract liquidity, we had to cover a couple of points. Serokell designed the best UX by optimizing clicks to make it easy to use. Also, it was super important that the smart contracts were secure and well integrated with the frontend. Additionally, they created features to help users understand DeFi more and see how to get APR and profits from the service.

What is the team composition?

We worked with three developers from their team.

How did you come to work with Serokell?

I studied at the same university as one of the developers from Serokell. I knew they were the best programmers in Haskell and functional programming. Smart contract verification and testing is a hard field of expertise, and they knew how it worked, so I decided to go with them.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent around €100,000 (approximately $108,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from December 2021–August 2022 when we launched our platform.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

After our engagement, we did an audit with another company, and there were no critical issues. The audit went very well, and it was easy for us. Moreover, we didn’t have to spend much money on additional improvements to the smart contract.

How did Serokell perform from a project management standpoint?

Initially, we had to move some deadlines, but it was okay. In general, Serokell’s project management was excellent. They were transparent with what they were doing, and it was easy to collaborate with them.

We used Slack to communicate and manage tasks.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Not many companies have their expertise in smart contracts and functional programming in Haskell. Serokell is the best.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, everything was okay; there weren’t any issues. We’d work with them again.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you have issues with Haskell or functional programming, I 100% recommend working with Serokell due to their expertise. They helped us understand how to write and test the smart contracts.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of a fintech company. We’re exploring the opportunities in Bitcoin. Our purpose and aim are to make Bitcoin transactional.

What challenge were you trying to address with Serokell OÜ?

We came very open-ended and approached them with ideas of things we want to get done. They were accommodating to the fact that we didn’t have a 100% clear goal of what we were trying to accomplish. It turned into an outsourced R&D engagement.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I can’t get too specific about the details because of an NDA but essentially, they helped us build an API that connects our Bitcoin exchange directly to other partners. We sat down with them on video and conference calls in an effort to help Serokell understand what we’re aiming to do. We did workshops, and they helped us map the terrain as we were walking it.

What is the team composition?

We’ve been serviced by 4–5 people throughout the engagement, and I’ve worked directly with Roman (Chief Business Development Officer).

How did you come to work with Serokell OÜ?

We heard that the developers at Serokell were extremely avant-garde in their field. We needed the best and most advanced people for what we were trying to do; that’s why we engaged with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested about €600,000 (approximately $700,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement ran from October 2019–December 2020.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We didn’t really know where we were going while we were completing the project, so it was difficult to set a clear goal. We had to understand when we reached the goal. Everything we’ve done up to this point came together, and we can directly tie it into some of our core products.

Nevertheless, the developers at Serokell have done something that has never been done before. They’ve shown extreme competence and instilled trust in us as a company that we tied things together in a way that’d ultimately be beneficial for all of us.

How did Serokell OÜ perform from a project management standpoint?

I would urge them to improve their project management skills. However, I understand that part of their success formula is to let the developers develop rather than having strict project management KPIs. Having worked with a lot of developers on a lot of projects, that’s an approach that I can get behind.

However, being a customer of a consultancy like Serokell puts me in a bit of a difficult position because they’re not always great at saying what has been accomplished the last two weeks, where we stand according to our road map, and so on. I pushed them pretty hard on that because we came to a head where we needed to make some returns on our investments.

I’ll also add that they were very accommodating in trying different approaches to broaden my knowledge of where the different projects were at and if we were hitting mile markers. They showed a lot of effort trying to let me know we were getting our money’s worth. Both of our organizations were performing in strides. We used Notion for project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I'm most impressed with their competence in very new and cutting-edge technology. What they’ve delivered in the form of tangibles are second to none.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’ll reiterate what I said about project management. As I mentioned, I know why they did what they did but at the same time, we were on a tightrope.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Having a clear spec of what you want to accomplish is very helpful. It’s a good idea to come in sharp and agree on project management tools.  

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of StakerDAO, a cryptocurrency-focused company that delivers financial products.

What challenge were you trying to address with Serokell OU?

We hired them for software development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The original scope of work was to develop a smart contract — a software program on a blockchain. It would provide the infrastructure for our business. It would allow token-holders to make decisions about how the business operates. That software, built on Tezos, was the first project. Subsequent to that, we’ve hired them to do some additional engineering projects for us.

The software allows for decentralized governance. The decisions that token-holders make are made visible on the blockchain, the transparency of which was critical.

What is the team composition?

We had a primary point of contact, George (Lead Software Developer). He played the role of a product leader. He had a team of three other engineers under him.

How did you come to work with Serokell OU?

Serokell OU has a great reputation in the blockchain community. We knew that they had experience on Tezos, so we knew that they had the technical skills necessary for our project. We talked to several other engineering teams but ultimately decided to go with them on that basis.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent somewhere around $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in September 2019 and the collaboration is ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We followed a phased-deliverable approach, where we expected certain deadlines to be hit to enable our launch in January. They were able to fulfill all of those expectations. The product definitely functions as specified. They’ve been very accommodating of solving emerging issues and implementing adjustment requests.

How did Serokell OU perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very good in terms of delivering within the needed timeframes. They used a project management tool called Notion, which was effective for them. It was useful for us to track project progress. We had ongoing video-based meetings on Zoom or Google Hangouts.

They were experienced developers who needed very little ongoing guidance. They checked in with us and gave us updates and insights.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their expertise in blockchain and the ability to deliver a high-quality, functional product are both hard to find.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We would’ve appreciated more thorough documentation of the solution they built. It took them a while to rebuild sufficient guidelines which would enable users to effectively use the product.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you have thorough specifications of what you want to build first before you kick off your project. They’re great at taking requirements and executing upon them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the co-founder of a tech company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Serokell OÜ?

We wanted a team with deep functional programming expertise to support our dev projects.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped us with software development. They built user-facing and B2B applications for us using Haskell and TypeScript.

What is the team composition?

I worked with eight people, including a project manager.

How did you come to work with Serokell OÜ?

I looked for a team with experience in structural programming.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began in January 2019 and work is ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

They have a very high-quality team that is extremely talented. They’re very precise and very discreet. Users are happy with the product, too.

How did Serokell OÜ perform from a project management standpoint?

They used Slack, GitHub, and their own internal tool called Mint. It was nice to work with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have unique expertise in Haskell.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They can work to better anticipate my needs. They could care more about practicality and client needs over functional programming, but they’re phenomenal at delivering to precise specifications and guidelines. They’re extremely high-quality executors.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you have a specified project plan, you’re likely to see really strong results.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm CEO of a company that makes 3D solutions for business, such as virtual tours: Google Street, Yandex Street, and etc.. Also we developing and installing projection systems for cinemas, shopping malls and other.

For what projects/services did your company hire Serokell OÜ?

They implemented algorythm of 3D rendering for specific needs of our customer based on our possibilities.

What were your goals for this project?

We got in trouble: it was an additional feature which wasn't described in technical issue that we've got. It was exciting to meet guys who could help me in very short terms.

How did you select this vendor?

We was looking for R&D company and then one of my friends told that he know guys who could do exactly what do I need. It was kinda luck, because we find them in just one week.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We had a deal about to install projection dome in new planetarium. Everything was fine before customer's CEO did decide to make a 3D scanning room, that could make 3D projection on a walls.

Unfortunately, we had no technical solution for 3D real-time scanning and imagging, that became a reason to find a vendor of custom software development that able to perform very fast calculations.

What was the team composition?

I had a direct contact with their CEO - Arseniy, and both developers. At the start it was only one developer - Ilya, but later there were two of them, after Chris joined.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Well, we finished this contract, and the subcontractors did not let us down, so nothing special. And our portfolio has replenished with the restart of the St. Petersburg planetarium: http://planetary-spb.ru

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

They invited me and my assitant to their Slack and YouTrack (still don't know for what last one is), but honestly I was following only the result - rendering performance of the algorythm.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They really smart and they speak Russian, don't know what to sey else.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Cost could lower, but rest is fine.

Please describe your organization and your position.

I’m an advisor on information privacy in a ministry of citizenship protection and also the product owner of the facial recognition system.

"Z." is an artificial intelligence that is being developed for a public-private partnership. Our main goal is to create a system of facial recognition for the local Olympic committee and the ministery of sports to deter crimes in stadiums.

What business challenge were you trying to address with Serokell OÜ?

Local laws don’t allow anyone to collect personal information without user permission. Serokell OÜ is developing a distributed system for collecting stored personal data.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re performing turn-key development, in which I would note the following stages:

• Research and proof of concept: Implementation of Gaussian processes and latent variant models on Haskell
• Back-end AI core development
• Building distributed computation systems for the needs of AI
• Development of a personal data security system with multiple uses
• Hardware soft integration
• DevOps

What is the team composition?

At the moment there are 8 people working on the project.

How did you come to work with Serokell OÜ?

At the first stage we discussed the scope of work with several vendors, Serokell OÜ made a proof of concept, and that closed all of our questions and doubts.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our contract is from July 2018–July 2020

How much have you invested with them?

At the moment, we expect it to be around €800,000 (approximately $881,000 USD).

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Their proof of concept and MVP were really exciting. They proved that can achieve an accuracy rate of face detection of up to 99.75%. 

An AI core is already developed, and the next stage is training the facial recognition system and collecting information for its correct operation.

How did Serokell OÜ perform from a project management standpoint? 

The development process isn't entirely transparent, in my opinion. Sometimes our technical overseers criticized them for weird work prioritization. But they do well now. Everything is always completed on time.

What did you find most impressive about them? 

I don’t have a lot of experience with companies like this, which why I can’t tell a lot. However, the Serokell OÜ team seem almost like geniuses to me. They have very extensive technical expertise.

Is there anything Serokell OÜ could have improved or done differently?

I would like a little more attention paid to the indirect wishes of the customer, as well as greater transparency of development, with timely updates of the current program code on Github. It would also be nice to have a little more direct communication with the developers.

What advice would you give to potential customers?

Their choice of technology makes the starting price of development high. I am sure that lowering the bar of the offered services would give them the ability to earn much more. Don't hesitate to try to bring expectations (and price) lower than what is offered at the start.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a business development manager at DISCIPLINA, a blockchain solution to verify students; academical history and skills of students, such as their grades, exams, courses taken, and achievements throughout their life. It provides the opportunity for head hunters and companies to find specific students with specific skills and verify their field.

What challenge were you trying to address with Serokell OÜ?

We searched the market looking for different technical solutions to realize our ideas. There weren’t any working solutions for us that were flexible enough for us, especially since we’re working with private data. it became clear we needed to create our own solution from scratch. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started with the technical documentation and business requirement specifications. We ran an ICO together and raised some funds before the development. We’re not developing the blockchain. We did the frontend development for our side, and Serokell OÜ did the whole backend. 

We have 6–7 nodes running on Amazon. People can use it, but they can’t install and download the node. We did some testing, and now we’re working on the maintenance to allow people to download the node and start maintaining the network.

What is the team composition?

There were 6–12 people depending on what we needed to create. It’s an average of 9–10 people on the team. The CEO is responsible for all their improvements in development, and we have a team lead in charge of the technical teams. The CTO is in charge of architecture and all technical solutions.

How did you come to work with Serokell OÜ?

I researched companies and we chose Serokell OÜ. I found them on their GitHub.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $400,000–$450,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2017, and the work is ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We couldn’t be happier with our business development director who sets up the roadmap. We are always following our roadmap. We aren’t only partners in business but have become friends. We love the way Serokell OÜ works and their approach, and we are happy with the results. 

How did Serokell OÜ perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Jira and Slack to communicate, and we have weekly sprint planning as well as online and in-person meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We have a great relationship with Serokell OÜ. We understand one another, and they’re very flexible. We have the opportunity to meet in person as well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They have developers from all around the world, so sometimes we’ve had the problem when we need to contact someone from their team but they’re sleeping, for example.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Stop configuring and start working.

I am the Data Science Team Leader, start.io of start.io

Media and Audiences Platform

• NLP - POS
• NLP - Keywords Classification

Online Search

High ratings, Pricing first our budget

2-5 Employees

Virtual Meeting, Email or Messaging App

Consultant and development of DL models and workflows in the NLP scope.

• Number of developed features
• Accuracy and hit rating

The lack of a Team Leader from Serokell's team in the second half of the project formed a gap between our delivery expectations to the real achievements. In the first half, things were much better. The serokell team did their best to satisfy us.

The management is very responsive. The offboarding process was fluent, and the team left all the required information,

As a consultant team, I expect Serokell to have a dedicated team leader without extra billing. Eventually, we paid for a project, and the vendor should hit the target and manage its human resource without involving us in these considerations.