Belarus' Bulba Ventures is betting on the next big machine learning startups

News emerged last summer that Google had snapped up computer vision startup AIMatter, the Belarusian company behind the popular funky photo-effects app Fabby. While Fabby continues today under Google's guidance, the app was really a public-facing showcase for AIMatter's underlying technology, which is basically a neural network-powered platform and SDK for detecting and processing images. And that is what Google was really buying into as it battles it out with other major technology companies to secure the most promising AI brain power. The acquisition further highlights the burgeoning computer vision startup scene in Eastern Europe, which saw Facebook acquire Belarusian startup Masquerade; Snapchat snap up Looksery, which has Ukrainian roots; and Russia's Prisma gain widespread attention for its computer vision-powered art photo app. Nearly one year after AIMatter's sale to Google, VentureBeat caught up with Yury Melnichek, the Belarusian serial entrepreneur who was a founding investor in AIMatter and who previously worked as a software engineer at Google and eBay.