Yakov Filippenko is a seasoned entrepreneur with over 10 years of experience in IT and technologies, as well as scaling businesses internationally. As a product manager at Yandex, he led a team that grew the product's user base from 500K to 1.2M and secured its entry into the international market. Subsequently, he co-founded SailPlay, which he scaled to 45 countries and eventually exited, after it was acquired by Retail Rocket in 2018. In 2021, Yakov launched Intch, an AI-powered platform connecting part-time professionals with flexible roles. The company has developed a proprietary smart algorithm that streamlines the $126 billion market associated with the transition to flexible work and the quest for better work-life balance. During 2024, Intch has expanded its user base from 65K to 500K active users.

Intch is the first platform to connect top professionals with businesses for part-time roles at a third of the cost, empowering small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to effortlessly access the talent they need. Through its innovative AI-driven technology, Intch streamlines the matching process and facilitates direct communication for project discussions. With 500K users across 140+ countries, Intch helps SMBs access skilled professionals and adapt to today’s flexible, remote workforce — backed by a $1.2M pre-seed round led by Altair Capital and a partnership with Deel.