Sergey Tokarev: Reface app from Ukraine reaches the first place in the U.S. AppStore

At the end of August 2020, the app created by Ukrainian developers from RefaceAI reached the first line of AppStore TOP overall chart in the U.S. Reface app swaps faces on GIFs and videos. Sergey Tokarev, RefaceAI investor and GenIT founder, shares the success of the startup.

‘The app was released in January 2020. For the first six months, Reface, which was then called Doublicat, entered the AppStore and PlayMarket TOP charts in Thailand, the Philippines, and several other countries. Step by step, the app conquered Europe, and in August, it began to get leading positions in the United States,’ says Tokarev.

According to the investor, the number of app downloads is growing exponentially. Back in March, RefaceAI developers celebrated their first million downloads. In July, it was already 5 million. At the end of August, the number of downloads is over 20 million.

Sergey Tokarev believes that the app became so successful due to its own face replacement technology based on artificial intelligence.

‘It took us about three years to develop the technology. It took us another year to create the Reflect app to swap faces on photos. It was released in early 2019. It was a kind of technology test that showed how much RefaceAI is ahead of its peers. The company spent the following year working with GIF-animation and video,’ says Tokarev.

The GenIT founder notes that the RefaceAI team takes user safety in earnest and does not support the use of face swap technology to spread fakes. Therefore, the company is now actively working on a new technology that will allow recognizing fakes on the Internet.