MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/. Russian robot Vera, which is an AI-based recruiting system developed by Stafory startup, is entering the UAE market, the Internet Initiatives Development Fund (IIDF) told TASS.

According to an official with IIDF, in the next 18 months, the Russian robot-recruiter will select 25,000 employees for various companies in the UAE.

IIDF’s investments in the start-up total 67 million rubles ($1.2 mln).

According to the representative of the IIDF, Robot Vera that was developed in Russia, is the first experience of using artificial intelligence (AI) for recruiting personnel on such a scale.

The robot began to select employees for Russian and international companies at the end of 2016. In 12 months the number of clients of the HR-robot exceeded 300 companies. Among the clients of Robot Vera in Russia are telecom operators MTS and Rostelecom, as well as the Auchan retailer.

In total, Vera has already found 95,000 employees.

In the early April 2017, the revenues of the robot amounted to 100,000 rubles ($1,775). In May it exceeded one million ($17,758), and by the end of the year it reached 36 million rubles ($639,217).

A pilot project on the use of a robot recruiter in the UAE will be carried out jointly with the Arloid Group, a multidisciplinary holding company. After the end of the pilot project, Robot Vera will select over 25,000 people for companies in the UAE during the year. Among the clients will be such companies as Al-Ghurair, DEWA Holding, Tecom and Al Tayer.

These holdings operate not only in the UAE, but also in other countries of the Middle East and Asia, so after the pilot project in Dubai, Vera plans to enter other markets, the official with IIDF said.

Co-founder of the Stafory developer Alexander Uraksin told TASS that for the launch of the Robot Vera in the Middle East its English version was developed and the number of its functions has been expanded.

"Now Vera works not only as an HR, selecting resumes and conducting telephone and video interviews. For companies in the UAE, artificial intelligence will also solve the tasks of involving and adapting existing personnel of companies," he explained.

There are not any direct analogues of Robot Vera in the world. Mya, an AI-product for recruitment that was launched in the US, works only with text formats. The Helena AI HeadHunter platform by the Woo development team has a different functionality - it can select candidates for job vacancies in technology companies, but does not conduct an interview.