Toloka Syndicate: $20M in Deals, 18 Investments, and a Bet on Scale AI
The Toloka syndicate team has closed over $20 million in deals in just two years. In 2025, they also became part of a major success story: Meta invested in Scale AI at a nearly $30 billion valuation, in which Toloka had backed earlier. While Toloka didn’t exit the investment, the syndicate received over $2.3 million in payments as part of the deal, while still retaining its full stake. The team expects the startup’s valuation to potentially double.
Scroll.media spoke with managing partners Igor Shoifot, Oleksandr Kolb, and Taras Kyrychenko about Toloka’s results and plans.
The conversation took place with all partners together, but for clarity, their answers are presented here as a dialogue between two people.
You’ve reached a new milestone — congratulations! Over $20 million in two years?
Yes, we’ve calculated that as of now, we’ve invested $20.2 million. Toloka turns two on October 10, and we’re keeping a pretty solid pace — comparable to an average VC firm in the US or Europe. Plus, we’re quietly working on another direction that we haven’t announced publicly yet — more on that later.
We haven’t had any write-offs so far. There haven’t been exits yet, but the Scale AI story has been a great success and generated solid returns for our syndicate members.
How many deals have you closed?
As of now, 18 deals have been completed. Two more are being finalized. We expect to close them by the end of October, bringing the total to 20.
This year, we haven’t closed as many deals as last year, but that’s part of how we operate. We don’t just throw money at everything that moves. It’s important to us that our members actually make money. To make 6–8 solid investments, we review about 600 companies. That way, members know we’re selecting truly high-potential startups, and they’re ready to invest alongside us.
What’s the average ticket size now? Last time you mentioned $1+ million.
We ran the numbers for this conversation — it’s $1.283 million. That’s significantly higher than what we expected when we started.
Even more importantly, we’re seeing an increase in repeat investors: individuals joining multiple deals, reinvesting, and supporting new projects.
At the same time, we always remind everyone — invest only when your other financial priorities are covered and you understand the risks. We don’t promise mountains of gold.
Did the Scale AI story help boost interest?
We were already growing actively, but of course, big success stories increase visibility. After Scale AI, we’ve seen around 100 new members joining every month — not just watching, but ready to invest. Now we have almost 1,600 syndicate members.
It’s common for a hundred or more people to join a single deal — that speaks to trust. Everyone understands the model: we make money only when our participants make money. Plus, we always invest our own capital in every deal.
We’ve also expanded the team to bring even more value.
What industries are you focused on?
No big changes here: artificial intelligence, security, logistics, marketplaces and e-commerce, real estate services, medtech, and construction tech.
What’s the biggest challenge right now?
The hardest part is finding truly great companies to invest in. We can easily participate in large rounds, pool capital, and invest at various stages — reputation isn’t the issue anymore. The challenge is to find a standout startup, do it before others, and close the deal.
Even though our main focus is the US market, not the entire world, the competition is intense. And we’re not a $10 million fund that needs to deploy capital fast within a year or two. We’re looking for companies with real potential to scale, get acquired, or go public. That’s why we primarily invest in the US, where such outcomes occur much more frequently.
And what about attracting new participants and funding?
The growing average check speaks for itself. In Ukraine and among Ukrainians, who make up the majority of our syndicate, there are numerous people ready to invest.
We can raise large rounds, often extremely fast. In one recent deal, the demand from investors exceeded the round size itself. There’s already a strong community forming around Toloka.
Returning to our earlier point, our primary challenge is identifying more businesses capable of delivering strong results.
Toloka Syndicate: $20M in Deals, 18 Investments, and a Bet on Scale AI
The Toloka syndicate team has closed over $20 million in deals in just two years. In 2025, they also became part of a major success story: Meta invested in Scale AI at a nearly $30 billion valuation, in which Toloka had backed earlier. While Toloka didn’t exit the investment, the syndicate received over $2.3 million in payments as part of the deal, while still retaining its full stake. The team expects the startup’s valuation to potentially double.
Scroll.media spoke with managing partners Igor Shoifot, Oleksandr Kolb, and Taras Kyrychenko about Toloka’s results and plans.
The conversation took place with all partners together, but for clarity, their answers are presented here as a dialogue between two people.
You’ve reached a new milestone — congratulations! Over $20 million in two years?
Yes, we’ve calculated that as of now, we’ve invested $20.2 million. Toloka turns two on October 10, and we’re keeping a pretty solid pace — comparable to an average VC firm in the US or Europe. Plus, we’re quietly working on another direction that we haven’t announced publicly yet — more on that later.
We haven’t had any write-offs so far. There haven’t been exits yet, but the Scale AI story has been a great success and generated solid returns for our syndicate members.
How many deals have you closed?
As of now, 18 deals have been completed. Two more are being finalized. We expect to close them by the end of October, bringing the total to 20.
This year, we haven’t closed as many deals as last year, but that’s part of how we operate. We don’t just throw money at everything that moves. It’s important to us that our members actually make money. To make 6–8 solid investments, we review about 600 companies. That way, members know we’re selecting truly high-potential startups, and they’re ready to invest alongside us.
What’s the average ticket size now? Last time you mentioned $1+ million.
We ran the numbers for this conversation — it’s $1.283 million. That’s significantly higher than what we expected when we started.
Even more importantly, we’re seeing an increase in repeat investors: individuals joining multiple deals, reinvesting, and supporting new projects.
At the same time, we always remind everyone — invest only when your other financial priorities are covered and you understand the risks. We don’t promise mountains of gold.
Did the Scale AI story help boost interest?
We were already growing actively, but of course, big success stories increase visibility. After Scale AI, we’ve seen around 100 new members joining every month — not just watching, but ready to invest. Now we have almost 1,600 syndicate members.
It’s common for a hundred or more people to join a single deal — that speaks to trust. Everyone understands the model: we make money only when our participants make money. Plus, we always invest our own capital in every deal.
We’ve also expanded the team to bring even more value.
What industries are you focused on?
No big changes here: artificial intelligence, security, logistics, marketplaces and e-commerce, real estate services, medtech, and construction tech.
What’s the biggest challenge right now?
The hardest part is finding truly great companies to invest in. We can easily participate in large rounds, pool capital, and invest at various stages — reputation isn’t the issue anymore. The challenge is to find a standout startup, do it before others, and close the deal.
Even though our main focus is the US market, not the entire world, the competition is intense. And we’re not a $10 million fund that needs to deploy capital fast within a year or two. We’re looking for companies with real potential to scale, get acquired, or go public. That’s why we primarily invest in the US, where such outcomes occur much more frequently.
And what about attracting new participants and funding?
The growing average check speaks for itself. In Ukraine and among Ukrainians, who make up the majority of our syndicate, there are numerous people ready to invest.
We can raise large rounds, often extremely fast. In one recent deal, the demand from investors exceeded the round size itself. There’s already a strong community forming around Toloka.
Returning to our earlier point, our primary challenge is identifying more businesses capable of delivering strong results.
