Aleksandr Konotopskyi: The Ajax Systems Founder’s Success Story
Photo: Aleksandr Konotopskyi, Founder and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Ajax Systems (Ajax Systems)
Aleksandr Konotopskyi founded Ajax Systems in 2011 and chairs its supervisory board. Today, the company is the largest manufacturer of security systems in Europe, and Ajax devices are sold in more than 180 countries.
RBC-Ukraine tells the story of the company's development and its founder.
The Founder's Path: Education, First Job, and Secur
Aleksandr was born on June 7, 1986. From 2004 to 2009, he studied engineering, electronics, and computer science at the National Technical University of Ukraine "Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute" (KPI). While still a student, he also wrote about business for Vlada Hroshei, a weekly publication. Business journalism gave Aleksandr access to the entrepreneurial community, whose members passed on valuable experience. Later, after winning a prize at an academic olympiad, Konotopskyi received a job offer from the mobile operator MTS Ukraine (now Vodafone Ukraine), where he worked as a radio planning engineer for about a year.
In 2008, Aleksandr Konotopskyi and his friend Yevhen Humeniuk founded Secur, an online store selling security equipment. At first, orders were extremely rare, so the company experimented with different sales approaches. Konotopskyi remembers that period as a tough one:
"It's a test of sorts: you enter business as a young entrepreneur with plans to conquer the world, and you get one inquiry a month."
The search for its own approach to sales eventually began to pay off, and within about four years the store had become one of the leading distributors of security systems in Ukraine.
Aleksandr Konotopskyi's First In-House Product
Distributing other brands' equipment was profitable, but Secur had no way of influencing the quality of those devices. In 2011, Aleksandr Konotopskyi registered the research and production enterprise Ajax, which later became known as Ajax Systems. While building the new company, Aleksandr continued to run Secur, and later handed over its management to a colleague.
In 2014, Aleksandr's team decided to enter international markets and bet on its own product. "Building your own international distribution network isn't easy, but if you enter as a manufacturer, you have every chance," Konotopskyi explains.
In 2015, Ajax Systems brought in its first outside investor: the SMRK fund invested $1 million in the company. Four years later, Horizon Capital acquired a minority stake in Ajax Systems for $10 million.
Ajax Systems Through the Pandemic and the War
The Ajax Systems business model faced a stress test in 2020. In markets with strict lockdowns, sales fell by 90%, but the company's overall decline stopped at 55%. At the same time, the company kept both its team and its salaries. Looking back on that period, Aleksandr Konotopskyi notes: "We didn't make it into the 1% of businesses for which the coronavirus wasn't a problem, but we are among the 5% for which it didn't become a serious problem."
Ajax Systems met Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine with a clear position: the company ended all trade relations with Russia and Belarus.
On October 1 of that same year, a new plant in Turkey produced its first device, and in November 2025 production launched in Vietnam. Konotopskyi uses the language of poker to describe how the business holds up under pressure: "The game isn’t over until you leave the table. And only you can stop playing."
Aleksandr Konotopskyi's Recognition and Awards
In 2021, Forbes Ukraine named Aleksandr Konotopskyi Entrepreneur of the Year and also honored him as the winner in the Strategic Thinking category. The following year, he was featured in World of Forbes and in the ranking "30 Under 30: The Most Successful Young Ukrainians."
In 2024, Ukrainska Pravda included Aleksandr on its list of 100 people moving Ukraine forward, and in 2025, New Voice named him one of the most influential Ukrainians. That same year, the UK's Security and Safety Entrepreneur Awards 2025 recognized Konotopskyi as Entrepreneur of the Year for his contribution to security innovation.
Ajax Systems Today
Ajax Systems is an international technology company and the largest manufacturer of security systems in Europe. Ajax products are trusted by more than 4.5 million end users and 330,000 PRO users in more than 180 countries. The company offers comprehensive solutions for protecting residential and commercial properties of various sizes. The Ajax portfolio now includes 280 devices for intrusion protection, video surveillance, fire safety, and comfort and automation.
Beyond developing technology, Ajax Systems runs cultural, educational, and social projects. "Ajax Systems achieved global success thanks to talented Ukrainian engineers," Aleksandr Konotopskyi emphasizes. To help grow the number of such specialists, the company consistently supports engineering education in Ukraine: as part of the Ajax Next ecosystem, it has worked with leading educational institutions and partners to open five modern laboratories, where about 1,200 students have already gained practical experience. Ajax Systems also runs training sessions and provides students with resources for hands-on learning.
Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Ajax Systems has also been developing social projects. In collaboration with Stfalcon and with the support of Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation, the company created the Air Alert app. It promptly notifies Ukrainians of Russian missile and drone attacks, helping them take care of their safety in time.
