Illia Polosukhin
InvestorGeneral Partner at SID Venture Partners
Mountain View, California
Writes $100K β $5M checks Β· typically $1.5M
About
Co-founder of NEAR Protocol, a decentralized developer platform; formerly a researcher and engineering manager at Google Research.
Illia (root.near) (πΊπ¦, β) @ilblackdragon
Just 1 day after I posted my views on the dangers of closed AI and the lack of meaningful action from frontier labs to secure systems against powerful LLMs β another serious security incident. This will keep happening. The answer isn't to stop research or crack down on open https://t.co/uFhJdAbdlO
Jul 31, 2026 Β· β₯ 247 Β· β 22
Illia (root.near) (πΊπ¦, β) @ilblackdragon
Staking for NEAR AI is live. Stake NEAR for credits to fund private inference and deploy always-on IronClaw agents. Launch your claw or use the LLM you prefer via NEAR AI Cloud, all onchain and without the need for credit cards & giving away your credentials. Simply hold NEAR https://t.co/rfbqVAUNW3
Jul 30, 2026 Β· β₯ 404 Β· β 54
Illia (root.near) (πΊπ¦, β) @ilblackdragon
Really exciting results from open research approach. Itβs also important that science is moving from specialized skills in one area is now a general task of unlocking AI agents and art of decomposing problems into verifiable chunks https://t.co/xVWVnCaCHo
Jul 30, 2026 Β· β₯ 164 Β· β 22
Experience
- NEAR ProtocolCo-Foundercurrent2017 β presentSan Francisco Bay Area
- Google ResearchEngineering Manager2014 β 2017Mountain View, California
- Salford SystemsSoftware Engineer2008 β 2014San Diego, California
Education
- National Technical University "Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute"Master's degree, Applied Math (and Computer Science)2007 β 2013
- AG #452000 β 2007
Skills & more
+12 more
PascalTurbo PascalMultithreadingObject Oriented DesignArtificial IntelligenceWeb ServicesArchitectureObject PascalPythonGitC++SQLLanguages Chinese Β· English Β· French Β· Russian Β· Ukrainian
- Introduction to Artificial Intelligence β Udacity
From Illia's professional profile.
Shared employers
Also worked at NEAR Protocol1
Also worked at Google Research1,132
+ 1,126 more
Also worked at Salford Systems1
Deals Β· 1
Near FoundationBoard seat
via SID Venture Partners Β· filed Feb 2020 Β· $5M raise
Attribution from SEC filings, press coverage, and firm rosters.
Colleagues at SID Venture Partners
Network4
Investors connected to Illia in public investor directories β a warm-intro map.