# Vlad Baskakov

> Vlad Baskakov is the co-founder and CEO of VOYGR (YC W26), a San Francisco startup building real-world place intelligence for AI apps and agents. He spent years on Google Maps leading product strategy and go-to-market for places and local advertising, and worked in ridesharing and travel at Gett and OYO before that. A McKinsey alum with a Harvard MBA, he is now betting that AI agents need a maps API that knows not just that a restaurant is 'open till 10,' but whether the chef left and the locals moved on.

- **Role:** Co-founder & CEO at VOYGR
- **Organizations:** VOYGR, Google (Google Maps), OYO USA, Gett, McKinsey & Company
- **Nationality:** United States (based in California)
- **Education:** MBA, Harvard Business School, Master's, Computer Science and Business, National Research University Higher School of Economics
- **Known for:** Co-founded and leads VOYGR, accepted into Y Combinator's Winter 2026 batch, Led product strategy and go-to-market for places and local advertising at Google Maps, Shipped location-powered ridesharing experiences from first users to tens of millions

## Career timeline

- **—** — Master's in Computer Science and Business at the Higher School of Economics (Moscow)
- **—** — Consultant at McKinsey & Company
- **—** — MBA at Harvard Business School
- **—** — Growth and GM roles in ridesharing (Gett) and travel/hospitality (OYO USA)
- **—** — Led Product Strategy and GTM at Google Maps - places, local advertising, API products, and Maps-Gemini data sharing
- **2025** — Co-founded VOYGR with Yarik Markov as CEO
- **2026** — VOYGR joins Y Combinator's Winter 2026 batch and launches its place validation and enrichment API

## Achievements

- Co-founded and leads VOYGR, accepted into Y Combinator's Winter 2026 batch
- Led product strategy and go-to-market for places and local advertising at Google Maps
- Shipped location-powered ridesharing experiences from first users to tens of millions
- Featured among Forbes' selection of the most promising startups from Y Combinator's latest batch
- Built VOYGR to processing tens of thousands of places daily for enterprise customers, with validation precision cited up to 99.62%

## Latest updates

- **2026-02** — VOYGR publicly launched its place validation and enrichment API via Y Combinator and Hacker News.
- **2026-03** — VOYGR highlighted by Forbes among promising startups from Y Combinator's latest batch.

## Links

- Website: https://voygr.tech
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vladbaskakov
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/vladibasque
- YouTube: https://youtu.be/Q8-SY24490o

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/vlad-baskakov
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-31