Russian-Irish entrepreneur Dmitri Simonenko, founder and former CEO of Dublin-based InnaLabs, has disclosed that he sold his stake and stepped down from the company’s board due to the ongoing war in Ukraine. Speaking to the Sunday Independent from Moscow, Simonenko revealed the decision was driven by the conflict and its implications for the defence-oriented nature of the business.
“When the war started, it became obvious I shouldn’t be there,” Simonenko said. “I wanted InnaLabs to fly, and the company had a lot of military contracts, so me being on the board was not a good story.”
Simonenko, who holds dual Russian-Irish citizenship, founded InnaLabs in Kyiv in 2003 before relocating the company to Dublin in 2011 with the support of IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland. Over the years, he transformed the company into a $1 billion technology leader, providing inertial sensors and gyroscopes for SpaceX, NASA, Boeing, and NATO.
The Making of a Global Aerospace Leader
Under Simonenko’s leadership, InnaLabs became a cornerstone of Ireland’s aerospace and defence sectors. “We made Ireland a space nation,” he remarked. “InnaLabs is the jewel of that nation – I created it with my hands and my money, but I just didn’t expect it to become so militarised.”
The company’s cutting-edge technology has become a standard for the European Space Agency (ESA) and its missions. Simonenko highlighted a recent deep-space mission to a comet, which featured navigation systems developed by InnaLabs in Dublin.
However, Simonenko admitted that selling his stake was not a challenging decision. “I wanted to step away from operations,” he explained. “I’m an inventor, and I have tens of patents. After we finished with automation, it became very linear and boring.”
Controversies and Denials
Simonenko has since ventured into new territories, including premium mineral water and cryptocurrency. However, his name surfaced in a report by the Dossier Centre, an investigative unit funded by exiled oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, which alleged his ties to Andrey Lugovoy, a Russian Duma deputy accused of the 2006 poisoning of former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko in London.
Denying the allegations, Simonenko dismissed the claims as “absolutely fake.” He stated that the Dossier Centre manipulated a phone call with his cousin, an employee at his crypto business, to implicate him in fraud. “I have never met or talked with Lugovoy or his wife,” he said, adding that his company merely rented data centre space in Bratsk.
Reflecting on the Ukraine Conflict
Born in Novosibirsk, Russia, with Ukrainian heritage, Simonenko described the Ukraine conflict as deeply painful. “To me, it’s a civil war. It’s brother against brother – the same nation, the same people who speak the same language, share the same values,” he said. “You can call it an invasion, but that’s a cliché.”
Despite his departure from InnaLabs, Simonenko maintains contact with his former colleagues in a non-operational capacity. The company, which employs 59 staff, recorded a profit of €664,953 in 2023, a significant rise from the €44,113 operating profit in the previous year.
A Legacy in Ireland
Simonenko cherishes his Irish citizenship and remains fond of Ireland and its people. “I love Ireland, the Irish people, and Smithwick’s beer,” he said, reflecting on his time in Dublin.
Enterprise Ireland confirmed that it provided initial support to InnaLabs but holds no stake in the company. The agency praised the firm’s achievements, calling it a testament to Ireland’s innovation ecosystem.
