You're reading: MacPaw software for cleaning Macs earns worldwide affection

MacPaw, a Kyiv-based software developer, has gained popularity with its CleanMyMac, a product that helps to clean one's MacBook computer from unnecessary files.


It has
Facebook, world’s biggest social network, among its clients. Mark Zuckerberg’s
company purchased over 3,000 software licenses for its computers.

First CleanMyMac
license was sold in 2009. The latest version of the single-computer license is sold for $39.95.

Around
40 percent of customers come from the U.S., the rest of the audience is
dispersed between Western European countries and a small stake goes to Asia.
“From the very start it was obvious that our target audience would be
Americans. Local market was not developed for the product,” MacPaw head
Oleksandr Kosovan says.

The
company is registered in the U.S., although it has its own office in downtown
Kyiv and employs over 50 people, including several American expats who work in
marketing and several Russian designers.

MacPaw
also sells software for cleaning flash drives, erasing duplicate files, hiding
files. Its CleanMyPC software, not as popular as CleanMyMac, cleans Windows-operated
computers.
MacPaw also targets mobile applications market with Listen, a free music
player for iPhones.

MacPaw’s founder Oleksandr Kosovan talks with the Kyiv Post during the Feb. 19 interview. © Volodymyr Petrov

Kosovan,
a graduate of Kyiv Polytechnical Institute, launched his business after he had
a great time enjoying his MacBook.

While
studying and working as a system administrator at Viciunai Group in Ukraine,
Kosovan devoted his time and money to developing CleanMyMac in late 2007.

“I
fell in love with the simplicity and beauty of Apple’s products. First device I
got was a Bluetooth keyboard and then MacBook, called Power Book at that time.
That’s where everything started,” Kosovan recalls.

Later
his university classmate joined Kosovan in developing MacHider, security
software that keeps valuable data locked up and protected with a password.
Kosovan’s girlfriend was helping with customer support.

MacPaw
doesn’t reveal its turnover and sales growth, but according to Kosovan, the
number of clients has already exceeded millions.

Kyiv Post staff writer Bozhena Sheremeta can be
reached at
[email protected]. The Kyiv Post’s IT coverage is sponsored by AVentures Capital, Ciklum, FISON and SoftServe.