Former Minister of Interior transitions to leading a new startup company.
In the rapidly evolving world we live in, crisis management has become a critical skill for teams in both the public and private sectors. Recognising this need, Marija Golubeva, former Minister of the Interior of Latvia, has founded a startup called Meleys, an AI-powered crisis simulation platform designed specifically for teams to experience realistic, high-pressure crisis scenarios.
Meleys is not intended for individual use but is intended for companies, organisations, or groups studying crisis management. Teams log into the platform and face challenges that evolve depending on the decisions they make. At the end of the exercise, they receive a report on their performance, the reasons for the scenario's outcome, and how each decision influenced the outcome.
Key features of Meleys include dynamic, AI-driven scenarios that adapt and evolve based on team actions, making each simulation unique and realistic. It focuses on high-pressure environments to replicate real-world crisis management challenges and is tailored primarily for teams rather than standalone individual users, promoting collaborative problem-solving.
Marija's background includes social sciences, think tanks, politics, and policy analysis. Her co-founder is Dmitrijs Baranovs, who is the IT architect behind the platform. The Meleys team is targeting banks, energy companies, logistics and transportation companies, and hospitals as potential clients.
Launching a startup presents new challenges compared to working as a consultant, and Marija admits that she has faced these challenges. However, she views founding Meleys as a no-regret move and encourages others to pursue their ideas, but also advises being realistic about how to support oneself and dedicate the necessary time.
Meleys has opted for an Altum loan as a means of funding, with the rest of the funding coming from the founders' other incomes. Marija has opted against venture capital financing for Meleys due to the project's early stage, but acknowledges that it may be easier for those earlier in their careers to attract investors.
Marija has been training both public and private sector professionals in strategic communication and crisis simulation. She notes that crisis management exercises are increasingly relevant due to rising threats from hackers and international actors like Russia, Iran, etc., who aim to destabilize Western societies and economies.
The Meleys team has started doing pre-sales, talking to potential customers to onboard when the platform is ready. Marija continues to juggle Meleys with other commitments, including running a think tank and consulting, but sees it all as interconnected.
While specific challenges for Meleys have not been detailed explicitly, common issues for AI-powered crisis simulation platforms typically include ensuring high fidelity and realism in scenarios without oversimplification or excessive complexity, scaling the platform to support a variety of industries and crisis types while maintaining relevance, managing the technical infrastructure and computational demands of real-time AI scenario generation, overcoming resistance or adoption barriers as organizations integrate this new tech into existing training workflows, and ensuring that AI-generated scenarios remain transparent and explainable to users for effective learning.
As Meleys moves towards its planned launch in September 2025, it remains to be seen how it will address these common scaling challenges and carve out its niche in the market. For now, Meleys offers a promising solution for teams seeking realistic, AI-supported, and collaborative crisis management training.
- Meleys, Marija Golubeva's AI-powered crisis simulation platform, is designed for companies, organizations, or groups studying crisis management, rather than for individual use.
- The Meleys team is targeting banks, energy companies, logistics and transportation companies, and hospitals as potential clients, with a focus on teams in these sectors.
- Marija Golubeva, the EU entrepreneur behind Meleys, has opted for an Altum loan as a means of funding, with the rest of the funding coming from her own resources.
- As Meleys moves toward its planned launch in September 2025, it faces common scaling challenges for AI-powered crisis simulation platforms, such as ensuring realism, adapting to various industries, managing technical infrastructure, and overcoming adoption barriers.
