Sergei Filonov
Cofounder and CEO, Actogram
In Russian Сергей Филонов, also spelled Sergey Filonov.
Sergei Filonov is a serial entrepreneur who has been starting companies since 1992. He cofounded Actogram, a MedTech company that reads the daily rhythm of rest and activity from ordinary step counts, for watches, wearables and sleep research. Earlier he cofounded inTaxi, the first taxi app in Russia, and built Aviamarket into what was then the largest private helicopter club in Europe.
Now
At Actogram Sergei works with Tim Pyrkov and a small team. The algorithm is small enough for a watch chip, and the same core runs in an SDK for apps and in Biobank MCP, an AI research assistant for NHANES, the US national health survey. In October 2026 Sergei and Tim present abstract LBA22 and poster F170 at Sleep Europe 2026 in Maastricht. Earlier they showed Actogram in Barcelona, at the Barcelona Health Hub Summit in October 2022 and at 4YFN, the startup event of MWC Barcelona, in February 2023.
Before Actogram
- Gero, cofounder and Chief Visionary Officer2015 to 2019A longevity biotech company he cofounded with Peter Fedichev. It began in 2013 with a movement bracelet that he backed, and he later led its mobile health work.
- inTaxi, cofounder2010 to 2013The first taxi app in Russia. You could order an ordinary, affordable taxi in a couple of clicks before Yandex Taxi and Uber came to the country. At that time Uber itself offered only expensive limousines. The service grew to 53 cities.
- Aviamarket, cofounder and CEO2003 to 2013A heliport near Moscow with a pilot school and maintenance services, at the time the largest private helicopter club in Europe. Aviamarket was also an international helicopter dealer and sold Bell helicopters. By annual sales it was the largest helicopter dealer in Russia at the time, and Bell named it its best new dealer in Europe for 2004. More than 300 people learned to fly there from scratch, more than 250 helicopters were sold, and in 2014 the company was acquired by NDV Group.
- Russian Web Resources, cofounder2001 to 2003International online services, among them frog.ru and unipart.com.
- Future Telecom, cofounder and CEO1997 to 2001Two pager brands in Russia with 700,000 units sold.
- Information Industry, cofounder1992 to 2001Wireless telecom infrastructure and equipment.
Flying
As a child Sergei dreamed of flying. Years later he was teaching others, as an instructor at the Aviamarket pilot school. In 2009 he came up with the idea of the first transatlantic flight by amateur pilots and flew it as one of the four pilots. Three Robinson R44 helicopters went from Redlands, California to the Istra airfield near Moscow, 15,700 km over 10 countries with 88 stops on the way. Flying three helicopters together is much harder than flying one, and the flight was a world first in several categories. At HeliRussia 2010 it won the Flight of the Year award.
In February 2010 the Russian Helicopter Sport Federation gave the pilots its highest award, the medal For Contribution to the Development of Helicopter Sport.
Talks and media
Education
Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Informatics and Control Systems, 1987 to 1991. Before that Moscow School No. 2, a school for physics and mathematics.
Interests
Popular science, science fiction, nature, archery and anything to do with space.
From the archive
Photos from Sergei's own archive.
In the press
- Where ideas for a new business come from, with the story of how Aviamarket started. Sekret Firmy, 2005, in Russian
- Russia's new rich and the helicopter business, with Sergei's comments. Chicago Tribune, 2006, Russian translation
- The transatlantic helicopter flight. Forbes Russia, 2009, in Russian
- The medal for the flight. Russian Helicopter Sport Federation, 2010, in Russian
- inTaxi, a new way to order a taxi in Moscow, and the people behind it. The Moscow Times, 2012
- How investors put money into longevity research, with Sergei among the backers of Gero. Forbes Russia, 2018, in Russian
- The story of Gero and its founders. Inc. Russia, 2021, in Russian
- Abstract LBA22 and poster F170. Sleep Europe 2026 programme