The road less traveled
Software houses typically grow into products by providing services to clients and gradually learning with and
from them.
We did the opposite. We started with our own software product and learned through trial and error directly.
This is what makes us think and behave like investors, product owners and CTOs.






It all started 7 years ago with a business problem at the Chess Academy in Gliwice. Over 1000 chess students per
year needed tailored tasks and work packages to practice and a whole team of trainers had to create and validate
this content daily. It was only natural to think about an IT platform that would vastly improve this process and
Marlena Chlost, CEO of Emphie, decided to bring this idea into life.
At first, the plan was to find a seasoned software house to build the digital product. However, after preliminary
discussions about its scope and shape it quickly turned out that the investment would be too big to handle. All proposals
we got seemed uneconomical, projects - overcomplicated and timelines - unacceptable. Being both an investor and the
end-user of the platform and knowing exactly what we wanted led to a breaking decision that shaped Emphie as it is
- we decided to do it ourselves.
We had built a team of software developers and created the platform from scratch. Did we make mistakes during that
process? Of course! Did we get burned? Yes. But we did it. And so ChessGrow came to existence.
Since then our team expanded further with talented developers, creative designers and high tech experts. We started
taking on new challenges and creating other products, and it was then when we realized that we already are a software
house. The only missing part was the name for it.
Nowadays, we're growing fast but it’s strategically planned. We have our offices in Gliwice and London. Our company
comprises of 30+ great specialists who work either on our own products or for the benefit of our Clients from all
over the world.
We are constantly looking for new opportunities, exciting projects and ideas we want to give life to. But at the
same time - as in chess – our work is rational and optimized. Because at the end of the day, every move matters.
Emotions combined with scientific approach
Mathematical and strategic thinking are crucial in chess, but the game doesn't really come to life unless emotions and intuition come into play. We apply the same approach to product development.
Teaching is in our DNA
We provide formative experiences to next generations of talented people through our educational initiatives.

Chess Academy
Teaching kids to think and explore their potential through chess mastery.

Programming school
Proving that the best way to start coding is by having loads of fun.

Developers platform
DevEnv.pl is propagating best practices in software development.

Cooperation with Polish Academy of Sciences
Along with IITiS we are working on R&D projects to augument our products with unique and innovative features. Together we are combining experiences coming from the scientific approach and software development, all of it through exploring use cases for advanced Machine Learning and Deep Learning techniques.