Top 10 Unicorns in the Czech Republic
Unicorns: In Europe, there are many Czech castles.
Furthermore, the nation with Prague as its capital (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) also boasts a robust startup ecosystem.
The startup’s ideal rain is the Czech Republic, with great infrastructure, a trained and educated workforce, and relatively low living costs. The Czech startup boom began when new accelerators and projects started popping up in 2010. In addition to acting as a gateway into other European hubs, like Berlin and Vienna, Japan is also home to many invention hubs, accelerators, and incubators. Boosts to the tech scene include initiatives like Startup Yard and Czech Startups.
A Czech unicorn, Rohlik, raised $100 million one year ago, becoming one of the largest deals in the Czech startup scene. In addition, Rossum, a SaaS startup from Prague, announced $100 million in funding, one of the largest ever Series A rounds in Eastern Europe.
There is no reason that 2022 won’t be a big year for the landlocked country, as the Czech Republic is a beautiful country in central Europe.
Our Startup Analyst Nicolas Ivanovic and I spent this week researching the Czech startup ecosystem. As a result, we are excited to introduce you to 10 up-and-coming Czech startups to watch in 2022. All of them launched in late 2017 or after and offer creative solutions.
1. Elevēo
The Nashville area has many businesses, including Elevēo. As a result, they simplify the process of the call centre.
A new report from Growjo has ranked Elevēo as the 26th fastest growing company in Nashville for 2020.
Among the factors considered by Elevēo for rankings are annual revenue growth, sales & financials, valuation increases, and hiring announcements and job portals. An order is derived from historical performance and predicted growth for the upcoming year.
It shows how much we care about our people, customers, and partners. Elevēo CEO Brian Shore feels that the company is on the right track in providing people with good service and positively impacting society. He says Nashville is overgrowing. It’s a tremendous compliment and a testament to our strategy and ability to execute what we’ve included in the list of fastest-growing companies.
For complex contact centre issues, Elevēo provides a simple, effective solution. Modern frameworks and cloud-native technologies are used to build our WFM and WFO products to help elevate your company’s operations and processes. ZOOM International owns the Elevēo® trademark.
Introducing the 2021 Contact centre Technology Award, presented by Customer magazine, Elevēo Schedule Adherence is named a winner by TMC, a global media company.
The schedule adherence solution in Elevēo’s Workforce Management products was recognized for the award for the second consecutive year, says Elevēo’s V.P. of Product and Marketing, Barry Williams. Optimizing agent resources and enhancing the customer experience takes planning, not luck. Using Elevēo Schedule Adherence, contact centre managers and schedulers can ensure everyone is on track and scheduled for their contact centre operations.”
For agents across voice, email, and chat channels, Elevēo Schedule Adherence provides interactive adherence history. The software allows managers to set up adherence rules, however, needed, by importing data from the contact centre platform about each agent’s status and calculating the adherence history for each agent. In addition, managers can recalculate adherence statistics as often as several times an hour, if they wish, using the contact centre platform’s database of agent status information automatically stored in near-real-time.
“Congratulations on winning a CUSTOMER Magazine Contact centre Technology Award in 2021. Elevēo Schedule Adherence was a unique feature that has improved the client experience,” said TMC CEO Rich Tehrani. “It’s a pleasure for us to see their success.”
CUSTOMER Magazine’s 16th annual Contact centre Technology Award for companies and solutions that have embraced technology as a critical tool for improving customer service. This award acknowledges their success as customer service industry winners, thought leaders, and market movers.
2. CLEO
Regulatory filings show that London-based Cleo has received venture debt from U.S.-based TriplePoint Capital.
Although the amount remains obscure, sources tell me it is in the mid-$10 million and will bridge the gap until a larger Series B round later this year. The company did not respond to our request for comment.
The startup’s stealthy premium product, Cleo Plus, is currently tested and will be made widely available soon. Sources tell me this is part of the reason it needs debt financing. As an alternative to your bank’s, Cleo offers its customers a range of perks, including a cash prize of up to £100. Currently, the startup is funding its credit facility with its balance sheet.
The fresh money is also related to Cleo’s tentative launch in the United States, which began around a year ago. Cleo has added 650,000 active users in the United States, which is more than projected. The United States now accounts for over 90% of all new users. The Cleo chatbot and app have 1.3 million users globally, with 350,000 active in the United Kingdom, according to fintech.
Using artificial intelligence, Cleo provides insights into spending across multiple accounts and credit cards, broken down by merchant, category, or transaction. It’s available via Facebook Messenger and on iOS devices. Additionally, you can use the financial data gleaned by Cleo to take a variety of actions. Set up budgets for specific tasks, save money for a rainy day, send money to Facebook Messenger contacts, donate to charities and set up spending alerts.
Among Cleo’s investors is TriplePoint, as well as Entrepreneur First, Balderton Capital, Joe White and Moonfruit co-founders Wendy Tan White, Skype founder Niklas Zennström, Wonga founder Errol Damelin, TransferWise founder Taavet Hinrikus, and LocalGlobe.
3. Rohlik
A Poland-based startup, Rohlik, offers grocery delivery on-demand. The company raised $119 million in a Series C round, valuing the company at $1 billion.
In addition to Index Ventures, Partech and Quadrille Capital also participated in the round.
Platform’s Czech subsidiaries purchase wholesale from large suppliers and distributors and partner with smaller businesses to add local products to its selection of 17,000 items. It fulfils orders in two hours.
Several investors invested $230 million in Rohlik’s Series B round just three months ago.
The company has decided to raise a new round rapidly after its Series B to accelerate its international expansion, said Founder and CEO Tomá* *up to TechCrunch.
Having already gained traction in Austria and Hungary, Rohlik now aims to expand to Germany, Italy, France, Romania, and Spain.
Despite heightened online shopping during the initial period of the Covid-19 pandemic, eGrocery startups in Europe have seen less funding activity this year than they have in the past, according to AgFunder’s Europe 2021 Agrifoodtech Investment Report released last month.
4. Socialbakers
In its 2019 social media trends report, Socialbakers, the leading platform powered by artificial intelligence for social media marketing, examines the latest social media trends to help brands and professionals build more meaningful connections with their audiences. As well as analyzing engagement and advertising for social media, the comprehensive report reveals emerging themes for 2013. In this chapter, you’ll learn about demographic trends, advertising effectiveness, engagement best practices, and privacy protection and security.
Socialbakers drew on one of the industry’s largest social media data sets to create thorough research. They compiled the report’s data from over 10 billion pieces of social media information created by over 17 million profiles. Socialbakers also has access to $3 billion in social ad expenditure, allowing it to set industry norms. They may download the full Socialbakers Social Media Trends Report right now. The following are some of the key conclusions from the trends report:
Instagram ads increased in 2018 while the overall share of Facebook ads decreased, based on a comparison of ad spending distribution between 2017 and 2018. According to the study, brands are investing more in both services.
When compared to any other format, photos are promoted the most. However, as of September 2018, video promotion surpassed images as the most popular type of promotion. This is a sign that this type of media is becoming increasingly popular.
Facebook’s Instagram ad campaign adoption rate reached its highest point in June 2018. Although Instagram audiences have tapered off, marketers’ advertising investments will grow as well as Instagram audiences.
Facebook usage dominates, with more ads consumed on mobile than on desktop.
5. Twisto
Twisto, a Prague-based startup, has been offering payment solutions online in the Czech Republic since 2013. You can use Twisto Pay online or create a Twisto account. With Online Payments, customers can make online purchases and then pay within 14 days without additional charges. Customers who have a Twisto account have a 45-day grace period for payment. If a customer takes longer to pay, interest will be charged. Customers can also pay invoices and money orders within the Twisto app using email or photos. With its plastic card and wearable launch, Twisto also expanded into the face-to-face market.
This month Twisto will expand into Poland, followed shortly by Romania. It is a multi-currency card that offers the ability to use credit.
Founder of Twisto, Michal Smida, worked in London and noticed, specifically in his home country, that personal banking had insufficient autonomy and security. The result was Twisto, an option that lets consumers pay now and later, which *m*da argues gives shoppers peace of mind when shopping online.
Then created the payment app with a credit card option after Mr. Michal Smida realized that most transactions in the Czech Republic occurred in stores. The app allows users to track their spending, receive notifications about what they are spending and receive a free monthly credit limit. They can also buy and sell at the best interbank exchange rate.
Despite its similarity to Revolut and Monzo, Michal Smida believes Twisto is not competing on a global scale but instead caters to individual banking clients in the U.K.
INN Poland asked Michal Smida how this system differs from traditional loans from banks. He responded that, unlike banks, you do not have to wait long for a loan and do not have to provide excessive amounts of personal information. In its place, Twisto uses a data processing engine that analyzes customer information, such as spending history, phone type, and address, to determine credit scores in seconds.
Michal Smida argues that by expanding to Poland and Romania, the company will be able to grow more aggressively after many years of only focusing on the Czech market. Furthermore, he says his app fills the gap left by banks offering fast loans and high-interest rates. Twisto, he says, wants to be the company that focuses on customers, as “personal finance needs to evolve.”
6. Resistant AI
Prague-based Resistant A.I. is a company that provides artificial intelligence and machine learning security to protect financial services from financial fraud, manipulation, and other crimes. The company received over $14 million in October 2021. Resistant A.I. was founded in 2019 to create a shield that protects companies from fraud and attacks. Those looking to exploit and manipulate financial services embrace digitization and A.I. to automate and scale.
A.I. Resistant allows you to spot synthetic identities, account takeovers, money laundering, and other currently unknown forms of financial fraud plaguing your business by combining state-of-the-art document and customer behaviour forensics. The financial services industry has become increasingly aware of the need to secure their data, making cyber security an area of growth for startups.
The *SOB Group will combat fraud techniques and methods by utilizing artificial intelligence. Start it @*SOB participants Resistant.AI, a Czech company developing unique technology. By detecting false copies of income certificates and other documents, Resistant.AI can assist in the credit process.
Resistant.AI will help us stay ahead of fraudsters as they become more sophisticated. In an increasingly digitized world, adequate levels of security are also essential. Zuzana Paulovics, head of the Start it @*SOB program expects Resistant.AI to become a global player gradually because the platform addresses real customer needs. In Belgium, the largest accelerator on the market, Start it @KBC, runs the Start it @*SOB program.
MALL Pay, a joint venture between an SOB and the Mall Group that offers deferred payments, will also test the Resistant.AI solution. “MALL Pay sees here a chance to collaborate on improving fraud detection. “Our approval model is being refined further to enable MALL Pay to offer deferred payments to more honest clients,” explains Richard Kotrl*k, CFO, MallPay.
*SOB Acceleration Programme provider Resistance.AI joined in October. Informed by bank managers, for instance, it was able to determine the additional value financial institutions are seeking and receive more detailed information about which people decide to buy their solution. “We experienced the inner workings of a large bank through Start It and gained an in-depth understanding of its operations. Despite our diverse fields of business, we were pleased by how open our partners were. “We are particularly pleased that we are now partners with SOB following the accelerator,” says Martin Rehák, Director at Resistant. A.I.
With almost CZK 70 million raised from Index Ventures and Credo Ventures, Resistant.AI has embarked on the next stage of its journey. Money will be used for new product development and expanding support services for clients in financial services and e-commerce.
7. ROI Hunter
To improve client ad account efficiency and performance, the Digital Media Team works with ROI Hunter. You’ll be able to use this intelligent platform once you sign up as a DMT client.
A paid social advertising platform called ROI Hunter helps increase the efficiency and manageability of social advertising campaigns. With ROI Hunter, marketers not only gain actionable insight into performance but
graphic designers can also create custom templates with ease.
ROI Hunter can be used in a variety of ways by DMT departments.
The paid social team monitors and optimizes client accounts using different rules, which can be helpful outside working hours. For example, they can set rules to take action when a specific KPI is met.
A more customized DPA (dynamic product ad) experience is available with ROI Hunter. We can create different templates for different collections because we can pull in various variables. In addition to setting up rules based on timeframes, we can automate them for you, displaying a free delivery template only over the weekend, for example.
Our design team also uses ROI Hunter for DPA activities. DPAs are one of the most effective types of Facebook ads. However, typically, they look very plain and display images from your website.
When we optimize and upload ads using the platform, we save a lot of time. For example, we can upload multiple Facebook ads to ROI Hunter in a fraction of the time it takes to upload multiple ads to Facebook. As a result, clients can be confident that they will schedule their ads on time and they will monitor the account at all times.
We can optimize your account around the clock by setting up automated rules and processes. For example, consider the following scenario: we’ve created a successful payday commercial. If the ad has a high ROAS, we want to have as many people as possible see it. The guidelines will ensure that the campaign is monitored around the clock, that budgets are increased if the ROAS target is met, and so on. It’s a creative and automated technique for us to scale accounts around the clock without doing so manually. It’s not only for ROAS; you can use it to create rules based on any KPI.
Customizing the plain DPA templates allows your business to stand out in an increasingly crowded news feed. For example, in the ads, we can highlight your USPs, such as delivery alternatives, Trustpilot ratings, payment methods, awards, etc.
Our client accounts have dramatically improved since using ROI Hunter’s bespoke templates. The custom DPA templates are not only more effective feed disruptors but rules and automation help us improve results as we optimize around the clock to ensure peak performance.
8. Cashplay
Mobile cash tournaments have been launched by Cashplay for e-sports players on mobile devices. The company says that any mobile game can gain revenue and retention boosts using cash-for-skill events. In addition to giving out cash rewards, it turns the games into competitive sports.
Cashplay, based in Prague, launched iPhone and Android apps this month. At the beginning of 2014, there were only two games with cash prizes. Today, you can play more than 100 games with cash prizes. The results are positive so far, according to the company, in terms of revenue generation and retention. So far, hundreds of thousands of dollars have been wagered in cash tournaments.
The global online game market has increased fourfold from $10.1 billion in 2004 to $39.5 billion in 2014. Cashplay estimates that the mobile e-sports sector will be worth $12 billion by 2017.
Cashplay applied for and was granted a license to conduct real-money games on the App Store and mobile cash tournaments. Since its inception, Cashplay has attracted thousands of daily cash players from more than 150 countries; receiving money awards in-game competitions is legal. For deposits and withdrawals, the company has offered over 100 payment options.
Cashplay offers action, puzzle, shooter, and sports games. In addition, app users can access real money games available in their region.
Pink Panther from MGM Studios and Brunswick Bowling from Farsight Studios will be among the games Cashplay adds in the first quarter. In addition, they will offer virtual bowling in hundreds of locations across the United States in conjunction with live bowling.
Cashplay was formed in 2012 by real-money gambling, banking, mobile gaming, and online entertainment industry experts. Last October, the company opened its headquarters in San Francisco, with aspirations to expand to Asia. They can download its app through the Apple App Store, the Mobogenie website, and www.Cashplay.me. Account management is available, as are opportunities to connect with friends, add or redeem cross-game cash, and monitor results.
Software development kits allow developers to turn their games into real-money Cashplay games. As opposed to pure gambling games, the company specializes in skill-based games.
Approximately 52 cents is the average daily revenue per active user (ARPDAU) for Cashplay. Of the active users, about 16 percent are paying members. With this app, users can play three times more games daily, and 173 percent more users have remained on the app for 30 days. In-app purchases also grew by 12 percent. Each week, Cashplay adds thousands of new users.
“As the catalogue of Cashplay-enabled games grows by the day, cash tournament players have asked a central location to find them all, hear about the newest promotions, and receive access to Cashplay unique content,” said Thomas Newman, the company’s managing director, in a statement. “With our new iOS app, gamers can now access all games automatically linked to their Cashplay wallet.” Players may download games without registering for specific games and begin competing for cash immediately.”
Plumber Crack, Rocket Cube, Jet Pack Chicken, The Death Road, Nitro Nation Drag Racing, Black Dot Escape, and more are among the games available. Skillz is Cashplay’s main competitor in the U.S.
We have processed millions of dollars safely and have maintained an outstanding reputation because of the proactive nature of our customer service,” Epps said in an email. However, these aspects of fraud prevention are necessary to provide a safe, long-term platform for real money gaming.
9. Accomango
Accomango allows B2B housing exchanges between companies with manual workers and tech-enabled real estate operators. With digital tech that disrupts an industry that has lagged in digital transformation, the Prague-based startup, founded in 2020, disrupts an industry with digital tech. Accomango offers total booking, employee management, hostel management, and people management SaaS solutions for industrial, construction, and automotive companies. This area has been seriously underserved until now, and many of these workers’ living conditions are questionable. However, this innovative solution from Accomango is off to a promising start.
10. Woltair
In 2018, Woltair was founded to make access to a new generation of energy equipment easier. Through its digital platform, the transition to sustainable energy sources can be simplified and stress-free for customers – from selecting the most appropriate energy source to installation and service. Besides offering free consulting, it compares the best heat pumps and photovoltaic systems on the market and gives many financing options (grants and loans). Woltair offers a technology solution that helps make the transition to green energy easier in homes in Europe. The company boasts a CO2 reduction of 6300 tons a year so far.
Article proofread & published by Gauri Malhotra.
