Petr Šíma

Waiting for more UNICORNS

Text: Petr Šíma; Photo: Archive

A new unicorn was born in the Czech Republic in February. Only the second one. Thanks to the new investment, the valuation of the technology company Productboard exceeded one billion dollars. Like the online supermarket Rohlik.cz, it can be a proud holder of the label unicorn, a mythical animal, which means a lot in the startup world.

It is a huge breakthrough that will attract the attention of other investors and new customers. It shows that the company has already overcome major childhood illnesses and has entered adulthood. It is not yet a giant corporation, its spirit is still a young company run by enthusiastic founders. However, unicorns are not born overnight. It usually takes several years for companies to grow to this size. It took Rohlik.cz seven years, Productboard eight. Moreover, it is never possible to predict with certainty that a startup will belong to the unicorns one day. Europe is lagging behind. Roughly one in two of today‘s thousands of unicorns was born in the United States, followed by China and India.

But the situation is changing. Every year, Atomico publishes a study on the state of European technology companies, and the current one is quite optimistic. Ninety-eight new startup unicorns were born in Europe. More than ever before. The volume of investments in emerging projects and advanced startups is growing rapidly. And from that other unicorns could grow one day. Atomico has even calculated that the average time taken to reach the one-billion-dollar mark is shortening.

Jiří Kobelka, TATUM founder

An increasing number of investors are interested in European startups. According to the report, the total value of venture capital invested in European technology companies has tripled to about $ 3 trillion in less than three years. Although signifi cant European capital is being attracted, money from overseas investors - both the US and Asia - still predominates. There is still a big diff erence in what wealthy Americans and Europeans invest in. Technology is the most popular among American billionaires, with eight of the ten wealthiest business people getting rich thanks to business in technology fi elds. People like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg put most of their investment into new technologies. European billionaires have become richer elsewhere, most often in trade. Whether by selling luxury goods, such as Bernard Arnault, head of the LVHM conglomerate, which includes the Louis Vuitton brand, or Amancio Ortega, the founder of the Inditex group, where Zara belongs.

Therefore, Renowned German investor Frank Thelen urges wealthy Europeans to stop buying more real estate, hotels, and other „boring conventional assets“ that their families have been investing in for hundreds of years and to turn their attention to technology. Thelen says they should spend fi ve to ten percent of their wealth on investing in technology companies. He adds that we don‘t invest wealth wisely unless we spend it on our future.

Samuel Šramko, TATUM founder

We have already passed one wave, mainly aimed at end-users on the Internet. Thanks to it, brands such as Google, Facebook, or Amazon came upfront. European technology companies have jumped into this wave later and fi nd it hard to prove themselves. Rohlik.cz is one of them, its founder Tomáš Čupr makes no secret that he wants to become a challenger of Amazon, at least in Europe.

But now, another wave is coming. Business-to-business startups are starting to gain more ground. It may also be more accessible for those founders to gain a foothold in Europe. They will have it a little easier than startups focused on the consumer market (B2C). They often come across the fragmentation of the consumer market, the diff erent preferences in diff erent countries. On the contrary, the needs of companies are much more similar across Europe (and globally). The Productboard is an example

What are unicorns?

These are startups worth over one billion dollars before entering the stock exchange. The label was popularized by angel investor Aileen Lee. She wanted to emphasize that such a startup is a unique phenomenon like that mythical animal. However, the number of unicorns in the business world is growing rapidly. The analytical company CB Insights currently estimates their number at almost a thousand. The largest ones include the Chinese internet giant ByteDance, the space startup of Elon Musk, SpaceX, or the fi nancial-technology companies Stripe and Klarna.

TATUM team

of a startup that understood this need correctly. Financial and technological companies, such as Klarna, Revolut, Wise, and crypto-world companies, are gaining ground in Europe. In connection with the pressure to „green economy” also smart mobility, and everything related to transport. From what we see around us, our part of Europe is waiting to grow in this direction. It will also be related to the gradual awakening of angel investors. If Czech investment increases to the European average, the number of technology companies will increase enormously.

One startup in our DEPO Ventures portfolio is on its way to becoming a unicorn - Tatum, which makes life easier for blockchain developers. They created a platform to simplify the development of blockchain technology applications, a decentralized database for storing and providing data. Although Tatum is still in its early stages of development, it is growing rapidly. Revenues increase by an average of a quarter each month, with the Silicon Valley standard being „only“ around ten percent. The founders - Jiří Kobelka and Samuel Šramko - strive to become the dominant platform for blockchain developers. This year they want to expand the team signifi cantly and add another 120 employees. They also have enjoyed their fi rst international successes. For example, they made it into the fi ve best startups out of two thousand in the prestigious TechCrunch Disrupt competition last year.

It is not easy to estimate whether a promising startup will become a unicorn. In the early phase, when we invest, especially in the pre-seed, it is mainly an investment in people. We need to see that a founder and his team have ambitions and the ability to build a global business. Move from point A to B and beyond. Bulldog will overcome obstacles, constant project changes, and fi nd a way to market. We also must be convinced that the project has meaning and a future. Is it a risky decision? Yes. You know nothing in advance, but investors must reckon with the risk and not be afraid of it. That is why the US is so ahead. Its investors are ready to risk some of their money and invest in interesting people. Jobs and Bezos were just enthusiastic people in the beginning, and yet they got an investment. No one expects every investment to work out, so it is necessary to diversify even in venture capital. But if the investment does work out, it will pay off . When investors discover and „bet“ on the unicorn, it will bring them an astronomical valuation and huge return. With those traditional conventional investments, they wouldn‘t ever see it.

Petr Šíma

Petr Šíma sets the direction of the investment group DEPO Ventures, which he founded in 2016. The group has two angel funds and an international syndicate of business angels. Its total portfolio consists of 18 technology startups, mainly from Central and Eastern Europe. Šíma is also a board member of the leading European angel investor network EBAN. He specializes in fundraising and consulting in fi nancing and mergers and acquisitions (M&A), where he has more than 25 years of experience.

As a student at the University of Economics, he founded an investment company and an investment privatization fund with a few other people. Later, thanks to this experience, he found himself on the board of directors and supervisory board of several companies. In 1993, he founded the consulting company NSG Morison, focusing on corporate fi nance, tax, and legal advice. In 2000, he joined the company with Morison International, where Šíma served on the European and global boards, leading the European as President.

Bagind, kůže s příběhem

Bagind je česká značka kožených doplňků vyráběných v Indii, která funguje od roku 2017. Za značkou stojí mladý podnikatel a cestovatel Lukáš Matějček, který se ve městě Jaisalmer spřátelil s výrobcem koženého zboží Dennisem a domluvil se s ním na spolupráci. V současnosti pro značku Bagind vyrábí kožené produkty nejen tento jeden řemeslník, ale dalších 100 výrobců ve svých rodinných dílnách po celém indickém státě Rádžasthán. Unikátní kožené doplňky z Indie jsou vyráběné z kozí kůže, která je sekundárním produktem masného průmyslu. Zpracovává se dle tradičních postupů, bez použití chemických látek a ošetřena je pouze přírodními oleji.

Na jaře roku 2021 dostala značka Bagind nový rozměr a otevřela se nejen pro spolupráci s lokálními výrobci v Indii, ale rozhodla se vyhledávat nadějné výrobce po celém světě. Přispělo k tomu seznámení Lukáše Matějčka s kolumbijským řemeslníkem Lindermanem z koloniálního městečka Villa de Leyva. Právě z jeho dílny pochází i nejnovější kolekce značky Bagind, za jejímž designem stojí zkušený návrhář Filip Hieke. Kolekce je vyrobena z hovězí kůže a odolné tkaniny a reflektuje potřeby zákazníků mít vše stále při ruce. Obsahuje například unisexový malý batoh, peněženku a crossbody taštičku na mobil a malé nezbytnosti.

Je třeba pomáhat

75

Jedním z nejdůležitějších pilířů značky Bagind je dobročinnost. Už na začátku svého podnikání se Lukáš Matějček rozhodl navracet část výdělku tam, kde je to zapotřebí. „Během mých cest mi na světě pomohlo nespočet lidí, kteří mě často znali doslova jen pár minut a já bych tu dobrotu chtěl nějak vrátit. A protože Indie mi dala krásnou příležitost realizovat se, měl jsem potřebu tu možnost oplatit a pomoci tam dětem k lepší budoucnosti,“ vysvětluje zakladatel značky Bagind, proč se rozhodl spolupracovat s organizací Most ProTibet a jejich prostřednictvím poskytnout školní potřeby pro více než 700 dětí. V současné době to ale není jen tato organizace, kterou značka Bagind podporuje, zaměřuje se totiž na lokální pomoc v různých oblastech světa, ale i u nás.