ππ» Hi All! Great to have you back. This is visegrad.now, my newsletter covering startup and small business stories from the Visegrad countries (π΅π±, π¨πΏ, πΈπ°, ππΊ). If you like what you read, do not forget to subscribe, share and recommend us to friends π Cheers!
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π’ TL;DR
Top stories this week: βπ» The fetishization of creating the European Silicon Valley is holding strong among local founders, journalists and policymakers - but why? βπ» Captiwate (ππΊ), CultureBoard (πΈπ°) and Flowlance (π¨πΏ) have all received πΆ βπ» Czechiaβs Flowlance aims to decrease the admin burden on solopreneurs βπ» Open roles at startups, some good reads and news on new VC funds
π¨ Intro
It might not be the best comparison, but here it is: the European fetishization of let us βcreate the new Silicon Valleyβ or βwe need to become like Silicon Valleyβ is similar to our region (not just Visegrad, but CEE in general) being labelled as Post Soviet or made up of ex-Soviet satellite states, after more than 30 years of the collapse of the Soviet Union, a routhless dictatorship. Truth be told, the latter is used exclusively by US and Western European media outlets, politicians and intellects, whereas the former is also by people over here. Which isβ¦
Why you might ask. It is simple. Silicon Valley is innovative, amazing, booming, it represents everything that is cool in relation to startups and being future oriented. But thriving to become like Silicon Valley is the right goal for Europe, and within that for Visegrad startups? Do we have the skills, the mentality, the money? For me, the answer is a clear no. We should track SV, we should study it, learn from it, cooperate with it, and take what makes sense. But we should not take it as a 1:1 blueprint for our ambitions and what / how we build over here.
Because we are not Americans, and we will never be, and we should not be. We should identify our own talents, clarify our goals, build a strategy that is future oriented and above all, European. Mimicking SV will get us nowhere, besides failure. Thankfully, this feeling is shared by more and more Europeans. Rightly.
PS: Above rant was inspired by Anne Sraders great article on Sifted that focuses on the same topic but with more elegance. Check it. And follow Anne via Twitter (oops, X).
πΆ Funding corner
ππ» Captiwate, a user engagement startup from ππΊ but headquarterd in the US, snatched ca. β¬563k led by Interactive Venture Partners (πΊπΈ/ππΊ), with participation from (mostly) local VCs, like Octogon Ventures and Fiedler Capital, and various business angels. The fresh financing will aim at launching its product.
Founded: 2024; HQ: San Francisco; Founder(s): KrisztiΓ‘n Berecz; Total funding (until now): This was its first raise
ππ» CultureBoard, an HR-tech startup from πΈπ°, bagged β¬400k from Vision Ventures, a local VC firm. The fresh financing will aim at growth and product fine-tuning.
Founded: 2022; HQ: Bratislava; Founder(s): Peter PaluΕ‘ and Miroslav MihΓ‘lik; Funding: ca. β¬900k
ππ» Flowlance, a fintech startup from π¨πΏ, landed β¬40k from Czech Founders VC, with the possibility of also participating in its accelerator programme. The financing will aim at scaling and further development of its product, team.
Founded: 2023; HQ: Prague; Founder(s): StΔpΓ‘n Calta and Patrik KruntorΓ‘d; Funding: This ticket is it, so far
π₯ to all founders and teams on the fresh raises!
π In focus
This weekβs profile is on Flowlance, the freshly funded startup from π¨πΏ, that offer solopreneurs and micro businesses a platform to run their business free from admin related stress. This vertical, that Rex Woodbury (Digital Native / Daybreak VC) recently described as βBusiness-in-a-Box 2.0β, is popular across the US and Europe. No suprise. Admin for such businesses, that are typically run by 1 or 2 people, are a special burden. Founders would like to focus on the meaningful things (e.g. building marketing and sales strategies, promoting their businesses, attracting clients), but they cannot fully commit as administration is a make-or-break must (i.e. managing finances, on-boarding clients). In comes Flowlance that, thanks to a clear and transparent subscription-based pricing offer, automates and simplifies the latter (i.e. invoicing, client scheduling, custome pricing) so that founders could focus most of their efforts on the fun stuff. Awesome tool.
But here is quick video from the startup on what it does, check it:
π Role play
Captiwate has 2 open positions
π Outro
And before bidding farewell, here are some yummy reads:
Clutch announced the fastest growing startups of 2024 on its platform, out of which 12 came from Poland, the most from CEE - more on this via Clutch
Accounting giant Deloitte published its Q1 M&A report with several mentions of Slovak and Czech deals - more on this via The Recursive
Czechiaβs Purple Group launched a β¬40M VC fund, its second βtil now, that will focus on investing capital in approx. 60 pre-seed / seed stage startups (with a wide vertical spectrum) in CEE - more on this via Startup Kitchen
Interactive Venture Partners, a Hungarian/US VC firm, has announced the launch of its β¬50 million inaugural fund - more on this via AIN.Capital
Elevator Ventures, the VC arm of Austrian banking giant Raiffeisen, launched its new, β¬70M fund to invest in fintechs across CEE - more via its own blog
That is it, see you all on 29 April!