What’s New: January and February 2020
Michala Gregorová
Want to know what’s happened in our companies over the past two months? Look no further. You will also learn what technology trends will be on everyone’s radar this year, and hopefully enjoy our recommendations for worthwhile reading and listening. Now look at the headlining photo – do you know which carnivore’s heaven was the site of our most recent founders’ dinner?
The big theme for 2020 (and perhaps for years to follow) is no doubt coronavirus. If you want to know what’s in store for technology in 2020, read this story from our own Michal Jirák. It covers 14 tech trends including the most important one, which you’ll find at the end of the article.
Glami has once again delivered a great piece of data analysis, which it published in its Fashion (Re)search for 2019. It’s inspirational for those who have lots of data and want to be more visible in the market.
In addition, Glami has won a prize in Google’s YouTube Works competition for Czechia and Slovakia, specifically in the category ‘Best use of YouTube for performance marketing.’ Stay tuned for a podcast on this topic, because a video is a big (and expensive) undertaking.
“We feel that our expansion into offline space has to be fast-paced,” says Pavel Vopařil in the media, so stay tuned for Bonami’s first brick and mortar shop. Bonami has also announced the company’s results for 2019, with turnover totaling almost 60 million Euro and a positive profit margin.
Rohlík also had a great year, with turnover of more than 150 million Euro and a profit of more than 2.3 million Euro.
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Our portfolio of companies has grown by one somewhat atypical addition: Psyon, a psychedelic therapeutic clinic. To learn about Psyon, you can read this Forbes article or listen to our very own Václav Štrupl in a DVTV interview.
Recommended reading and listening:
- Coronavirus as the Black Swan of 2020. Sequoia has prepared a great briefing note for its founders and CEOs about how to prepare for a potential crisis. "Nobody ever regrets making fast and decisive adjustments to changing circumstances. In downturns, revenue and cash levels always fall faster than expenses. In some ways, business mirrors biology. As Darwin surmised, those who survive “are not the strongest or the most intelligent, but the most adaptable to change.”
- Trends by Fjord, in case ours weren’t sufficient.
- Why the current hype around psychedelics? Fortune has published a comprehensive article that will answer all of your questions. To access it, simply register your email address.
- Shane Parrish has been making excellent podcasts for a long time under the label The Knowledge Project. We recommend this podcast with Jeff Hunter, who reveals how to increase your chances for a successful new hire.
- Crypto Theses for 2020. The 120 People, Companies and Themes to Watch in Bitcoin, Ethereum and Beyond.
- Three important takeaways from Food Delivery Wars.
- Products I Wish Existed, 2020 edition, from Rossum’s investor Elad Gil.
- Two great audio hours about how caffeine has created the modern world.
- And last but not least, a new newsletter about (not only) Czech e-commerce.
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Of further interest
PangeAI emerges from stealth to democratize access to geospatial data
(press release) A startup founded by Johanna von der Leyen and Marek Miltner at Stanford is changing the way companies and public institutions work with geospatial data. Instead of needing to hire a team of GIS experts, PangeAI agents allow making complex analyses and decisions involving physical infrastructure as easy as typing a prompt. The goal is to make the physical world as searchable and understandable as the digital one.
Every company wants to become more efficient thanks to AI, and almost none succeed. Miton is investing €400k into a startup that wants to fix this.
(press release) Even though companies know very well that AI can significantly increase their efficiency, most never get further than paying for ChatGPT accounts for their employees. It’s not motivation they lack - most fail in the implementation phase. The problem lies in the approach companies take: they treat AI as if it were traditional software. And this is exactly where Bandits comes in, a new project by Jiří Štěpánek, Kryštof Mitka and Miton.
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Building an AI startup: Discussion with Tomáš Gogár (Rossum) and Martin Schmid (Equilibre).
The guests of the Miton AI Times event were Tomáš Gogár (co-founder and CEO of Rossum) and Martin Schmid (co-founder and CEO of Equilibre), who joined to discuss the challenges of building an AI startup.