What’s New: Winter 2021

One of these has been a return to nature and travelling in RVs. The longer we are stuck in our apartments, the more eager we are to get out in nature. And this growing desire has given rise to initiatives that make communing with nature possible. One of these is Campiri, a new online service for hiring recreational vehicles. We have invested in Campiri and we can’t wait to get on the road this summer. 

Buying groceries on Rohlik.cz made life easier for tens of thousands of households even before COVID, and now the company’s mission has become that much more potent. One very solid proof of this is the 230-million-Dollar investment that Rohlik obtained for its expansion abroad. Germany will now join Czechia, Hungary and Austria as a Rohlik.cz market, and more countries are in the offing. Rohlik’s future feats will be supported by the marketing pro Jakub Petřina, who has recently moved to Rohlik from Airbank. 

Bonami’s earnings amounted to 1.5 billion Czech crowns last year and its EBITDA stood at 80 million crowns. After a successful first quarter, the company’s initial targets for 2021 were quickly replaced by new, more ambitious plans. These include annual earnings of 2.5 billion Czech crowns, which will be made possible by a wider product range, improved customer service, and add-on services such as interior design consulting. 

Driveto is also pushing full steam ahead. Last year alone they concluded more than 1,000 lease agreements, which shows that more and more Czech customers are considering flexible car leasing options.

StartupJobs has also been doing a great job. As reported by the founder Filip Mikschik on Czechcrunch, StartupJobs has nearly 100,000 users and is expecting earnings of 30 million Czech crowns in 2021. The company is also running a new project called Nelisa, so far only in test mode. Nelisa is a premium-level career service that includes guidance on designing a professional career profile, free personality and professional tests, and targeted feedback with relevant job openings.

You may have already heard about our Miton Psychonauts division. But we have more, including Miton Product Discovery, which covers Miton’s online shopping platforms. With more than 50 million visits per month combined, in 2020 these platforms facilitated online retail sales totalling more than 300 million Euro. 

At Miton we have a small yet ambitious internal goal: to have at least 30 of ‘our people’ represented in the Czech Forbes 30under30 listing by the year 2030. This year we got two points for David Procházka from Donio and Hynek Husník from Reas, one point for Karolína Presová from Replug.me (even though Replug.me is not part of our portfolio, we are good friends with Karolína), and the fourth point is for… stay tuned.

Now to the real estate chart above: While Reas has been doing fantastic work in pricing apartments for sale, UlovDomov has been excelling in the area of apartment and house rental. The UlovDomov team regularly analyses rental trends and shares their findings through reports. And there has been a lot to write about in the past year, including a report published in E15.cz, according to which the average rental price of the most sought-after apartments in Prague has dropped by nearly 12% last year, influenced partly by the flooding of the market with apartments that were rented on Airbnb prior to the pandemic, and partly by physical closures of universities.

Now let’s get back to thinking about summer plans and nature. If the idea of a yachting holiday tickles your fancy, don’t wait too long to make a booking, because according to Boataround, demand will be high for the upcoming summer season. And here are recommendations from Boataround’s co-founder Pavel Přibiš for five places to visit on your next yachting holiday.

Would you like a weekly 15-minute catch-up with one of your Miton colleagues? In the past we could count on impromptu meet-ups around the coffee maker, but these days there aren’t many opportunities. That’s where RandomMeets comes in, a project originating in Glami. A cross-Miton group has been set up on RandomMeets and it’s fun to see who you might run into each week. And 15 minutes is manageable even for the deepest introverts among us. 

P.S. If you are a part of Miton and are hearing about RandomMeets for the first time, send me an email and I’ll send you an invite to our group. There’s almost 50 of us there already ☺

Although Rossum has been quiet lately thanks to their massive workload, there’s much to be proud of. The company’s revenues tripled in 2020 and there are many opportunities for people interested in working for a future unicorn.

And if Rossum doesn’t have a position for you, then surely one of our other companies will. We are always looking for smart and inquisitive types.

What to read and listen to:

•  Working Backwards: Insights, Stories and Secrets from Inside Amazon. If these strategies work in Amazon, they might also work in your company. An objective and practical tool full of good tips. 
• The Almanack of Naval Radikant: A guide to wealth and happiness. Our favourite digital sage looks at wealth and happiness through a pragmatic lens. The digital version of this book is free and includes a foreword by Tim Ferriss.
• Venture Capital Deals Report 2020. Analysis of venture capital deals in the Czech Republic from Mavericks, a legal group specialising in startups.