A total of nineteen Czech companies are ranked in the latest Deloitte Technology Fast 50 ranking, which annually offers an overview of the fastest growing companies in Central Europe.
Among the wildest five we can find four Czech representatives, in the top ten there are a total of six representatives from the Czech Republic: FTMO in first place, Driveto in third, DoDo in fourth, ThreatMark in fifth, DataSentics in eighth and BigHub in tenth.
The winning FTMO became the record holder of the competition with a growth rate approaching 40,000 percent in four consecutive years – yes, you read that right. No one in the history of the program has been able to scale business faster than the founders of FTMO Marek Vašíček and Otakar Šuffner (in the introductory photo).
Czech dominance in Central Europe became apparent in the middle of the last decade. In 2015, Simplity became the first Czech winner; in 2017 and 2018, Oliver Dlouhý from Kiwi.com and 3D printer Josef Průša passed the victory. The companies DoDo, Rohlík.cz, Pilulka.cz, BLINDSPOT, FAVI, or UlovDomov.cz subsequently reached the top positions.
All of them represent successful business stories that grew on similar foundations: the prim plays the idea, the strong personality of the founder, the courage to set new trends, openness to the world and ambitions beyond the borders of the Czech Republic. This is the generation of business leaders who have the potential to positively influence the future of the Czech economy.
Tech companies do not necessarily require massive financial investments for their start-up, they obtain the necessary funds for development in the process of their development. They draw resources from domestic and international investors who, in addition to money, also contribute valuable know-how.
From the very beginning, they are exposed to global competition, which forces them to innovate, scale, expand and, above all, think globally.
Domestic technology champions generate added value that other economic sectors can hardly compete with. Their need for top experts brings to the Czech Republic experts contributing to the further cultivation of the economic environment.
The current excellent state of the Czech technological scene is fully due to the founders of companies, their collaborators, investors and mentors from the corporate sphere.
However, the market lacks support programs that would simplify the business of innovative companies and enable them to devote themselves fully to business. A start-up company is subject to the same legislative and other requirements as a large industrial enterprise, and access to support is often more complex.
It is considered that organizations founded by the founders themselves, or large private companies, are actively involved in the support of ambitious projects. State aid, although it exists, is, unlike in many other countries, very limited and, above all, time-consuming.
And even though I like the idea of other open doors for investments in tech companies and startups, I would like the Czech state to be the first to raise the thrown glove first and also to the greatest height. This is because a clear orientation in this direction would be most beneficial.
The author is a partner in the Audit & Assurance department of Deloitte Czech Republic and the local leader of the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 competition.
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