Ninety percent of startup founders are men
Michal Urban, Director of the Business Environment Division at the CzechInvest agency, explains why we need more innovative startups in the Czech Republic.
“This year we decided to push the boundaries of our traditional Investment Conference through strategic collaboration with key partners in the ecosystem. The result is the creation of an international Tech Happy Hours event that retains the proven elements of the original conference, such as expert panels focused on ecosystem challenges and venture capital. I believe that systematic collaboration within the Czech startup environment will lead to even better results and higher quality events. In addition, this year for the first time we are bringing everything under the umbrella of Czech Startup Week – a new concept that will feature more than a dozen events in one week, and Tech Happy Hours is one of the biggest ones.” says Ivo Denemark, Director of the Division of Startups and Venture Investments at CzechInvest.
Among the most prominent guests visiting Prague is Linn Kretzschmar, Director of the newly established CERN Science and Technology Centre programme, who will visit the Czech Republic for the first time and present this newly established initiative for DeepTech startups. The view of the internationally successful founder will be provided by Jan Rezab, founder of one of the most successful startup exits in the Czech Republic Socialbakers (now Emplifi), or Martin Felcman, product leader at the most valuable Czech startup Productboard, or a representative of the NATO Innovation Fund, which is composed of funds from all 24 member countries and is ready to invest more than 1 billion euros in the DeepTech field. Also speaking will be Israeli Or Haviv, Head of Global Innovation at Arieli Capital, who, in addition to participating in the panel discussion, is organizing a workshop for startups.
“The aim of the first edition of Tech Happy Hours is to bring together leading startup entrepreneurs, investors, representatives of international organizations and students in one place in Prague to exchange experiences, know-how and best practices. We are delighted to have speakers from European unicorns, i.e. companies with a value of over €1 billion, such as Productboard, VC funds such as Credo Ventures or KARMA VC, as well as a representative from the CERN science and technology centre. We believe this will cover all the key topics that start-up entrepreneurs may encounter on their journey,” says Nikola Naxerová, head of event production at Startup Kitchen.
DeepTech will be the main theme of the event. The foreign perspective will be provided by investor Linda Voeras from the leading European DeepTech fund KARMA VC and the representative of Czech investors will be Lukáš Hurych, a partner of one of the most successful Central European VC funds Credo Ventures, which has 250 mil. Credo Fund, which has raised 250 EUR and backed success stories such as UiPath, ElevenLabs, Productboard and Deepnote. Jan Zadák, formerly the highest-ranking Czech in the corporate world of Hewlett Packard Global, and influencer and model Jitka Nováčková will also speak on the topic of everyday sustainability.
An important aspect of the day is also an international startup competition composed of representatives of Czech, Central European or Taiwanese startups, who will visit the Czech Republic mainly for Tech Happy Hours. The winner of the evening will receive a wild card to the regional finals of the Startup World Cup competition the following day. Another opportunity to promote entrepreneurship will be the Technology Incubation #demoday by Czechinvest, which will showcase the successes of the Technology Incubation project. Guests from among investors, potential partners and others interested in innovation can watch presentations by startups supported by this project, as well as hear the breadth of its activities from its director Tereza Kubicováwhich describes the action: “Demo day is not just about presentations – it is an opportunity for startups to get feedback, make key contacts and show that the Czech Republic is a real innovation hub. Supporting the startup community is crucial for our economy. These young companies are bringing revolutionary ideas and solutions that are transforming entire industries, generating jobs, attracting foreign capital and strengthening our competitiveness. Demo Day is proof that investing in innovative businesses has long-term and multiple benefits for society as a whole.” The four startups that present the best pitch will then compete against international companies on the main stand.
The whole event will take place in the Paspa Hall in Prague’s Anděl. More information can be found on the website techhappyhours.com/.
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