The ranking of the fastest growing technology companies in Central Europe is clear: Czech companies are dominating. The fifty-member selection by Deloitte CE Technology Fast 50 included nineteen Czech companies, which is by far the most of any countries. Prusa Research came in second, with Blindspot on its heels.
Lithuanian Voltas IT took the first place despite the domination of domestic companies, developing a user-friendly system for car diagnostics, and their sales in the last four years (2015 to 2018) grew by a staggering 5,734%. However, Czech representatives are second and third. The Prague-based 3D printer manufacturer Prusa Research, founded and managed by Josef Průša, grew by 4,527 percent in revenues and Blindspot showed a slightly lower growth rate, of 4,445 percent.
Blindspot Solutions is a relatively unknown startup, founded in 2014 and co-founded by artificial intelligence expert Pěchouček Martin, who at the same time since summer acts as Chief Technology Officer of Avast. Today, Blindspot, under the leadership of Ondřej Vaněk, focuses on software and consulting services in logistics, auditing, and shipping, with machine learning and artificial intelligence interfering.
Two years ago, Adastra, a technology consulting group, bought half of the company, and Blindspot is growing steadily. In 2018 the Prague company received almost 60 million crowns with a profit after tax of nearly 10 million crowns. A year earlier, revenues were around CZK 25 million, confirming Blindspot’s healthy growth and its position in the Deloitte rankings.
Two other Czech companies appeared in the top ten. The Brno wireless localization manufacturers Sewio Networks ranked ninth with 1,285% revenue growth, followed by Applifting application developers with 1,265% growth. Rohlik.cz (12th, 1,166%), 3Dwiser (13th, 1,133%), Kiwi.com (15th, 950%), Proficio Marketing (19th, 832) appear in the top ten %) and Glami (20th place, 820%) and among the top 50 fastest growing technology companies in Central Europe also fit Smartsupp, Footshop, GoOut and The Funtasty.
“Czech companies are growing at a dizzying pace and do not seem to be slowing down compared to their competitors. For the second year in a row, they have dominated the Central European ranking,” says Jiří Sauer, Director of the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 CE ranking in the Czech Republic, who also included companies from Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Croatia, Estonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lithuania.
Czech companies also succeeded in the partial rankings announced by Deloitte. The absolute winner of the Big 5 category, which includes large companies with a turnover of over EUR 25 million, was again Prusa Research. Building on its recent success from the ranking of the fastest-growing companies in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, where 3D printers finished third. Rohlik.cz and Kiwi.com also ranked among the Big 5.
The Czech Republic also scored the top spot in the Rising Star category, which includes companies that have not yet entered the main competition due to the short time on the market. With a financial growth of 1,465%, the Czech fintech project FF Trader ranked first.
This article first appeared on CzechCrunch and has been translated.