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Czech start-ups in London are growing at CzechAccelerator

Libor Sečka, the Czech Ambassador to the United Kingdom, has officially launched the CzechAccelerator project to assist start-up technology companies from the Czech Republic and help to develop their business skills and network during their three-month stay in London. After New York, Silicon Valley and Singapore, Czech start-ups will gain new footholds in other dynamic start-up and financial centers.
 

The CzechAccelerator project is one of the leading programmes of the Czech government helping young technology companies to expand into world markets and follow the example of other successful Czech companies such as Avast, Kiwi, GoodData and Keboola. As part of the project, Czech start-ups are sent for three-month stays in selected incubators around the world. London, as the leading European start-up, IT, and fintech center, has not been involved until now.

This changed on 6 September 2018, when the CzechAccelerator in London was launched at the Embassy of the Czech Republic. Ambassador Libor Sečka opened the evening‘s programme and reminded the audience of the tradition of successful Czech inventors such as Prokop Diviš, Josef Resselem, Jan Evangelista Purkyně, František Křižík, Jan Jánský, Jaroslav Heyrovský, and Otto Wichterl as an incentive for young Czech innovators to share their ideas in the world. Subsequently, the Director of the CzechInvest office in the UK, Lucie Botha, introduced the CzechAccelerator programme after which the London Incubators involved in, the Impact Hub and Startup Manufactory programmes presented their initial recommendations to the start-ups.

The culmination of the evening was the introduction of the first two Czech start-ups that will take part in the programme in the next three months. The Start-up HARDWARIO deals with innovation in the Internet of Things business. Its BigClown product, given an award in this year's Vodafone Idea of ​​the Year competition, is a kit composed of various sensors, transducers, wireless connectors, drivers, and other electronics for both home users and students where developers and innovators quickly build their own design devices to test their ideas. The Start-up EXPANDO helps smaller companies, especially manufacturers, quickly and efficiently start offering their products on global electronic markets such as Amazon and eBay. This enables them to attract new customers, even when they are geographically distant, and to do so without having to learn from their own mistakes.

The training of Czech start-ups in London at CzechAccelerator will be facilitated by an experienced local partner - ImpactHub, based in King‘s Cross. Selected Czech start-ups will be incubated at ImpactHub three times a year, always in the periods January-March, April-June, and September-November. A maximum of five startups will be trained in any given period.

London is not only an ideal gateway to the 65 million people in the UK market for the most innovative ICT companies, but it also serves as a springboard for global expansion. Britain is one of the global centers for financial and communication technology and a leading European center. A full 43% of key European digital companies are based in the United Kingdom, and Britain is also a top European financial sector in the rapidly growing financial sector (fintech), which has a volume of GBP6.9 billion in the UK. In 2017 this sector gained USD5 billion in capital investment, generated GBP56 billion of profits, and employs 60 thousand people. Overall, the London digital sector has over 300,000 jobs, 70 incubators, and 205,000 start-ups.

 

Aleš Opatrný, Head of the Economic & Commercial Section, Embassy of the Czech Republic in London

 

Czech start-ups in London are growing at CzechAccelerator

Czech start-ups in London are growing at CzechAccelerator

Czech start-ups in London are growing at CzechAccelerator

Czech start-ups in London are growing at CzechAccelerator