
What do the results of the survey say about Business Angels in the Czech Republic?
Although angel investing is not yet widespread in the Czech Republic, Czechs are still among the most skilled investors in startups. Their strategies have generally been successful so far. Almost nine out of ten investors were able to make a profit on their investment, with nearly 12% making more than ten times their investment. Two-fifths of investors consider investing in startups more profitable than other forms of investment. These are the findings of a survey conducted by investment group DEPO Ventures, which is building a unique syndicate of angel investors in addition to angel funds. The survey was also conducted in partnership with the law firm Havel & Partners and the agency CzechInvest. The aim of this fourth annual survey was to map the environment of angel investing in the Czech Republic.

Take Your Startup Investing to the Next Level with the Angel Masterclass
Are you ready to take your startup investing to the next level? If you're an aspiring investor who wants to learn how to assess investment opportunities, negotiate terms, and structure deals like a pro, then the Angel Masterclass might just be what you need.

RINGIL Advanced In The Digitalization Of Logistics, And This Year They'll Test The American Market
André Dravecký set out on a complex mission more than two years ago. He founded the startup Ringil and began building a modular logistics platform with the goal of digitalizing the transportation of goods as much as possible. "In many companies, logistics still relies only on paper and pencil. When I talk to investors, they often don't believe me, but it's true. And we want to change that," says Dravecký. Read more about his plans.

DEPO Latest News | October 2022
As we approach the end of the year, we wanted to take a moment to thank all our investors, co-investors, partners, founders and others for your support and engagement. It has been an exciting and eventful year for DEPO. We have achieved many milestones and reached some important goals with 12 investments as DEPO Ventures and 7 syndicates as DEPO Angels. We continue and aim higher with the third €20 million fund for another 40 early-stage startups from the CEE region and Baltics. Take a look at our investments for the last quarter.

Tapline, a digital finance platform has announced a pre-seed funding of €31.7 million euro
Fasanara Capital, the UK-based alternative asset management company, is providing debt funding of €30m. The €1.7m equity round is led by the Czech VC firm, V-Sharp Venture Studio, alongside Antler, Black Pearls VC, 365 fintech, Depo Ventures, Impetus Capital, and several business angels investing in the round. The funding will allow the Berlin-based team to tap into the exponentially growing SaaS market, where global transaction volumes are set to reach €720 billion in 2028. The investment will also be used to enhance the Tapline solution and hire key individuals around marketing and product.

How to structuralize your pitch deck
One of the main aspects of pitch decks to consider is their overall structure. A deck can thrive or fail spectacularly based on the amount of clarity and information conciseness you provide. Here are two possible standard, nevertheless, effective ways to structure your pitch deck in order to raise the probability of successful investment.

Machining of the future - Factoree of the Málek brothers receives seed investment of 900k euro
The brothers Jakub and Milan Málek have been digitizing the engineering production market for 6 years. Their company Factoree is a turnkey supplier of engineering products, especially for companies in the field of agricultural machinery, construction equipment, or public transport, and this year they will deliver over 1 million parts, despite not owning a single machine tool. In fact, Factoree's founders are leveraging the existing capacity of smaller Czech engineering companies and, thanks to their online platform, are meeting their demand with orders from all over the world. They have now raised 900 thousand euros from Presto Ventures, DEPO Ventures, and the SFG financial group to digitalize their communication with suppliers further and expand abroad.

Types of pitches - and how to make them work
If you’re reading this article, the chance is you aim to create a solid pitch deck, but you are not exactly sure how to tackle it. Different types of pitches differ primarily in their length, therefore also structurally and content-wise. There are three main categories of pitch based on these criteria - elevator pitch, investment teaser, and a full investor pitch.

Why is it important to have a great pitch deck?
There are several things to mention while considering why making an impactful pitch deck is absolutely crucial. Everyone knows that a good presentation of any kind is just as important as your main points within the argumentation. In this case, you are probably not only selling your concept, but more importantly, you are selling the potential of yourself as well as your team. In the end, there is no right or wrong within the structure, however, because the final decision based on your pitch is reduced to either investment or no investment, a pitch can be effective or not. This either/or situation can be of course quite intimidating because even if the pitch is good, but not great, there is a significant possibility that investors simply will not be interested in an idea that does not seem rock solid. This is then perhaps the most important argument for the necessity of a superb pitch deck.

DEPO insider: Jan Pecník and his ride toward a bike business
The Netherlands and bicycles simply belong together. There are about one and a half times more bicycles than people in the land of tulips, and the infrastructure is extensive. Cities are welcoming to cyclists; therefore, everyone sees bicycles as a natural means of transport. But many people who come to the country for the first time (and not only them) find it difficult to find a suitable machine. Moreover, bikes are stolen quite a lot. Jan Pecník, who came to the Netherlands a few years ago as a student, also encountered exactly these problems. He wanted to put things in order. First, he started building a database of bikes and their owners. The aim was to easily identify the owner of a stolen bike. Or a badly parked bicycle that the technical services had taken to a ‘salvage’ parking lot. Later, he built an online marketplace around the database, where you can sell a bike at the click of a button.