“Thanks to the pitch event, startups will get access to investors, which will bring them other benefits than just raising the capital. They will have the opportunity to develop their business activities within the expansion plan, have a product prototype verified, or consult with industry leaders in the region. On the other hand, investors can find future business partners in the founders, look into current trends in technology or support a brand awareness,” says DEPO Ventures partner Petr Šíma.

Afternoon full of information

The online event will take place from 16:00 via the Hopin platform. The whole event which is divided into several thematic blocks will take place during the afternoon. The partners will introduce themselves at the beginning and a panel discussion will follow, where the representatives of the partners of the whole event will speak. They will discuss the development of the fintech industry, its current state and where it is headed.

Next up is the topic of blockchain and the question of whether it is still a technology only for fans and first users or whether it is time for a massive adoption. However, one of the topics that the invited experts will deal with will also be the potential of Europe as a future fintech power and how it is compared to the USA and Asia.

“The discussion block will be followed by the startup section itself. Each of them gets three minutes for their own performance and then two minutes for any questions from investors, a well-known model of most events of this type. After the end of all pitches, the jury will select the winner and then the networking of founders, investors and all participants is planned,” concludes Šíma.

“The Czech market wants new projects, especially technological ones which is evident from our analysis of the number of startups. Here we are falling behind, but we have enough funds, incubators, and accelerators for startups. That means only one thing: enough room for growth and support, ”says Jiří Skopový.

Fintech attracts investors

The Business Angels Research in the Czech Rep 2020 showed that most Czech angel investors made at least one investment in startups at an early stage of development last year, most often in the range of 260,000 CZK (roughly EUR 10 000) to 1.3 CZK million (EUR 52000). The vast majority of respondents was interested in fintech and 60% invest mainly locally.

DEPO Ventures has been organizing its regular pitch events for two years. During that time, we managed to organize 15 events online and two offline. Altogether, more than 150 technological projects have gone through us. Participation in DEPO Pitch events has helped to successfully fund projects such as BikeFair, Zenoo, Augmented Robotics, Beem, Equiradar, Pulselive and SmartGuide.