Happy New Year!
Here we go… continuing our sixth calendar year of club activities. 2020 has brought many unexpected things – not just in business. Everyone has probably heard of Covid 19. Still, we need to adapt and carry on. That’s why we continue. In a healthy body a healthy spirit, the immune system of us humans fortunately works perfectly well most of the time. So I believe that perhaps thanks to the work of the Venture Club, we are all doing better today – and will continue to do so in the future. Together we are building a good foundation for the future security of us all.
We are currently 181 investors, and last year we added almost 80 million CZK invested in five projects. In total, we are now approaching the CZK 335 million mark in disinvestment. Not including recoveries from completed projects. By the way, DYNAM, where we preferred to withdraw at one point with a -10% loss, has finally achieved a +25% increase in value as of 31 December 2020 since inception. The second completed project was Klíčanka – construction of apartments “on the outskirts of Prague” – in Klíčany, Prague East. Depending on the type of involvement, it achieved a return for investors ranging from 24% to 100% of the invested funds for a 2-3 year investment. The year brought turbulence thanks to Covid19, practically only online events, not counting the summer concert of the Bennewitz Quartet, meetings during the holidays and a few business meetings. The positive impact is that there are new recordings from D-Day as well, and the Christmas concert was filmed in essentially TV quality (you can find it on the club’s YUOTUBE channel). Great expectations were raised by the opening of the MES He3da battery factory in the autumn. A good promotion of the batteries was then the participation in the last DAKAR. A Tatra escort vehicle was there and the electrical systems were tested. Speaking of the He3da, it is still being produced less than planned, however, in Q1 everything is expected to change. The factory is taking orders for pilot installations and is moving – finally, after many delays – towards running series production. We consider the shifts as a concomitant phenomenon of the upsurge in high-tech industrial production, and it should be taken into account that everything is happening at a third of the originally planned budget with better product quality and features. However, we are really looking forward to the shift that is to come this year.
You can recap the entire 2020 year, including numbers and major projects, in the presentation from the January 12, 2021 Committee event. We also addressed the budget and other plans. We also mentioned the continued funding of LaFluence, which is growing for the fifth month in a row by tens of percent, and similarly the investment in Greenbuddies Charging, which we believe is our new dark horse.
We have a tough task ahead of us this year – taking the PetExpert and Behavee investments to the next round. In the meantime, the dog and cat insurance has already picked up 10,500 clients, is in Slovakia and is about to go to Belgium. Robotic marketing agency over our own data is also already making us happy. In the last six months, invoicing has gone from zero to 500k per month and continues to grow. We are financing the project temporarily with a loan and are considering a bridge entry of a new investor, before entering the global market. We will continue to increase our participation in LaFluence, the online service for influencers and product brands is running excellently. We are preparing another round for Charging – successfully establishing itself in Austria, before entering Germany. Besides, it is still possible to enter the “battery”, via the CFDF fund – with a Euro investment. We are still considering whether to open a gastro OCEANS after all. Covid will end one day and the segment of quality healthy fast food is right. But not to talk only about projects you know. We have 1-2 new ones in the pipeline that we’ll introduce at D-Day.
On top of that, we’ve got more interesting education evenings coming up – like Marketing for Startups, or talking about our neighbors, Germany or Slovakia. We will definitely invite some interesting personalities again. We will also support culture and meet for breakfast. We hope not only online, but as summer approaches, also in person?
Venture Club wants to continue to be a partner for the admittedly risky but extremely profitable segment of investing. The principle of pooling resources together in a club of people we know, selecting and leading projects where we are close with direct participation in the outcome makes a lot of sense. Yes, it’s not for everyone and sometimes it takes time, but the outcome is worth it. We are at the birth of companies that will one day change the world and we are glad you are there with us!
Happy New Year and good health to you
MUDr. Petr Šedivý, Chairman of the Venture Club Committee and Managing Director of Venture Club Invest