7 Czech startups to watch, according to VCs

But this small central European country has so much more to offer.Over the last few years, the Czech startup ecosystem has been bubbling with new projects and ideas. Its produced several unicorns such as the online grocer Rohlik Group and productivity tool Productboard while other local startups are expected to hit billion-dollar valuations soon too.Sifted asked the countrys five top VCs which startups theyre watching and weve listed all those that were nominated twice.Founded: 2017 Number of employees: 255 Founders: Tomas Gogar, Petr Baudis and Tomas Tunys Funding: In October 2021, Rossum raised a $100m Series A from General Catalyst with participation from previous investors LocalGlobe, Seedcamp, Miton and Elad Gil.Rossums platform uses AI to help companies understand, exchange and process documents, and can also communicate with people and act based on the content.Founded: 2017 Number of employees: 53 Founders: Jiri Kobelka, Samuel Sramko Funding: Tatum has just raised $41.5m from lead investor Evolution Equity Partners, along with existing investors Octopus, 3VC, Tensor Ventures and Depo Ventures.The company offers a platform for developers to build, test and run blockchain apps.Founded: 2012 Number of employees: 535 Founder: Richard Valtr Funding: It raised a $33m Series B from Battery Ventures and HenQ in 2019 and got an additional 5m from Salesforce in December last year.Mews is a property management software solution for hoteliers. It helps hotel managers streamline bookings, check-in and revenue management.Founded: 2021 Number of employees: 25 Founders: Jaroslav Ton Funding: It raised a 18m seed round in June this year from Atmos, Tera Ventures and Lighthouse Ventures. What makes it different from traditional factoring providers is its AI-driven instant risk modelling, which allows the company to pay hauliers up front in minutes.Founded: 2019 Number of employees: 52 Founders: Jan Stiborek, Josef Stach Funding: It raised a $16.6m Series A from Index Ventures, Seedcamp, GV and Credo Ventures in October 2021.The company protects other AI-based financial automation systems from manipulation, misuse and intentional attacks with its own AI.Founded: 2021 Number of employees: 16 Founders: Juraj Masar, Veronika Kolejak Funding: In July 2021 it raised $18.6m seed round led by Creandum with the participation of Susa Ventures, K5 Global, Credo Ventures and angel investors.Better Stack offers tools that help with monitoring, logging and incident management for software developers so they can react to outages rapidly.Founded: 2018 Number of employees: 35 Founders: Marek Suchar, Vlastimil Venclik Funding: It raised a $4.5m Series A in August this year from Velo Partners, Genting Ventures, Presto Ventures and angel investors.Oddins platform helps bookmakers create a more engaging esports betting experience, especially for young audiences. Its AI tool generates live data from esports competitions to provide real-time betting odds.Zosia Wanat is Sifteds central and eastern Europe reporter, based in Warsaw.