London and Berlin usually top the lists of European startup hubs, but Central and Eastern European countries like the Czech Republic, Estonia, Croatia and Poland have claimed a growing portion of the startup pie in the past few years. Looking at Poland in particular, Krakow and Warsaw have blossomed into fertile grounds for entrepreneurs to grow and nurture companies, but they’re not alone.
One of Poland’s oldest and most picturesque cities, Wrocław is an up-and-coming contender in the startup space, thanks mostly to its academic history and its proximity to Prague, Berlin and Warsaw. This city of 1.2 million people has a large student population that provides ready talent for the city’s startups. Indeed, since the beginning of the 20th century, this small city has been home to nine Nobel laureates.
Wroclaw has a decent number of startups, according to Startup Wroclaw, across sectors such as e-commerce (Divante, Shoptrotter), digital health (Infermedica, SensDx), software (Tooploox, Droids on Roids), analytics (Piwik Pro), work and HR (Kadromierz, ChallengeRocket) and edtech (Lerni, Flash Robotics).
So to find out what the startup scene in Wroclaw looks like, we spoke with six local investors, executives and founders. In short, the city appears to be strong in areas such as B2B, SaaS, marketplace, B2C, gaming and medtech.
The country’s capital Warsaw has an angel investment scene, but founders instead often look to Germany for smaller investments because “the distance from Wrocław to Berlin is exactly the same as Wroclaw to Warsaw,” one of the executives said.
However, there is an air of optimism about the future: “We will have more and more global companies grown from the Wrocław’s startup scene as well as global corporations deciding to base their Polish office in the city,” one founder said.
We surveyed:
- Alena Hloba, community manager, RST Ventures for Earth
- Jakub Karkocha, CEO, LightApply
- Kamil Rudnicki, CEO, Timecamp
- Paweł Łopatka, VP country manager, SoftServe
- Michał Wędzicha, VP, CORE Services
- Maciej Wilczyński, CEO, Valueships
Alena Hloba, community manager, RST Ventures for Earth
Which sectors is your tech ecosystem strong in? What are you most excited by? What does it lack?
We are excited by environmental and sustainability sector, which we invest in. We also see promise in food tech, robotics and industry 4.0 (we have some companies from these industries, too). I think we lack more solutions for nature and environment, and we are trying to fill this gap.
Which are the most interesting startups in your city?
Most of our portfolio companies: SellIntegro, Z Zieleniaka, Reactivepad and Prosoma. There are also GlucoActive, LiveChat, Optimatik.
What are the tech investors like in Wroclaw? What’s their focus?
Most of our VCs, in my opinion, are focused on B2B, SaaS or marketplace-like startups. There are many who invest in B2C, gaming and medical startups.
With the shift to remote working, do you think people will stay in Wroclaw, or will they move out? Will others move in?
I think most people are staying, especially the IT companies, because now it doesn’t matter where you are. It’s less probable that people will move to Wrocław unless there are less restrictive conditions to work, as in the neighboring countries.
Who are the key startup people in your city (e.g., investors, founders, lawyers, designers)?
We think that we are one of the most active investors in Wrocław, as well as VentureInc, Fidiasz.
Where do you think your city’s tech scene will be in five years?
It will develop more in the direction of sustainability (at least, we believe so). There will for sure be more startups, more investors and more startup organizations (like meetups or community builders).
Jakub Karkocha, CEO, LightApply
Which sectors is your tech ecosystem strong in? What are you most excited by? What does it lack?
Wrocław is quickly developing its startup ecosystem. Big companies like Google and Nokia are opening their offices in the city, which helps to educate world-class specialists who are then starting their own projects. An increasing number of events are organised by the city government and startup clusters, which helps to encourage young people to step in the IT world and bring their ideas to the table.
Poland is much cheaper in terms of salaries than Western Europe, so many companies from Germany and other countries decide to open their offices here. Wrocław is also quite close to the German border, which is a big plus — it’s well connected both by road and air.
The biggest weakness of Poland is the mentality of the people. We are just growing our economy after getting full independence. Many older people have a strict understanding of a business and the startup ideas don’t match that. Those people might become investors, but they don’t trust in high-risk investments. We are forced to find investors abroad, which is not always easy.
Which are the most interesting startups in your city?
Some companies have left the startup phase, but they are still extremely interesting: Brand24, Divante, Ten Square Games, Knights of Unity, ZMorph and Monterail. Among startups, I would list iMieszkaniec, Infermedica, Primetric, PayEye, Her Impact, Droids On Roids, SmartLunch, Clearcode and LightApply (of course!).
What are the tech investors like in Wroclaw? What’s their focus?
Poland is quite strong when it comes to VCs, and that applies to Wrocław too. We have a couple of funds that are actively looking for innovative companies to invest in. As there are some funds from the EU, many VCs are investing in companies that can cover program requirements defined as KIS. It is much harder to find an angel investor in Wrocław — most are based in Warsaw. It is very popular to look for a smaller investment round in Germany, as the distance from Wrocław to Berlin is exactly the same as Wroclaw to Warsaw.
With the shift to remote working, do you think people will stay in Wroclaw, or will they move out? Will others move in?
Even before the pandemic, suburbs in Wrocław were developing really fast. People were moving to Wrocław to work with LG, Nokia and Google. Good public transportation, small city and cheap apartments were all good reasons to buy your own flat. During the pandemic, people are usually staying home, but there has been no special change in terms of a place to live.
Who are the key startup people in your city (e.g., investors, founders, lawyers, designers)?
Tomasz Popów, Piotr Orzechowski, Tomasz Karwatka, Piotr Karwatka, Michał Sadowski.
Where do you think your city’s tech scene will be in five years?
We will have more and more global companies grown from Wrocław’s startup scene as well as global corporations deciding to base their Polish office in the city.
Kamil Rudnicki, CEO, Timecamp
Which sectors is your tech ecosystem strong in? What are you most excited by?
SaaS, remote work.
Which are the most interesting startups in your city?
LiveChat.
What are the tech investors like in Wroclaw? What’s their focus?
SaaS and health.
With the shift to remote working, do you think people will stay in Wroclaw, or will they move out? Will others move in?
Stay but work remotely.
Paweł Łopatka, VP country manager, SoftServe
Which are the most interesting startups in your city?
LitterAct, Brand24, Woodpecker.
What are the tech investors like in Wroclaw? What’s their focus?
Focus is on early-seed startups.
With the shift to remote working, do you think people will stay in Wroclaw, or will they move out? Will others move in?
Stay in the city — some will move out to regional areas.
Where do you think your city’s tech scene will be in five years?
Like Berlin :).
Michał Wędzicha, VP, CORE Services
Which sectors is your tech ecosystem strong in? What are you most excited by?
Software development, software maintenance, team leasing and IT specialists outsourcing.
Which are the most interesting startups in your city?
Spyrosoft.
What are the tech investors like in Wroclaw? What’s their focus?
Investment funds and global players.
With the shift to remote working, do you think people will stay in Wroclaw, or will they move out? Will others move in?
Stay in the city.
Where do you think your city’s tech scene will be in five years?
Silicon Valley of Poland.
Maciej Wilczyński, CEO, Valueships
Which sectors is your tech ecosystem strong in? What are you most excited by? What does it lack?
Software development, project and product management, design, DevOps. Definitely lack of capital, network and “how-to-scale” skillset.
Which are the most interesting startups in your city?
I deal mostly with SaaS, so: Brand24, LiveChat (unicorn in two to three years), TimeCamp, Infermedica (it will be big) and LiveSession.
What are the tech investors like in Wroclaw? What’s their focus?
Pre-seed/seed, heavily leveraged with public funds.
With the shift to remote working, do you think people will stay in Wroclaw, or will they move out? Will others move in?
They will stay but work remotely.
Who are the key startup people in your city (e.g., investors, founders, lawyers, designers)?
Tomasz Szpikowski, Rafal Sobczak, Tomasz Karwatka, Wojciech Mróz.
Where do you think your city’s tech scene will be in five years?
It will move toward more mature businesses for sure; more software and Industry 4.0 projects.
Comment