Prague, October 16, 2024 – Rockaway Ventures, the venture capital fund of the Rockaway Capital group, continues to expand its presence on the startup scene in Central and Eastern Europe. The new investment partner of Rockaway Ventures Fund is former Google executive Petr Šmíd, who brings a wealth of experience in digital technology and expansion into foreign markets. His aim is to build innovative, confident and competitive companies that can compete globally.
Since 2014, Rockaway Ventures has been investing in areas where Rockaway Capital Group has deep expertise, primarily retail and e-commerce, travel & hospitality, digital logistics, digital media, cybersecurity, defense, CleanTech or PropTech. The Rockaway Ventures Fund targets startups with proven traction at late seed or Series A stage in both CEE and Western European countries. Rockaway Ventures works closely with leading Western European funds on joint deal sourcing, investment and supporting them to become leaders internationally – helping them to successfully raise funds for further growth.
Petr Šmíd, an experienced manager who joins Rockaway Ventures these days as an investment partner, has spent the last 11 years at Google. There, he managed the launch and adoption of products such as Google Pay and Google Assistant, which have attracted millions of users in more than ten CEE countries. During his tenure, Google Pay even managed to show that CEE can become a leader in the Tech sector and leave the Western world behind. At the same time, at Google, he was dedicated to building the B2B advertising business, which grew 10x under his watch. He has helped many digital CEE companies to grow and expand into foreign markets. Petr Šmíd has also gained vast experience at McKinsey, where he worked as an Engagement Manager not only in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, but also in Western Europe, Albania, the Middle East and South Africa.
His goal in Rockaway is now to focus on building ambitious companies that will be successful internationally and change the world from the Czech Republic and Central European countries. „I want this region to be home to innovative companies that will compete successfully internationally and help shape our economy for generations to come. I believe in the Skype effect, where a group of successful founders will help build an entire ecosystem with the money and experience they have gained through entrepreneurship. And at Rockaway Ventures, we want to contribute to that evolution, “ explains Šmíd.
According to him, it is crucial for startups from the Czech Republic, as well as from other CEE countries, to serve larger foreign markets, in which venture capital plays an important role. „Compared to the US and the rest of the world, CEE and Europe in general do not have a deficit in the quality and quantity of talent that innovation generates – but we have less entrepreneurial drive, less willingness to take risks, and fewer financial resources dedicated to innovation and startups. That’s why with Rockaway Ventures we want to help startups in their early growth phase, to provide funding, to make the know-how and network of the entire Rockaway Group available to them – and when the need arises, for example due to plans for international expansion, to help bring in the larger foreign investors with whom we have been working for a long time, “ adds the new investment partner Rockaway Ventures.
To date, Rockaway Ventures has invested in dozens of successful startups such as Productboard and Gjirafa. The portfolio of the current Rockaway Ventures fund currently includes investments in nine companies. Among the most prominent are cloud-based hotel management platform Apaleo, which operates in 15 countries and has clients such as CitizenM, Easyhotels and Limehome, Freeway and Campiri, which deal with online caravan bookings, smart and sustainable holiday home network operator RAUS, and Central European operating lease and used car platform Spotawheel. All companies in the fund’s portfolio have raised additional capital in 2022 and 2023, demonstrating their viability and ability to grow even during challenging market conditions.