Prague - Europe’s Flourishing Tech Hub
By: Theo Dluhy-Smith
Tags: Europe, Founders, Technology News, Startup, Prague

My brother and I decided to establish the headquarters of our tech company in Prague. It was the best decision we’ve ever made.

People who have visited Prague before can confirm that it’s an astonishing city with impressively clean streets, stunning architecture, diverse cuisine, and a vibrant nightlife. But most people are only now starting to realize that Prague is also a hidden gem for tech companies.

Recent History & Economy

To understand why Prague is just starting to flourish, you have to look back more than 100 years and understand a bit of Czech history.

Throughout its history, the Czech Republic has always been a prominent economic player in Europe. In the early 20th century, it was actually an industrial powerhouse and held 10th place in the world industrial production. It was only after World War 2 when the Czech Republic became occupied by the Soviet Union and then ruled by communism, that its economy started to halter.

However, after the 1989 Velvet Revolution, which peacefully ended communism, the Czech Republic reestablished democracy and a market economy. Since then (over the last 30 years) the Czech economy has been growing at an impressive pace and it now proudly produces the most GDP per capita in comparison to all other post-communist countries.

Prague also has the lowest unemployment rate in the European Union, at just 1.3%.

Looking back at the last 30 years and seeing how much progress the Czech Republic has made leaves me and everybody living in Prague excited about the future.

Talent

The Czech Republic boasts a great education system.

I myself spent a few years in the Czech Republic during high school and can confirm it from first-hand experiences. When I was transferring over from my school in the US, I had to spend the whole summer catching up on algebra, physics, and chemistry just so that I could join the same age students and didn’t have to stay a year back.

Getting a university education in the Czech Republic is free, which gives the opportunity for everyone to enroll and lifts the education level across the whole population. The free education system also attracts many foreign students who wouldn’t have been able to afford an education at home.

Czech universities also have very high-quality computer science and mathematics programs, which serves as a solid foundation for future software engineers. The mathematics programs are especially key for those students who later on pursue careers in machine learning and artificial intelligence.

HackerRank, a California-based service that runs tests for software engineers, ranked Czech engineers 2nd in the world in mathematical challenges which reflect their skill in functional programming.

The Czech engineers ranked 9th in the world overall. The US ranked 13th.

Infrastructure & Strategic Location

If you’re reading this article and you’re sitting in a large US metropolitan area, you’re probably used to long commute times and have just accepted traffic as part of your life, as I did when I was living in the Bay Area. Prague doesn’t have this issue.

Its public transport system is ranked 5th in the world and is used by over two thirds of the city’s population. It has an affordable, yet sophisticated train, metro, tram and bus system, allowing you to comfortably get around the city within minutes.

Prague is located in the heart of Europe and has direct flight connections to all other major European cities such as Paris, London, or Amsterdam. Flight times are all under 2h and usually cost between $50 — $250 round trip.

Affordability

Prague is gradually becoming a global metropolis and is catching up to cities like Paris and Amsterdam, however, it is still incomparable when it comes to prices and is, therefore, a great place to work and live. You can afford to live a high standard of life with an average Prague salary, especially if you’re working in tech.

I ran a price comparison of San Francisco vs. Prague (my two hometowns) and this is where we’ve landed (1):

European Lifestyle

It’s also tough to get bored in Prague. It’s an energetic city with endless cool events to attend. If you’re into contemporary art exhibits, prosecco festivals, local food markets, underground techno raves, or just into chilling in the park enjoying the castle view, you’ve got it.

Over recent years, Prague has attracted a lot of foreigners and now has a thriving expat community, which makes up more than 25% of Prague’s workforce. Plenty of Americans and Brits have decided to move here as well and surprisingly in some districts you now hear English on the streets and at cafes more often than Czech.

Recent Startups

We’re witnessing the Prague startup scene flourish.

Just over the past few months, we’ve seen Prague startup productboard raise a $45,000,000 Series B round led by Sequoia Capital, Twisto, an emerging fintech startup raise $15,000,000 and Rossum, a startup extracting data from invoices and documents using machine learning, raise $4,500,000.

If you’re just launching your tech startup and are having trouble with hiring the right technical talent, or are shocked by the high prices and burn rate you’ll have in an oversaturated tech hub like Silicon Valley, you might want to consider making Prague your new home.

Feel free to shoot me a message on LinkedIn. I’ll be happy to give you tips and tricks for Prague. I’ve been here for almost 4 years and moving here was the best decision I’ve made.