The founder of Bolt and Presto Ventures is investing in the company.
Finding a quality and affordable interior painter was, until very recently a near impossible task. The Czech startup Adam has found a solution to the long waiting times and confusing price lists of the traditional interior painting industry; they can send a certified painter to your house the very next day from placing your order. With these results, they have now convinced the investors as well. The company raised a total of one million euros from Presto Ventures and the founder of the Bolt app, Markus Villig.
Adam's founders Roman Sysel and Jakub Dvorak met six years ago at the then growing Estonian company, Bolt. They helped the previously unknown startup grow tremendously to the point where they became one of the most successful tech companies in Europe. Sysel and Dvorak left their top management positions to found their own startup, Adam, connecting customers with certified interior painters.
"The traditional craft clearly needs modernisation. Yet no one has solved all three critical factors - quality, availability and price - at the same time. We are starting with painters and want to add other professions soon. Our vision is that one day you can build an entire home with the help of Adam," comments Roman Sysel, co-founder of the Adam startup.
The startup has impressed investors with their track record, ambitious plans and unique product. The platform replaces complicated painting price lists with a simple, transparent online calculator that instantly shows the customer the estimated cost of painting and gives them the option to request the painter's services with one click. Adam then connects the customer with a painter who is available at the desired time and location. The painting can start within a day of placing your request! Painters have found that collaborating with Adam has brought them more jobs and in turn, increased their monthly earnings.
Since its launch, the Adam platform has helped deliver thousands of painted apartments, houses, offices and other spaces such as schools, restaurants and common areas of apartment buildings. The company's annual turnover has grown almost five times this year and has managed to reach a positive gross profit margin.
Now, Presto Ventures is investing in the Adam startup, along with Bolt founder Markus Villig. It was with Markus that the founders of Adams worked closely during their time at Bolt, when they were part of the company's successful growth into the unicorn startup.
"Markus' vast experience of having built a billion-dollar platform business and the support and background of the Presto team will play an important role for us. This is exactly why we have selected these two tenders. We are really looking forward to this partnership," says Jakub Dvořák, co-founder of the startup Adam.
"Adam is a great product that solves both customers' and craftsmen's biggest problems. Roman and Jakub learned from Bolt how to scale quickly and efficiently abroad, which we unfortunately lack in the Czech Republic. While the craftsman market is complex, it also presents a great global opportunity. A strong business model and great execution across countries differentiate Adam from all the startups that have historically struggled in this sector” says Roman Nováček, partner at Presto Ventures, commenting on the investment.
The startup, Adam, plans to launch other crafts in the future. "We will definitely not stick to just painting rooms, but at the moment the priority is to grow internationally," comments Roman Sysel. Adam will use the investment mainly to strengthen its position, both in existing markets (it already operates in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, the UK, and Ireland) and to expand into new markets (it is currently launching a business in Spain).
"Like the taxi industry in the past, the craft is not working ideally anywhere in the world, and there is a lot of room for improvement. Based on our previous long-standing collaboration with Roman and Jakub, I believe that the Adam team can build and expand such a service, which is precisely why I am investing in them," adds Bolt founder and CEO Markus Villig.
Comments