While tourists may be more familiar with Krakow, for serious tech entrepreneurs, Wrocław is very much on the map.
Take the Wrocław Technology Park, which is home to more than 160 businesses and even boasts a nursery on site, perfect for working parents. A number of these businesses offer software as a service (SaaS), a sector which is currently one of the most resilient right now following the impact of Covid-19. In fact, according to a report by Startup Poland, of the 2,400 start ups in the country, 39% were software development companies and an amazing 30% of these were fronted by women.
So who are some of these companies and why are they worth a closer look?
AB Group positions itself as one of the leading providers of cloud and e-commerce solutions. It was also the only Polish company to be listed among the nine largest IT distributors and e-commerce solution providers in the Europa 500 ranking by Deloitte and Rzeczpospolita. In the completed financial year of 2018/2019, consolidated revenues increased year-on-year by nearly 557 million PLN (7%), reaching a record 8.8 billion PLN.
Another company, advatech calls itself a leading provider of mass storage, virtualization solutions and security solutions in Poland. It was founded in 1998 and has four branches in Poland with notable partners and clients including IBM, Oracle, Dell EMC, Vantara, HPE, HP Inc., VMware, Veritas, Veeam, Ivanti, Barracuda, Commvault, Microsoft, Red Hat, NetApp, Brocade, Symantec and Fortinet.
Finally, byteLAKE which builds AI and HPC solutions. It supports several sectors, which would make it more resilient than other companies operating to service just one niche. In its own words, it brings automation and innovation to industries such as engineering, automotive, construction, manufacturing, agriculture, forestry, hospitality, retail, transport, fintech, crypto, insurance, medical, chemical, pharma and more. It was also referenced in a Digital Poland report highlighting interesting projects in Poland for potential investment.
According to rankings by Deloitte for the fastest growing companies in Central Europe in 2019, Polish enterprises accounted for 20% of that number. Judging by the investment and innovation happening in the country, it’s likely this figure will rise over the coming years. Yet it will be the companies who can truly operate globally and in the language of the native country that they are targeting, who will be best poised for success.