In a Nutshell
- Czech Bookbot, an online platform for second-hand books, secured €4 million Series A funding round led by new investor Genesis Growth Equity Fund I with the participation of existing shareholder Miton.
- Currently, the startup’s valuation surpasses €20M.
Broadening Horizons in Central Europe
Prague-based Bookbot, founded in 2019 by Dominik Gazdoš, CEO, and David Gazdoš, CTO, is now the biggest seller of second-hand books in the Czech Republic. The business model allows users to both sell and buy books. According to their data, over 5 million books have been sold since the launch of the platform.
The company expanded to Slovakia in 2022, followed by Austria and Germany in 2023. The new investment will be utilized into further growth in the DACH market.
Bookbot provides two alternatives for customers to hand in their used books: in Vienna, they can drop them off at partner stores (Thalia), and in both Vienna and Berlin, they can schedule home pick-ups through the “Book-Bote” service, in partnership with DODO.
Customer-Centric Approach to Lead the Second-Hand Market
Bookbot forecasts a year-over-year revenue increase to €24M by the end of 2024.
Dominik Gazdoš, CEO at Bookbot, shared: “We are convinced that in order to create a first choice product for second-hand goods on the market, we have to be radically customer-centric. That is why we spend a lot of time speaking with our customers to identify practical and innovative technical solutions that make our service as comfortable and easy as possible.”
Re-Commerce Market: Set to Grow
In 2022/23, the European re-commerce market was valued at €94B. The market share, compared to the total European ecommerce market, is now 12.3 percent. It is expected to increase to 14 percent in the next three years.
“We see re-commerce as one of the simplest and most efficient approaches to sustainable and responsible customer behavior. We were also impressed by the strong duo of founders and their indomitable desire to improve the business they are building and to find solutions to seemingly intractable problems and their clear vision to win large European markets”, said Ondřej Pernica, Investment Manager at Genesis.
