J&T Ventures is investing several million euros in Czech start-up Sharry. Its solutions for facility management and mobile access to offices are used by New York skyscrapers and top European projects. This year, the company plans to significantly strengthen its position in the US, expand into other markets and expand its team.

Dozens of skyscrapers in New York, including the futuristic 427-meter tall One Vanderbilt, the projects of Prague's Masarycka and Bratislava's Sky Park Offices by Zaha Hadid Architects, and state-of-the-art office buildings from Bucharest to Johannesburg; the software solution from Czech company Sharry, founded in 2016 by Josef Šachta, Jakub Řezníček, Michal Čeřovský and Vladimír Cibulka, is used everywhere. With the help of an investment from J&T Ventures, they want to confirm that they are among the best in the world in the PropTech industry (connecting the real estate market and modern technology, property & technology).

Sharry allows employees and company visitors to conveniently use their cell phones to enter the office instead of plastic cards. However, this key in the form of a mobile app also allows them to access the parking garage, call the elevator, easily reserve hot-desking and parking spaces, report a building defect, get a discount from nearby businesses, or receive a notification from the facility manager. More than 100,000 people use Sharry's software, and tens of thousands more go through their visitor system at reception each month.

Big projects & big team

‘This year we want to strengthen our position as leader in mobile access to buildings. The contracts we are currently working on are the largest of their kind in the world. Our solution is now in operation in about 100 buildings in six countries, and thanks to contracts with global companies, we will expand our product to 50 more countries this year,’ says Josef Šachta, co-founder and CEO of Sharry.

‘We now have 45 people in our team, but we need to expand it significantly and expand further into Europe and the US. We currently have 15 positions open. We will be expanding not only in sales and marketing, but we are also looking for developers who enjoy developing software solutions for the physical world. Last year, we moved into brand new offices in the Smíchov Gate building, and we want to turn it into a showroom of technologies for the office of the future,’ adds Vladimir Cibulka, another co-founder and CTO at Sharry.

Straight to the elite

The founders of Sharry met by coincidence in shared offices. Their first big project came in 2017, when they won a tender contract for the creation of a universal software and mobile app, Connected by Skanska, for all of the developer's new office buildings in Central Europe. In 2018, Sharry also succeeded among 192 projects in the start-up competition Vodafone Idea of the Year.

In 2019, the CzechInvest programme brought a part of the team to New York, where Sharry managed to win a giant client in the first year - SL Green, the largest owner of office space in Manhattan, delivered a solution for their real estate portfolio. In the same year, Sharry received a seed investment from Přemysl Rubeš and his Presto Ventures fund, and now J&T Ventures, a fund founded by Adam Kočík and Martin Kešner, is acquiring a 10% equity stake.

‘Similar technologies are no longer the domain of premium projects; with the rise of hybrid working, companies are renting smaller office spaces where lots of people are taking turns, and building owners need to accommodate the needs of higher number of small tenants. All of this requires smart software solution. The team behind Sharry was able to seize a huge opportunity at the right time and has been successful in attracting customers among both leading developers and international companies with offices around the globe,’ adds David Polach, Investment Manager at J&T Ventures, on closing the investment.

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