FaceUp Technology: the first investment by the new JIC Ventures fund

Continuing in global expansion is just one of three areas where FaceUp Technology will direct the investment. The company will also use it to improve its software and create a comprehensive Ethics & Compliance solution, or to reach out to further partners and clients.

“I am really delighted with this investment. It will enable us to grow even faster towards our vision: to become the world’s leading solution for ethical and safe workplaces. It will help us to increase our ARR, expand our team and strengthen our product, and above all to support even more organisations around the world in strengthening trust, ethics and integrity, whilst effectively protecting their reputation, employees or students, finances and culture,” says Jan Sláma, co-founder and CEO of the start-up FaceUp Technology.

Growth that exceeds expectations

The current investment is not the first one. Back in 2024, the start-up secured more than $3 million in a seed round – and even before that, it raised about $215 000 from its employees and more than $900 000 from angel investors Jiří Hlavenka and Scio.

In total, investors have already put $9 million into the company.

This money helped FaceUp Technology to become one of the fastest-growing companies in the Czech Republic and Central Europe. Last year, it even succeeded in the Deloitte Fast50 competition, becoming the second-fastest-growing company in the Czech Republic and the fourth-fastest-growing in the CEE region.

This success was also helped by the company's greater focus on the global market in recent years. “We’ve been active there from the start, but in 2024, we began to focus on it. And 90% of new revenue that year was already from abroad,” Jan Sláma said some time ago on the JICtalk podcast.

The first investment of the new JIC Ventures fund

The company’s global focus is also reflected in the composition of its investors. In addition to the lead investor, Fil Rouge Capital, funds such as Venture to Future Fund, Gi21 Capital, Tilia Impact Ventures and Reflex Capital have invested in the company. These are funds from Croatia, Slovakia and Czechia.

Among the investors, you can also see JIC Ventures. This is even the first investment in the new fund launched by JIC Ventures this year, which allows companies to raise up to €1 million.

The investment in FaceUp Technology is a logical outcome of JIC’s long-term collaboration with this start-up. “We have been working with Honza and his team at JIC from the very beginning – from the time when FaceUp Technology was still a student project,” says Radim Kocourek, Managing Partner at JIC Ventures.

The company's founder is also delighted that the partnership between JIC and FaceUp Technology continues. “JIC was a key partner for us in the early days of our business. Not only because of the mentoring and long-term support, but also as our first office and the place where all our creative ideas were born,” recalls Jan Sláma.

 

A project that began with bullying

As Jan Sláma mentioned, it was at JIC where the company had its first office several years ago. This was at a time when the project's aim was to help victims of bullying.

With this focus, the original platform was launched in 2017. Through it, pupils and students could anonymously report bullying they had encountered at school. Jan Sláma and his co-founders, David Špunar and Pavel Ihm, were driven to do this by their own experiences.

“When I saw bullying at school, I wanted to help, but I didn’t know how. And I was afraid that if I did something, it would backfire on me,” Jan Sláma described his motivation for creating the app in JICtalk.

Thanks to collaboration with YouTubers and the Czech Department for Education, the platform spread rapidly. However, over time it became clear that this wasn’t enough to generate revenue. Schools were using it for free. And the company faced a decision on how to proceed.

The turning point came in South Africa

A collaboration with a large network of schools in South Africa showed the Brno-based start-up the way forward. “They wanted our app. But not for children, but for staff. In the end, they used it for both purposes,” explains Jan Sláma.

The company therefore decided to focus more on corporate clients. And to create an Ethics & Compliance ecosystem that, in addition to passively collecting feedback, allows for active feedback gathering via questionnaire surveys. To this end, it also uses an AI assistant or, for example, an automated telephone line.

Everything is anonymous and therefore secure. At the same time, the employer has access to data that highlights the biggest issues within the company and how they are developing. This enables them to respond appropriately.

What’s more, everything is available in over 100 languages and can be adapted to local legislation.

This is one of the reasons why over 3,600 companies in more than 70 countries worldwide already use the FaceUp platform. These include giants such as Heineken, Mercedes-Benz and PwC. Thanks to the latest investment, others may soon join them.