Meet the team

Portrait of Michal Zalesak
Founding & Managing Partner

Michal Zálešák

Michal Zálešák

12 years in start-up industry Private investor, founder of Prague Startup Centre, official incubator of the City of Prague

Michal Zálešák is an experienced startup investor and mentor with international investment experience in Silicon Valley, India and Czech Republic, and including exits to global players. Zálešák has established a Czech ICT Incubator at the Silicon Valley, bringing Czech startups to the Silicon Valley and global mentors to Prague.

In 2005, Zalesak established the Czech ICT Alliance, working closely with Czech IT companies and organizing dozens of IT-focused trade missions globally to support expansion of Czech IT to international markets. In 2016, Zálešák established the Prague Startup Centre, operating two branches in Prague and having its own incubation program, targeting early stage startups. Zálešák is a Managing Partner in Lighthouse Ventures since its establishment in 2019.

In 2015, Zálešák was named a TOP30 IT personality by ComputerWorld Magazine. Zalesak holds MBA in marketing and management. He is a member of the advisory board on e-commerce of the Czech government, and a former member of the advisory board on smart city of the Prague Council.

Portrait of Ravit Avidor
Founding Partner

Ravit Avidor

Ravit Avidor

10 years in Tech Mergers and Acquisitions. Former Vice President, Corporate Development at AVG Technologies

Ravit Avidor has been active in Corporate M&A and Venture Capital since 2006. In her career Avidor has performed a broad range of acquisitions, from small acquisitions to over $600 million, with a wide geographical spread, including North and Latin America, Europe and Middle East.
Avidor is a Partner in Lighthouse Ventures since its establishment in 2019.

In her most recent M&A position she served as VP, Corporate Development at AVG (NYSE: AVG), the consumer and business security company.

At AVG, among other acquisitions, Avidor has initiated and led the acquisition of an early stage Android security startup, which three years later became the most downloaded security app for Android worldwide, reaching over 100 million downloads on Google Play already in 2013, as previously only achieved by a prestigious list of vendors, such as Google, Facebook, Twitter and alike.

Prior to AVG, Avidor held a Corporate Development position at Check Point (NASDAQ:CHKP) where she played a key role in large acquisitions involving hundreds of employees and hundreds of millions of dollars.

Avidor holds a Bachelor of Laws and MBA from the Hebrew University, where she was selected for an advanced program as one of 15 top rated students. She has also acquired executive education from INSEAD, focusing on M&A.

Portrait of Vladislav Vintner
Founding Partner

Vladislav Vintner

Vladislav Vintner

22 years in IT industry in top management positions

Vladislav Vintner has been holding top managerial positions in the IT industry since 1996. He had a key role in the establishment of the operations of Indra (formerly Soluziona), a global IT company, in the Czech Republic. As the COO for the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Ukraine he oversaw the operations as they grew to over 200 employees.

In 2009, Vintner established Pontech, a system integrator, implementing ICT projects across Europe, and led the company to a successful exit to NTT Group, a global telecommunication company, headquartered in Japan, in 2015.

Following the sale of Pontech, Vintner has continued his successful path, this time as an investor, when Mluvii, one of his portfolio companies was sold to O2 corporation. He is a Partner in Lighthouse Ventures since its establishment in 2019.

Vintner holds MA in International Business from the University of Economics in Prague.

Portrait of Robert Reich
Partner

Robert Reich

Robert Reich

Seven years experience in VC industry. Supporting global expansion of Czech startups.

Robert Reich has seven years of experience with startups. He has been working as a manager at Prague Startup Centre since 2016, and as an Investment Associate in Lighthouse Ventures since its establishment in 2019 to 2022 and as Investment Manager from 2022 to 2023. Currently, working as a Partner and COO of Lighthouse Ventures.

At Prague Startup Centre, Reich has been helping Czech startups to expand globally. He also served as a Project Manager for various projects and organized international events, targeted at startups and innovation.

Reich holds MA in Finance and Financial Engineering from the University of Economics in Prague. During his studies, he served as the president of the university’s Investment Club, one of the biggest student clubs in the Czech Republic.

Ory Weihs
Scaling Advisor

Ory Weihs

Ory Weihs

Serial founder in the performance marketing sector and an angel investor since 2010

Ory founded XLMedia PLC (LON.XLM) in 2003 and was CEO until 2019. He bootstrapped the business from the “basement” to a large international London stock exchange listed company. Today, XLMedia remains one of the largest publishers of gaming, sports betting, and personal finance comparison sites worldwide. During his time at XLMedia Ory was focused on strategy, scale-up, M&A and shareholder engagement. He remains a non-executive director.

He recently founded Team Odeon, a performance marketing company focused on the higher education and vocational training market. An “impact for profit” venture.

Since 2010 Ory has been investing in a variety of companies in different sectors such as Mews, Medorion LTD, Gigantic, Legly.io, Dumarca Holdings (Sold in 2014) and more. He is particularly interested in strong teams focused on execution in a variety of sectors such as SAAS, price and product comparison, gaming and more.  He holds a variety of director and advisory roles in his portfolio companies.

Ory holds a BSc in Industrial Engineering from the Technion, Israel institute of Technology and has been living in the Czech Republic for 10 years.

Portrait of Jiri Janku
Venture Partner for Czech regions and Founding Partner

Jiří Janků

Jiří Janků

With 20 years of experience in marketing and business strategy, specializing in SMB, Jiří Janků is an expert in leadership and coaching.

Janků has established e-BRÁNA s.r.o., one of the oldest digital marketing agencies for SMEs in the Czech Republic. In 2016, e-BRÁNA ranked among the Top 3 SMB Premier Google Partners in the Czech Republic and won the “Google Highest Customer Satisfaction Award.”

In 2017, he co-founded Feedyou s.r.o., a provider of  AI chatbot – voicebot solutions, establishing partnerships with prominent companies such as Microsoft and SAP.

Since 2016, Janků has been mentoring entrepreneurs. Furthermore, since 2022, he has served as the director of the Pardubice Business Incubator, aiding local entrepreneurs and companies in their growth and preparing them for potential investments.

Maciej Jarząb
Venture Partner for Poland

Maciej Jarząb

Maciej Jarząb

Maciej is the co-founder and acting CEO of Braight.

Though born in Katowice, Poland – a rather small city, Maciej has developed a big mindset, global ambitions, and impressive leadership skills accompanied by years of experience in industry.

A curious and a natural leader, Maciej discovered his predominant character traits firsthand through his athletic endeavors as team captain as well as in his professional career, where he gained more than 5 years of experience in Consulting, Banking, and Venture Capital. Throughout his time at McKinsey & Company, he mastered how to find solutions for complex problems and how to form a structured approach while thinking outside of the box. At mBank S.A. he perfected the finest intricacies of investment banking and the workload that comes hand in hand. Finally, in Maciej’s 2 years at Acxend Health, he has supported and mentored numerous start-ups in Farma and Medtech to grow and exceed their goals and investors’ expectations. It also allowed him to learn more about the investing side, namely what VCs are looking for and stay constantly informed on new emerging industries and attractive technological trends. (Guided by his dreams, the combination of skills formed the backbone of a successful venture opportunity for Maciej to pursue.)

Maciej was determined to find a solution for some of the major problems in the finance industry through technology, which he was very passionate about. He realized that the credit scoring system is outdated and not at all adjusted to the Internet of Things causing young people to be excluded from financial services. This problem motivated Maciej to create a company that will provide a solution not only for young people but go even bigger and serve the large group of unbanked people in less economically developed countries. Together with Marcin – the polish AI guru, they tested the idea of creating a credit scoring enrichment solution through behavioral analysis, based on customers’ online user data. Realizing the great potential in the market, they embarked on a journey to develop Braight, which now operates in more than 4 industries.

Lucie Slaninová
Investment Manager

Lucie Slaninová

Lucie Slaninová

Lucie has over 20 years of working experience at a myriad of companies.

At Lexmark Electronics, she worked as a transportation specialist, focusing on customs clearance. Lucie then spent many years as a senior logistics specialist at Honeywell Czech Republic.
From 2011 Lucie worked as project manager for the Czech ICT Alliance. From 2016, she works there with start-ups, focusing on finance and human resources.

Lucie has been with Lighthouse Ventures since 2018, where she works as a communication specialist. Lucie provides project management support to our start-ups, administration support and specializes in reporting, HR and payroll.