O2 Czech Republic : has realized its investment in Taxify with nine fold appreciation (19 December 2017)

O2 has realized its investment in Taxify with nine fold appreciation

December 19, 2017

•  After a year and a half O2 disposed its investment in the Taxify with a nine fold appreciation

•  The O2 investment was key to Taxify, especially at its early stage - allowing for strong regional development

O2 Czech Republic disposed its stake in the trans-national transport platform, Taxify, after reaching its target value. It did so through its startup accelerator BOLT Development making it the first start-up exit in O2 history.

"Investing in Taxify has been positively very successful and we now wish the company to be successful in entering new markets," said Tomas Kouřil, CFO of O2 Czech Republic. "Although today's transaction is not crucial from the point of view of O2's overall financial perspective, it is a proof for us that we can innovate our traditional business and look for alternative ways to further growth," added Tomas Kouřil.

The stake in Taxify was sold approximately one and a half years after the investment was made. "We have increased the initial investments of eight million crowns, being a combination of O2 cash and services, nine times! We have now sold our stake for more than CZK 70 million, "says Jan Kysela, Head of Start-up Development & Innovations including the O2 BOLT Business Accelerator, who brought this investment opportunity to O2.

According to the founder of Taxify Markus Villig, O2 helped his company significantly in its early stages. "Thanks to this, we have been able to grow in both, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Above all, I must highlight the flexibility of the O2 startup team, which is not at all common in large corporations, "says Villig.

Roman Sysel, Country manager of Taxify for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, adds: "It was extremely helpful being part of the O2 ecosystem, which together with financial support was the main factor of our success."

BOLT is a business initiative linked to O2 Czech Republic, allowing startups to acquire not only the necessary funding but also access to the unique ecosystem of the telecom operator. In addition to financial support to the selected projects, the program provides access to O2's complete background and infrastructure, the opportunity to develop collaboration with professionals, IT infrastructure, and the ability to engage in a functioning ecosystem using our sales channels.http://www.bebolt.cz/

Mobile application Taxify connects taxi drivers with customers who chooses their drivers based on driving time, cost, and service levels. The selected vehicle can be tracked on the map in real time and paid by cash or directly online. Today, Taxify is the fastest growing passenger transport company in the field for Baltic and Eastern Europe region. It was established in 2013 in Estonia and currently operates in 20 countries.www.taxify.eu

Contacts

Investor Relations

O2 Czech Republic a.s.investor_relations@o2.cz t +420 271 462 076

O2 Czech Republic a.s.

About O2 Czech Republic

O2 is the largest integrated telecommunications provider in the Czech market. At present we operate close to eight million mobile and fixed accesses, which ranks us among the market leaders in fully converged services in Europe. To users of mobile services in the Czech Republic we offer state-of-the-art HSPA+ and LTE technology. We have the most comprehensive proposition of voice and data services in the Czech Republic, and we actively exploit the growth potential of the various business lines, especially ICT. Our data centres, with total floor area of 7,300 square metres, rank us among the leaders in hosting, cloud and managed services. O2 data centres belong to the few commercial ones in Central Europe to have TIER III certification. With our O2 TV we are also the largest IPTV service provider in the Czech Republic. In January 2014, O2 became a member of the Czech investment group PPF.