About the business and strategy of the company, about the development projects with RD Rýmařov, about the wooden skyscraper, about the use of mycelium in construction. Lukáš Zrůst and Lukáš Foral, the founders of our Progresus Group, talked about all this (and more) in an interview for CzechCrunch.
The dynamic marketing of the Progresus Group surprised even the biggest Czech business media, so it is no wonder that the CzechCrunch double interview with our founders was really information-packed. “If you don’t knock, it doesn’t open,” Lukáš Zrůst replies in the introduction to the fact that Progresus has hit the market like big water and is visible everywhere. The way the group appears across the media space may be too much for the Czech environment, but it is common practice abroad. This is confirmed by Lukáš Foral, who has gained extensive experience in the field of investment and development projects, for example in the United Arab Emirates.
To build a wooden skyscraper…
The impulse to establish Progresus Invest Holding was the acquisition of RD Rýmařov. “When a friend showed me the wooden buildings from RD Rýmařov six years ago, I immediately liked them and said that I would like to own such a company one day,” recalls Lukáš Zrůst, who actually bought RD Rýmařov at the end of 2020. “It was clear to me that I would need a development division to go with it and that it would probably not be the last business we would buy. And for that I needed a partner in the form of Lukáš,” he adds. Lukáš Foral replies that their decision to build the company together was the best thing they ever did.
One of the company’s goals in the field of wooden buildings is to build a wooden skyscraper, but the current legislation in the Czech environment prevents this for the time being. However, the limit of a maximum of four storeys of wooden buildings has already been broken even in Germany or Austria. “We are drawing and planning and we hope to build a wooden skyscraper within five years,” says Lukáš Zrůst, adding that they have teamed up with developers from Berlin and Vienna for the project.
Sustainability is the first
Wood is not the only sustainable material associated with the Progresus Group. Mykilio, a company dedicated to the research and production of fungal mycelium, the natural material of the future, is also part of its portfolio. Its applications are wide-ranging, whether in sustainable construction or fashion and interior design. “We already have the first products. One of them is an ecological variant of conventional chipboard. Testing has shown us that it has a higher fire resistance,” says Lukas Foral of the first gem from Mykilio.
In the interview, Lukáš also talked about another portfolio company whose success has been unmissable in recent years. Which company are we talking about? It’s Harmonelo, which focuses on research into the gut microbiome and the production of customized probiotic supplements. “In the Czech market, we want to reach a turnover of around one billion crowns this year. In addition, we are still fine-tuning the product, as we are trying to have it as preservative-free as possible,” Lukáš Zrůst presents the goals and plans of Harmonelo.