Who founded the Czech search portal Seznam.cz in 1996?

Ivo Lukačovič founded the Czech search portal Seznam.cz in 1996. He began the project in Prague as an early web directory and search service, helping establish one of the Czech Republic’s most enduring internet brands.

Lukačovič reportedly started with 50,000 Czech koruna saved from his own resources. Seznam initially combined a searchable directory with an online version of the yellow pages. That focus made it useful at a time when the Czech internet was still developing and international search services were less established locally.

Seznam added email in 1998 and gradually expanded into news, maps, weather, dictionaries, shopping, television, and other portal services. It remained a major competitor to Google in the Czech market for years, and its name simply means “list” in Czech.

The alternative names are founders of unrelated technology companies: Garrett Camp co-founded companies including Uber, Niklas Zennström co-founded Skype, and Jan Koum co-founded WhatsApp. None founded Seznam.cz.