Aukro entered five new markets in 2025 and completed its first ever foreign acquisition. Further details were reported by CzechCrunch.
After several difficult years, Aukro has regained momentum following its takeover by Jan Barta and his partners and has now embarked on its first acquisition drive.
11 December 2025, CzechCrunch, Filip Magalhães
One of the Czech Republic’s largest auction platforms is primarily targeting countries that once formed part of the Austro Hungarian Empire. Its latest move, however, takes it further south, with an acquisition in Croatia.
Investment group Pale Fire Capital, backed by Jan Barta, Dušan Šenkypl, Jiří Ponrt, Petr Krajíček and David Holý, has built a reputation for corporate turnarounds. It is currently working to revive Groupon, one of the pioneers of discount platforms, and in the past it also succeeded in rescuing Aukro. The auction site had struggled for several years, with its business in decline. After Pale Fire Capital took control, it initiated a fundamental transformation of the company and returned it to profitability in a relatively short period. Aukro has now turned to expansion.
This year the platform entered five new countries, extending its services across central and eastern Europe. In the first phase, it has focused mainly on states that were once part of the Austro Hungarian Empire, where strong collector communities historically emerged. Collectibles and art remain core segments for Aukro, even as it continues to develop its general marketplace, offering everything from electronics and fashion to home accessories and musical instruments.
While Aukro has been present in Slovakia since 2023, this year it expanded into Austria, Hungary, Germany, Slovenia and Croatia. In Croatia it also completed its first foreign acquisition, purchasing the local auction platform Aukcije.hr. Founded in 2006, Aukcije.hr is among the most prominent players in the Croatian market and has a partial presence in Slovenia.
“Aukcije has built a strong community particularly in antiques, art and collectibles, which are also strategic segments for Aukro. The acquisition is therefore a logical step that significantly accelerates our entry into the local market,” said Aukro chief executive Peter Topor. “Users gain access to a far broader range of items, while sellers open up a market of more than 25 million potential customers. Aukcije currently lists more than 350,000 items and is a consistently profitable platform.”
Aukro is acquiring a 100 per cent stake in Aukcije.hr. The long serving chief executive and former co owner of the Croatian platform, Siniša Moškov, will continue to lead the business. “When we were approached by such a strong supranational platform as Aukro, it was a clear signal that it was time to move to the next level,” he said. “Until now we relied solely on our own capital, while comparable projects in our market already had strategic investors. Our users will now benefit from access to a much larger market and to Aukro’s advanced technological infrastructure.”
Technology and automation play a central role in Aukro’s expansion strategy. The company has developed its own platform that unifies processes across all markets. Whether a user lists an item in Jablonec or Zagreb, the system automatically handles listing, language translation, payment options and international shipping. From the user’s perspective, selling abroad is no different from sending a parcel to a neighbouring city.
When Pale Fire Capital invested in Aukro in 2019, the platform’s turnover stood at around Kč1.5bn. Last year it reached Kč3bn, with six million products sold and 213,000 new users added, bringing the
total user base to more than four million. Revenue for the first nine months of 2025 exceeded 220m CZK, representing year on year growth of more than 22 per cent. The reversal of Aukro’s earlier stagnation and decline following the takeover has been driven in large part by chief technology officer Vojtěch Ryšánek, who discussed the transformation in an interview with CzechCrunch last year.