What GRADA Publishing does

GRADA Publishing (Grada Publishing, a.s.) is a privately held Czech publishing house headquartered in Prague, founded in 1993 and operating for more than 30 years in the domestic market. The company issues approximately 300 titles per year across a catalog spanning thousands of titles, with particular depth in Czech-language professional literature — including medical specialties (673+ titles), psychology (386+ titles), business and economics — alongside fiction, children's literature, technical/automotive, and hobby categories. Its publishing operations span six imprints under the Grada umbrella: Grada, Cosmopolis, Bambook, Alferia, Metafora, and Bookport, each addressing different genre or format verticals.

The company's commercial platform is a direct-to-consumer e-commerce site (grada.cz) that sells printed books, e-books in multiple formats (ePub, Mobi, PDF), and audiobooks, complemented by physical retail bookstore distribution, third-party marketplace presence via Bookport, and direct institutional sales for professional and academic titles. Operational metrics disclosed include 99% in-stock availability across titles, free previews for most books, and integration of QR codes linking to instructional video content in educational publications such as driving school textbooks. Customer-facing add-ons include gift books with purchases, free shipping above 999 Kč, a Children's Book Club membership program, and an affiliate referral program.

GRADA's revenue model is built on per-title one-time purchases (physical and digital) at price points typically ranging from 180 to 400+ Kč, supplemented by an affiliate commission stream. The company sells to a long-tail base of individual consumers and professionals across multiple verticals (healthcare, psychology, education, business, fiction, children), with no disclosed enterprise anchor customers. The company is privately held with no parent company, venture backing, public listing, or disclosed management team in the source data, and operates with a geographically concentrated Czech/Slovak footprint.

Name

GRADA Publishing

Legal name

Grada Publishing, a.s.

Website

https://grada.cz

Company type

Private

Founded year

1993

Operating status

Operating

Short description

GRADA Publishing is a privately held Czech publishing house in Prague that issues about 300 titles annually across professional, educational, fiction, and children's categories via six imprints, distributed through its own e-commerce platform, physical bookstores, and digital marketplaces.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Praha

HQ country

Czechia

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Physical Books Sales: Sale of printed books across all categories including professional literature, fiction, and children's books. Books are sold at various price points typically ranging from 180 Kč to over 400 Kč depending on format and content.
2. E-books and Digital Content: Sale of electronic books in multiple formats (ePub, Mobi, PDF) with digital sample previews available for most titles.
3. Audiobooks: Sale of audiobook versions of selected titles.
4. Affiliate Program: Commission-based affiliate program where partners can earn referral commissions for driving book sales.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

GRADA Publishing is a Czech publishing house that publishes and sells professional and general-interest literature in printed, e-book (ePub, Mobi, PDF), and audiobook formats. The company operates the grada.cz e-commerce platform offering thousands of titles across healthcare, psychology, business, technical, fiction, and children's literature categories. The catalog is organized under six imprints: Grada, Cosmopolis, Bambook, Alferia, Metafora, and Bookport.

Product overview

GRADA Publishing (Nakladatelství Grada) is a Czech publishing house operating as a multi-format book retailer and publisher. The core offering is the Knihy Grada e-commerce platform, which sells printed books, e-books (available in epub, mobi, and pdf formats), and audiobooks. The company manages multiple imprints including Cosmopolis, Bambook, Alferia, Metafora, and Bookport, each serving different genre focuses. Additional offerings include the Dětský knižní klub (Children's Book Club) membership program and an Affiliate Program for marketing partners. The platform organizes content across popular genres including romance, crime/detective, medical/healthcare, psychology, cooking, architecture, gardening, and technical subjects.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Knihy Grada (Printed Books) Printed book catalog sold through the grada.cz e-commerce platform covering healthcare, psychology, business, economics, technical, fiction, and children's literature categories for Czech readers.
• E-Knihy (E-Books) Digital e-book format available in ePub, Mobi, and PDF formats for download, offering same content as printed titles in digital form for Czech readers.
• Audioknihy (Audiobooks) Audio book format for listening, sold alongside printed books on the grada.cz platform for Czech consumers preferring audio content.
• Dětský knižní klub (Children's Book Club) Club membership program for children's literature offering exclusive benefits and curated selections for young readers and their parents.

Quantifiable outcome

• 673+ medical titles and 386+ psychology titles demonstrating deep vertical expertise in professional segments
• +2 more outcomes

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• CosmopoliscoreOthersRelated publishing imprint under the Grada Publishing umbrella, focused on fiction and literary works. Part of the internal publishing group structure.
• BambookcoreOthersRelated publishing imprint operating under Grada Publishing group, contributing to the diversified catalog of the parent company.
• AlferiacoreOthersPublishing imprint under the Grada Publishing umbrella, part of the multi-brand publishing strategy.
• MetaforacoreOthersPublishing imprint under Grada Publishing focused on literary fiction and general non-fiction titles.
• BookportcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorDigital book platform (bookport.cz) serving as an e-book and audiobook distributor for Grada Publishing content, enabling digital sales across multiple formats including ePub, Mobi, and PDF.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Kniha Zlín: Czech publisher with a strong children's and young-adult catalog, comparable to GRADA's children's literature vertical (774+ titles).
• Albatros Media: One of the largest Czech publishing groups, operating across children's books, fiction, and non-fiction. Direct competitor to GRADA in Czech-language general and professional publishing, with similar multi-imprint structure.
• Fragment: Czech publisher specializing in children's literature, fiction, and educational titles. Comparable to GRADA's Bambook and Alferia imprints in children's and youth segments.
• Argo: Czech publisher focused on literary fiction, non-fiction, and translated works. Comparable to GRADA's Cosmopolis and Metafora imprints in literary and adult trade publishing.
• Euromedia Group: Major Czech publisher encompassing multiple imprints (e.g., Knižní klub, Odeon, Ikar) across fiction, non-fiction, and professional titles. Closely comparable to GRADA in scale, genre breadth, and Czech-market focus.
• Luxor: Czech publishing and book distribution group with both publishing and retail operations, comparable to GRADA's integrated publisher-retailer model.

Broad incumbents

• Penguin Random House: Global trade publisher with extensive Czech-language distribution through partners. Broad incumbent operating in the same overall book-publishing category as GRADA, though at vastly larger scale and with international reach.
• HarperCollins: Global publisher with significant fiction and non-fiction presence. Comparable category competitor representing the scale and international distribution that GRADA lacks in the Czech-language professional segment.

Emerging players

• Bookport: Czech digital book and audiobook distribution platform. Listed as both a GRADA channel partner and related imprint; a peer in digital book distribution and competing marketplace for Czech-language e-content.

Regional players

• Kosmas: Czech online book retailer with broad catalog. Comparable to GRADA in Czech-market e-commerce book distribution, though primarily a retailer rather than publisher.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Grada_cz
• Facebookfacebook.com/grada.cz
• Instagraminstagram.com/grada_cz

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about GRADA Publishing