Prime early-stage VCs in central and japanese Europe

Cash continues to pour into central and japanese European startups, because the world more and more takes word of the tech expertise and ambition popping out of the area. Buyers from around the globe are getting in on the motion, however in the case of early-stage funding it is nonetheless native enterprise capital corporations main the way in which.

Utilizing Dealroom information, Sifted has created a listing of the area’s prime early-stage funds. apparently, Dealroom discovered that the entire prime corporations based mostly within the area are at the moment targeted on early-stage rounds — which maybe highlights a niche in mid and late-stage funding within the area.

You’ll find Dealroom’s full methodology right herehowever the rankings are based mostly on the next information factors:

  • Variety of unicorns in portfolio
  • Variety of “future” unicorns in portfolio
  • Variety of rounds within the final 12 months

Dealroom has additionally weighted the rankings by a “dilution rating”, with corporations that invested early in unicorns scoring extra extremely than people who joined at a later stage.

So, with out additional ado, listed here are a few of the main VCs from the area.

1. Market One Capital

With workplaces in Poland, Spain and Luxembourg, Market One Capital has a continent-wide focus, although roughly 40-50% of its portfolio comes from CEE.

Market One’s core focus is investing into digital platforms and marketplaces, primarily at seed and pre-seed levels. Round 30% of its investments match different enterprise fashions, largely software program firms. Many of the funding crew have an entrepreneurial background, with 5 marketplaces having been based between them. Over the past 10 years the firn’s invested in additional than 40 marketplaces, and greater than 70 startups in complete.

It is launching a brand new fund, MOC II, later this 12 months, however is at the moment investing from its €45m MOC I fund that was launched in 2018 (writing preliminary checks of between 500k-1.5m).

Deal rely in Europe in 2021: Seven startups.
Gender cut up of funding crew: Eight individuals, together with two ladies, with growing range in his crew, a objective for MOC II.
Notable investments:

  • animalat the moment the biggest micromobility operator on the earth
  • Immediate grocery supply retail platform JOKRwhich reached unicorn standing eight months after its seed spherical.

2. Creed Ventures

Credo Ventures cofounders Ondrej Bartos (l) and Jan Habermann (r)
Credo Ventures cofounders Ondrej Bartos, left, and Jan Habermann

Czech-based Credo Ventures was an earlier backer of UiPath, getting in on the bottom flooring by backing the Romanian unicorn in its seed spherical means again in 2015. It has continued to spend money on regional champions and lately closed its fourth fund, value €75m.

Credo focuses on early-stage investments in firms based mostly in CEE or throughout the area’s diaspora, with tickets of as much as €1m and €3-5m, respectively, for pre-seed and seed rounds.

The crew lately added a expertise companion to assist startups straight with hiring, which is about one of many key challenges early stage startups face.

2021 deal rely: 9all in Europe
gender cut up: 4 common companions, all male.
Notable investments:

  • Romanian RPA large UiPath (unicorn)
  • Productboard, latest unicorn based mostly in San Francisco and launched in Prague
  • Czech-American unified information lineage platform supplier Manta
  • German-headquartered pricing software program supplier Pricefx

3.KAYA

Collage of the team at Kaya, the Czech VC firm

Prague-based KAYA, beforehand known as Enern, has been round for greater than a decade and has invested in a few of the greatest firms to come back out of the area, together with the likes of Booksy, DocPlanner and Rohlik.

KAYA focuses on early-stage rounds from CEE and elsewhere in Europe too, with a powerful give attention to healthcare, fintech and new power. It closed its fourth fund, value 90m, in January and writes checks from a few hundred thousand euros as much as 2m for Sequence A rounds.

2021 deal rely: 12 new investments, of which two had been outdoors of Europe.
gender cut up: Six male and 5 feminine members of the broader crew. With regards to buyers: 4 male companions and one feminine funding supervisor.
Notable investments:

  • Polish-founded magnificence and wellness appointment reserving app Booksy
  • Polish healthcare platform DocPlanner
  • Czech on-line grocery startup Rohlik (unicorn)
  • Prague-based BNPL startup Twisto

4. Tremendous Angel

super angel

A seed fund based and backed by a few of Estonia’s prime tech entrepreneurs, Superangel was an early investor in Bolt, Veriff, Starship and Pipedrive, to call however a number of.

Superangel invests in pre-seed and seed rounds, primarily within the Baltics and Nordics, with a selected give attention to AI and robotics, fintech, SaaS, mobility and logistics. Collectively, the Superangel crew has invested in additional than 100 startups worldwide, together with 4 firms which have reached a billion-dollar valuation, and plenty of startups transferring in direction of that standing quick.

Superangel’s first fund, value €16m, was launched in 2018, with a follow-up fund anticipated to be introduced quickly. It writes checks of between €100k-€1m.

2021 deal rely: 19 (13 new, 6 follow-ons)
Gender cut up: Three male companions, two funding managers (one male, one feminine), and three operational crew members (two feminine, one male)
Notable investments:

  • Estonian mobility tremendous app bolt (unicorn)
  • Id verification startup Veriff grew to become Estonia’s sixth unicorn in January 2022
  • Gross sales-first CRM and clever income platform Pipedrive (unicorn)

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5. Apply Capital

Practica Capital VC firm

Lithuanian early-stage VC Practica Capital focuses on the area it is aware of finest; specifically Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Baltic-origin founders throughout Europe.

Regardless of being a generalist fund, with the overwhelming majority of deal move coming from the Baltics associated to SaaS and market verticals Practica has constructed a powerful portfolio in these sectors. Its newest fund, Practica Enterprise Capital II, value €28.5m, was launched in 2019 and focuses on seed and Sequence A rounds (writing checks of €100k-3m).

2021 deal rely: 18 (11 new, 7 follow-on rounds)
gender cut up: Advisory committee: 60% feminine, 40% male, funding crew (companions): 100% male, wider crew: 85% male, 15% feminine.
Notable investments:

  • Lithuania-founded, UK-headquartered cash switch platform TransferGo
  • interplaya stay translation platform utilized by the UN and European Parliament
  • Montonio, a Klarna competitor that is developed a one-stop checkout answer for ecommerce retailers
  • Trafia mobility-as-a-service startup from Lithuania

6. Hole Minder Enterprise Companions

Bucharest-based GapMinder Enterprise Companions focuses on early-stage startups within the CEE area, notably business-to-business startups working inside machine studying, synthetic intelligence, course of automation, interfacing, cybersecurity, fintech and digital transformation sectors. Its newest fund, value €50m, was launched in 2018. It writes checks of between €300k-1.8m for first time rounds, with follow-ons as much as €2.5m (with complete funding in an organization not exceeding €8m).

2021 deal rely: 13 (seed and pre-seed), together with follow-ons in rounds led by different European VCs
gender cut up: Companions stage: 100% male; wider funding crew: 30% feminine, 70% male
Notable investments:

7. Contrarian Ventures

Contrarian Ventures cofounders Tomas Kemtys (l) and Rokas Peciulaitis

Lithuania-headquartered Contrarian Ventures claims to be Europe’s largest and first seed fund for local weather tech, with a powerful give attention to power, mobility, constructed surroundings, trade and crossover applied sciences like hydrogen. It additionally has a pan-European method, each when it comes to the situation of its funding crew and likewise the make-up of its portfolio.

Contrarian’s first fund, launched in 2018, was value €12.5m, with a follow-up fund to be introduced later this 12 months. it writes checks of between €500k-2m for pre-seed and seed rounds, and as much as €4m for Sequence A, and has led 60% of seed rounds it has participated in.

2021 deal rely: 4, excluding follow-ons (the crew goals to make six or seven offers yearly).
gender cut up: 5 crew members, all male (they plan to greater than double the scale of the crew, with seven new roles obtainable within the brief to mid-term, with the objective of getting gender parity in the long term)
Notable investments:

  • Israeli startup H2Pro, which is targeted on creating cheaper hydrogen gasoline
  • Final mile supply ebike provider Zoomo
  • PVcase, a Lithuanian SaaS supplier for solar energy vegetation

8. LAUNCHub Ventures

Bulgarian VC agency LAUNCHub Ventures focuses on early stage startups in southeastern Europe and its diaspora, and has invested in a few of the most notable early-stage rounds from the area, together with in Romanian fintech startup FintechOS and Bulgarian OKR startup Gtmhub. It is sector agnostic, however with a prevalent curiosity in AI, fintech, blockchain, healthtech and future of labor. The VC agency tries to nurture the area’s founders, and claims that fifty% of portfolio alumni return to LAUNCHub Ventures as non-public buyers.

LAUNCHub’s newest fund, value €74m, was launched in December 2021, with examine sizes within the area of €300k-2.5m.

2021 deal rely: Seven
gender cut up: Male/feminine cut up is 5:1 for companions and 4:1 for the broader funding crew.
Notable investments:

  • Bulgarian OKR startup Gtmhub
  • Bucharest-based fintech FintechOS
  • Giraffe360, a subscription-based, robotic digicam for actual property startup
  • OfficeRnD, a SaaS platform for managing hybrid workplaces

Equipment Gillet is Sifted’s japanese Europe correspondent. Hey tweets from @KitGillet


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