In line with our mission of supporting CEE’s startups, we’d come up with yet another series - a quarterly overview of newly-raised VCs backing European and CEE startups. Building upon our close monitoring of VC Transactions In CEE, we also want to highlight the opportunities of venture capital funding heading towards the regional startup ecosystem.
Therefore, let’s take a look at the overview of new VC funds investing in CEE and Europan startups that were launched in 1Q of 2022!
VC Funds from CEE
- One of SEE’s most noticeable VCs, Eleven Ventures had launched its 3rd €60M fund. With new funds behind its back, the firm plans to continue focusing on regional early-stage founders building the future of work and food, fintech, healthcare, and ecomtech. Some of its previous bids include companies like Bulgarian unicorn Payhawk and a well-known OKR software Gtmhub.
- One of the largest Polish oil and petrol refiner corporations Orlen kickstarted a €100M fund Orlen VC to invest in startups innovating within the group’s core business areas. In its strategy, the firm will mainly look for Polish and European/Israeli early to growth-stage companies.
- Early investors in Bolt and Veriff, Specialist VC had announced a new €50M fund to focus on pre-seed to seed startups across the Baltics and Ukraine/Finland. The core interest areas of the firm lie within B2B, SaaS, fintech, platforms, software-enabled hardware, and deep tech butt the team is not limited to proposals outside of their scope if the right opportunity presents itself.
- A very active Balkan VC South Central Ventures had announced a closure of its new €70M tech fund. With the new capital, South Central’s team plans to continue betting on regional startups from all sectors and industries, investing between €500K and €5M over the company’s funding lifecycle. Some of its investments include sales intelligence platform Cognism and consumer fintech Leanpay.
- Pan-Baltic Change Ventures had raised a €49M fund to continue backing founders of Baltic origin globally. The fund will keep targeting pre-seed to seed-stage companies with initial tickets ranging from €400k to €2M across sectors and industries. You can recognize the firm by its involvement with KYC unicorn Veriff and well-know simultaneous interpretation startup Interactio.
- Catalyst Romania started off a new €50M vehicle to continue backing Romanian and SEE’s finest startups. In its strategy, the fund is sector-agnostic but pays special attention towards EdTech, FinTech, MarTech, Low-code / No-code platforms across early stages. The investment ticket from the firm ranges from €1M to €3M.
- Early-stage funding after a 5-minute video pitch: recently launched GameChanger VC plans to focus on CEE’s idea-stage startups from all sectors and industries. The team would invest up to $25k for 10% equity.
- Bulgarian crypto exchange Nexo started a $150M CVC to look for early-stage companies building within Web 3.0 and metaverse that would complement its core business. The firm is mainly focused on local startups but considers opportunities outside of Bulgaria too.
VC Funds from Europe
- An early backer of Spotify - Creandum launched its 6th $500M fund to invest in early-stage startups from Europe. In the upcoming years, the firm aims to pay more attention to the emerging areas of creator economy, Web3, the metaverse, and sustainability. Over its almost 2-decade history, Creandum has backed unicorns like Klarna, Pleo, Trade Republic, and a number of other very promising startups.
- German Cherry Ventures had announced the closing of its 4th €300M pan-European fund. The firm will keep on investing between €300k and €3M into pre-seed and seed startups from all sectors and industries but will put a higher emphasis on crypto and Web3 companies. Over its history, the firm has backed 9 unicorns, among them FlixBus and Flink.
- Germany’s second-largest bank Commerzbank AG raised its new €300M venture fund - CommerzVentures. Having new capital at hand, the investment team plans to double down on its traditional fintech/insurtech focus while opening up more space for the emerging climate fintech industry. As in the past, Commerz is open for series A+ startups across all countries and the initial investment tickets range from €3M to €20M.
- UK’s Hoxton Ventures has raised a new, $215M early-stage fund. Throughout the next couple of years, Hoxton plans to focus on European seed rounds and selectively pre-seed opportunities with an average ticket size of $1M to $3M among sector-diverse European startups. Over its history, the investment team had a number of quite noticeable successes, among them unicorn food delivery app Deliveroo and a Fornite-releasing team of Epic Games.
- Spain’s Kibo Ventures has announced a final close of its two funds at a $175M mark. The fund will invest in Europe’s pre-series A or series A startups innovating in any industry, targeting 10% - 20% ownership for a €2M to €5M investment. Some of its notable exits include micromobility giant TIER as well as payment optimization unicorn Flywire.
- Dutch carmaker Stellantis (owning Maserati, Peugeot, and many other brands) has launched its first €300M CVC - Stellantis Ventures. As you might expect, the firm will focus on early to late-stage startups innovating within the automotive and mobility-related sectors across the globe.
- London-based Deeptech Backed VC has nabbed another €150M for its seed and follow-on investments. In the coming years, the fund will continue investing in European seed companies working on deeptech projects. Some of the firm’s past investments include banking software unicorn Thought Machine and blockchain gaming startup Sky Mavis
- UK-based Hiro Capital launched a second €300M gaming and metaverse fund. Expanding upon its initial strategy around gaming, the team firmly believes in the rising significance of metaverse, VR, AR, and Web3 which makes the investment team open to proposals from European, British, and North American startups looking for seed-series B investment within those areas.
- Belgian Deeptech VC imec xpand raised its second €150M fund. The firm focuses on early and growth-stage startups working on hardware-driven nanotechnology innovation across the globe. The fund had already backed a quantum computing unicorn PsiQuantum, microLED displays for AR MICLEDI microdisplays, and more promising companies.
- The largest European Edtech VC to date, Educapital started with a new €100M vehicle to invest in the future of education and work. Consistent with its strategy, the investment team will actively look for seed-series B startups founded in Europe. Some of its notable investments include collaborative learning platform 360Learning as well as employee engagement startup Supermood.
- One of the first Metaverse-exclusive VCs, FOV Ventures launched a €16.5M vehicle to fund European seed and pre-seed companies within the sector. The investment team plans to back 25 to 30 startups and is willing to commit up to €500k behind each of their prospective bets.
- A Dutch Rockstart Energy Fund has reemerged with a new €27M in committed capital. In its subsequent search for opportunities, the fund will consider seed to series B companies from Europe and will put anywhere from €100k to $265k in the initial check, while reserving up to $2M for the subsequent rounds.
- One of the first cannabis and psychedelic investors in Europe - Leafy Tunnel had announced the closing of its first $30M fund that aims to invest into early-stage startups all across Europe. Although the firm has just wrapped up its first vehicle, it has already invested into psychedelic research company developing next-gen MDMA medicine Tactogen and a psychedelic research platform Maya Health.
- Barcelona-based health tech investor Nina Capital has announced a new €40M fund. Consistent with its initial strategy, the firm will primarily focus on European pre-seed to series A health technology. Some of its recent investments include ECG analysis tool Cardiomatics and MRI-optimisation software Quantivly.
Global VC Funds
- In early March, Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund has opened up $11B its new early and later-stage funds. Similar to its past, the firm is looking for contrarian and futuristic companies from any sector and/or industry. As one of the most recognizable names in the venture, Founders Fund has backed companies like SpaceX, Palantir, Airbnb, and many, many more.
- American Insight Partners has closed its 12th fund with a staggering $20B under management to further invest in recurring revenue startups. As of now, the investment team keeps considering opportunities from all countries and is mostly focusing on companies raising their series A-B and later rounds. Over its almost a 3-decade history, you can find a very long list of hyper-successful tech companies like Shopify, Delivery Hero, Qualtrics, and others.
- A new crypto venture capital firm Haun Ventures starts off with $1.5B to invest in Web3. The new fund is run by an experienced GP from a16z and a board member of Coinbase Katie Haun. The fund will invest $500M in early-stage ventures and the remainder of $1B into growth-stage companies.
- One of the most recognizable agtech and foodtech VCs, AgFunder raises the next 4th $60M fund. Continuing on its defined trajectory, the firm intends to back early-stage startups across its traditional verticals around all corners of the globe from $250k to $1M.
- Digital Currency Group starts investing in early-stage fintech and crypto/Web3 startups through its newly-formed Luno Expeditions. The firm would invest tickets ranging from $50k to 250k and does not have an exit horizon for its portfolio companies. In the coming year, Luno Expeditions intends to back 200-300 startups globally.
- A well-known Japanese-American crypto investor gumi Cryptos Capital launches its second $110M crypto fund. Consistent with its old strategy, the investment team will continue backing pre-seed to seed-stage blockchain companies throughout the world. Its initial check size will vary between $500k and $5M. Over its brief history, the fund has had a truly impressive selection of 7 unicorn investments like OpenSea, Celsius Network, and a number of others.
If you want to discover more VC funds, check out our VC list - a complex database of the best early-stage venture capital funds investing in innovative startups across different verticals. Read More.
Related Posts:
VC Transactions in CEE Report - 2021 (by Konrad Koncerewicz, Head of VC & Startups, Vestbee)
VC Funding in CEE Report - 4Q 2021 (by Konrad Koncerewicz, Head Of VC & Startups, Vestbee)
VC Funding in CEE Report - 3Q 2021 (by Konrad Koncerewicz, Head Of VC & Startups, Vestbee)
