Digital East Fund (DEF) is one of the leading early-stage focused venture capital investors in Europe, investing in tech startups with global ambitions and roots in Emerging Europe. With over $550m committed capital, DEF seeks to back the most ambitious startups from Emerging Europe in capturing large global markets as category leaders. DEF team’s investment track record includes some of the multi-billion dollar successes emerging from the region, including UiPath, Payhawk, and Trendyol.

Waiting for Startups with: No threshold
Fields of interest: Sector-agnostic (except for biotech)
Benefits for Startups: In-house talent sourcing team dedicated to our portfolio companies
Fund range per team: Flexible ticket size from a few hundred thousands up to ten million first checks
Investment conditions: No conditions
Market focus: CEE and Turkey

Black Pearls VC is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on supporting the leading tech companies from the Baltic Sea Region. It invests in early stages with a typical ticket of between €100k - €1m. Black Pearls VC is a part of the Kauffman Fellows, a global network of 700+ leading VCs. The fund's investments include Autenti, Telemedi, Enso, eAgronom, Ondato, heavyFinance, Traxlo, and the unicorn GoCardless.

Waiting for Startups with: Prototype/MVP, solid team, happy to see early traction
Fields of interest: Digital Health, Enterprise Software, Fintech, Future of Work, Deep Tech
Benefits for Startups: Hands on support, expansion opportunities, connections to enterprise customers, access to Kauffman Fellows network
Fund range per team: €100k-€1M 
Investment conditions: Equity, CN
Market focus: Baltic Sea Region

$2B venture and growth equity fund investing $1M-$50M checks globally into high growth internet and SMB businesses.

Waiting for Startups with: $1M+ Revenue, Gross Margin positive
Fields of interest: Consumer, SMB Software, Marketplaces, FinTech
Benefits for Startups: Hiring team, corp dev, strategy, advisory board recruitment
Fund range per team: 1M - 100M
Investment conditions: Equity
Market focus: Global

Simpact is the first VC investment fund in Poland based on the Impact Investing idea. For 5 years, we have been successfully investing in startups that create innovative technologies that solve the problems of the modern world. As part of the Simpact 1.0 fund, we supported 26 innovative projects. We are currently investing under the Simpact 2.0 fund with a total capitalization of PLN 100 million, supported by the European Investment Fund.

Fields of interest: Sector agnostic

Waiting for Startups with: Strong impact, Scalability, Strong team, Exit possibility

Benefits for Startups: Investment, Community, Networking

Fund range per team: 500k - 2M

Investment conditions: Equity, Convertible notes, SAFEs

Market focus: CEE

Grow in EMEA provides financial solutions, makes direct investments and gives investment advisory services in the EMEA region since 2015 with its offices in Tallinn – Estonia, Dubai – U.A.E and Istanbul – Turkey.

Waiting for Startups with: MVP, first income
Fields of interest: B2B SaaS
Benefits for Startups: investment, network
Fund range per team: €25 - €100k
Investment conditions: Equity

Presto Ventures is a venture capital fund empowering talented start-up founders in Baltics, Balkans, CEE and Caucasus. They invest in promising technology start-ups, supporting them via the provision of invaluable resources and guidance, enabling them to achieve local and global success. Presto Ventures was founded by Přemysl Rubeš in 2016 and is headquartered in Prague.

Waiting for Startups with: First traction

Fields of interest: B2B Software

Benefits for Startups: Mentorship, Network

Investment conditions: Open to negotiation

 

Auriga Cyber Ventures is a specialised early-stage fund for European cyber security startups.
Teaming with Cyber Doers, we are rooting for Cyber Founders.

Waiting for Startups with: MVP
Fields of interest: Cybersecurity
Benefits for Startups: Our acceleration strategy is based on a network of involved entrepreneurs and principals in the field of cybersecurity
Fund range per team: €500k – €1M
Investment conditions: Equity
Market focus: Europe

StartupIst Ventures is a team that helps early-stage startups with the potential to disrupt their industries, with a preference for companies with unique and unusual ideas, and a desire to avoid companies with many competitors. Their portfolio of startups includes those from various industries, including e-commerce, fintech, and HR technology, and they are constantly seeking new opportunities to invest in and assist growing startups. Their commitment to helping portfolio companies achieve their full potential and make a positive impact in the world is evident in their collaborative and supportive approach, which includes providing guidance, resources, and connections to help them succeed.

Waiting for Startups with: Early Stage

Fields of interest: Agnostic

Fund range per team: $50K

Investment conditions: SAFE, Convertible Loan and Equity

Market focus: Global

BackingMinds is a female founded VC fund investing 0.5-3M EUR in tech companies in seed stage. We believe in the business of doing things differently and look for potential in areas that others overlook as we find and back high-performing founders outside the networks of traditional venture capital. Currently investing from our second fund of 50M EUR with a Nordic and Baltic focus. 

Find us on LinkedIn.

Waiting for Startups with: Post revenue, Growth
Fields of interest: Tech, Industry agnostic
Fund range per team: 0.5-3M EUR
Investment conditions: Equity
Market focus: Nordics, Baltics, EU/EEA

Innovestor Life Science is an early-stage VC fund launched in Finland in 2022. Our team, consisting of experienced life science and digital health entrepreneurs and professionals, invests in science-backed startups especially in the fields of therapeutics and digital health.

Waiting for Startups with: Focus on life saving science
Fields of interest: Pharmaceutical, digital health, health tech, med tech
Fund range per team: Initial investment 250k€ - 3M€ with capacity to follow on with successful companies
Investment conditions: Equity
Market focus: Nordics and Baltics