Central & Eastern Europe became perceived as the hottest startup hub in Europe attracting both local and global investors resulting in a huge increase in new accelerators, VC funds and availability of early stage funding in this region. According to the information included in the Polish Development Fund (PFR) report “Polish and CEE tech ecosystem outlook”, in 2019 the whole investments on the CEE VC market have been valued at $1.8B growing more than twice as fast as Western Europe. The CEE VC market and the whole startup ecosystem is expected to maintain dynamic growth, therefore to provide insight into the CEE tech scene, Vestbee has started a new series of articles and reports on the local startup & vc ecosystem. Today, let’s investigate TOP Slovakian VC funds investing in early stage startups.
Discover more VC funds by checking out our VC list - a complex database of the best early-stage venture capital funds investing in innovative startups across different verticals. Read More.
Neulogy Ventures
Geography: CEE - primarily Slovakia
Preferred industries: Multisector
Investment ticket: €200k - €1M
Company stage: Early stage (pre-seed/seed)
Neulogy Ventures with its headquarter in Bratislava, is the leading Slovak VC fund with over €23M invested in dozens of early stage startups like GroupSolver, Excalibur, SaferPass, Streamstar, Eyerim, or Voltia from 10 different countries. The fund is mainly focused on companies working on e-commerce, marketing, technology, financial, cybersecurity, medtech and cleantech solutions but it also invests in other industries important for a sustainable future. Neulogy's goal is to add value beyond financing having a long-term, hands-on approach to investments. The current fund is fully invested, but Neulogy is going to launch a new one in 2021, so stay tuned!
Vision Ventures
Geography: Slovakia
Preferred industries: Various industries
Investment ticket: €100k - €800k
Company stage: Seed
The Bratislava-located Vision Ventures with €11M under management is focused on seed investments up to €800k. The fund is open to various industries while looking for exceptional Slovakian companies whose goal is to scale internationally. Vision Ventures, as an active investor, shares extensive experience, skills, and energy with companies in order to support them in achieving success. The Vision Ventures’ portfolio includes diversified startups like: Instyle.ai, YesElf, Spinbotics, SafeStuffs, Flowy, Elysium, and NextRetreat.
365.fintech
Geography: Slovakia, Europe
Preferred industries: FinTech
Investment ticket: €50k - €500k
Company stage: Seed
365.fintech is a VC fund which aims to provide financing and operational support in various business aspects of early-stage startups in Central & Eastern Europe, and beyond. The fund’s primary focus is on B2B and B2B2C fintech, insurtech, big data and business intelligence companies. As a part of the banking group, 365.fintech is able to facilitate the access to banking sectors for its fintechs. In funds’s portfolio there are companies like FinCompare, PenTech or Dateio.
Zero Gravity Capital
Geography: Slovakia
Preferred industries: Various industries
Investment ticket: Undisclosed
Company stage: Seed
The Slovakian Zero Gravity Capital is focused on seed startups whose ideas are able to create new markets or revolutionize existing ones. The VC Fund is looking for companies from various industries, with global mindset and innovative, scalable business models to provide them with necessary capital combined with a hands-on approach. Their diversified portfolio includes among others: Filmzie, Powerful Medical, and Medannot.
CB Investment Management
Geography: Slovakia
Preferred industries: Various industries
Investment ticket: up to €1.6M
Company stage: Seed
The Bratislava-based CB Investment Management has under its management a fund focused on early stage Slovakian startups with international potential. Apart from capital, young and innovative companies are supported by expert’s knowledge, experience and networking opportunities. Interested entrepreneurs may apply for an investment up to €1.6M with the possibility to extend it twice as a follow-on round! The VC fund’s recent investments have been allocated to altFINS and Nitroterra.
Innovations and Technologies Fund
Geography: Slovakia
Preferred industries: Environment, Renewable energy, E-commerce, IT, Industrial innovation, Telecommunication, Software solutions, Life-improving technology
Investment ticket: €20k - €1.5M
Company stage: Seed
Innovations and Technologies Fund is a Slovakian fund that invests from €20k to €1.5M in the 4-6 year horizon in startups running a business on the Slovakian market. The most interesting industries for Innovations and Technologies Fund are life-improving technology, environment, renewable energy sources, e-commerce, information technology, industrial innovation, telecommunication or software solutions. However, the fund is also open to innovative projects from researchers, scientists, and students in different areas. In the fund's portfolio are companies like Datamolino and BitmapGalaxy.
LRJ Capital
Geography: Slovakia, CEE
Preferred industries: Various industries
Investment ticket: €100k - €2M
Company stage: Seed
This Slovakian venture capital fund’s mission is to influence the whole CEE entrepreneurial community by supporting companies with world-market leadership potential and high integrity. Besides the main focus, LRJ Capital supports Slovak non-profit organisations whose aim is to improve education and standard of living in the country. Fund’s long-term goal is to grow the startup ecosystem in Slovakia. LRJ Capital’s usual investment is approximately €0.5M, but the investment range varies from €100k to even over €2M. Among companies in the LRJ Capital’s portfolio are: Exponea, Charged Monkey, SaferPass, Athletigen, and much more.
Eterus Capital
Geography: Slovakia
Preferred industries: Various industries
Investment ticket: €500k - €5M
Company stage: Seed+
Bratislava-based Eterus Capital is a private equity fund but it also makes venture investments. The fund is looking for a standard, 5 year investment period and is focused on small and medium companies from various sectors distinguished by growth potential. Eterus Capital’s investment ticket is usually in the range between 0.5-5M EUR and its last investment was made into GroupSolver, which is a tool providing crucial business insights. The other companies that received funding from Eterus are Eyerim and Virtual Reality Media.
IPM Growth
Geography: Slovakia, CEE
Preferred industries: InfraTech, mobility, AI-enabled infrastructure, energy
Investment ticket: Undisclosed
Company stage: early growth, growth
IPM Growth is managed by asset and wealth management company IPM Group and is interested in companies that have an actual influence on society and the environment. The fund is a response to the lack of capital for local and innovative scaleups with a global approach and is focused on InfraTech companies from industries like: mobility, AI-enabled infrastructure and energy. Beyond financing, IPM provides founders with advisory on strategic matters and allows for global knowledge transfers - from Silicon Valley to CEE countries. Currently, among the fund's investments are Matsuko - a company disturbing the remote communication world and Tachyum - processors provider.
Apart from VC funds in Slovakia, startups should also consider Slovak Business Angels as a funding source. It’s the first business angels’ network in the Slovak Republic which gathers entrepreneurs and managers that are willing to invest into promising projects and support startups with unique expertise. The typical investment range is between €10-80k but it varies depending on many factors.
*If you have some insights about the article or know a VC fund that should be included in this list, drop me a line!
Interested in the CEE Startup & VC Scene and startup tips? Let’s discover VC Funding In CEE Report 2Q 2023, How To Create The Perfect Competition Slide In The Investment Pitch Deck?, and Productivity Tools for VC Funds.
Want to discover more Venture Capital firms from other countries? Check out the list below. Top VC funds from:
- Top 100 VC funds from the CEE region
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Italy
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Romania
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Switzerland
- The Western Balkans
- Türkiye
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom.
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