SID Venture Partners is one of the most active Ukraine’s early-stage VC fund, backing software-first startups, with a focus on deeptech, AI & ML, B2B SaaS, e-commerce and fintech. Since 2021, it has deployed over $5M across 25+ deals. Recognized as The Best Investor of 2023 by Ukrainian Startup Fund and Startup Awards. The fund is run by 13 founders and C-Level executives, providing strategic support and guidance to our portfolio companies.
Fund strategy overview
Geography: Ukraine, CEE, USA
Preferred industries: DeepTech, FinTech, E-Commerce
Investment ticket: $100-$300k
Company stage: Pre-seed, Seed
Product type: mostly focusing on SaaS (B2B, B2C, Enterprise)
Product stage: post-MVP
Revenues: > $5K MRR
Q&A with Dmytro Vartanian, Managing General Partner at SID Venture Partners
What are the 5 main things you look for in a startup?
- Exceptional founding team with domain expertise and passion
- Strong competitive advantage
- Large and growing market opportunity at Tier-1 markets with clear product-market fit
- Scalable business model with a path to profitability
- Alignment with our values and investment thesis
What disqualifies a startup as your potential investment target?
- Lack of a clear problem-solution fit or competitive differentiation
- Unrealistic financial projections or lack of a viable business model
- Uncoachable or inexperienced team with poor execution capabilities
- Ethical concerns or misalignment with our values
- Overvaluation or unreasonable terms
What in your opinion differentiates the best founders from the rest?
- Resilience, adaptability, and a growth mindset
- Strong leadership and communication skills
- Ability to attract and retain top talent
- Data-driven decision-making and focus on execution
- Humility and willingness to learn
What startups should take into account before making a deal with a VC fund?
- Alignment of values and long-term vision with the VC firm
- The VC's track record, expertise, and network in your industry
- Terms of the deal, including valuation, dilution, and control
- The VC's value-add beyond capital, such as mentorship and connections
- The potential impact on company culture and decision-making
What is your approach to startup valuation and preferable share in the company?
- We take a data-driven approach to valuation, considering factors such as market size, growth potential, traction, and team experience. Our goal is not to squeeze the founders and team, but to give each company a fair valuation.
- We typically target a 10% ownership stake in the company if we invest early and lead, but this can vary depending on the stage and specifics of the deal.
How do you support your portfolio companies?
- SID Venture Partners has founding companies with incredible track record, including Sigma Software Group (over 2000+ emp), Datrics (AI&ML experts) and IdeaSoft (leading Blockchain developers). We provide our portfolio companies with full spectrum of tech support and help them with strategic guidance as well.
- Access to our extensive network of industry experts, partners, and potential customers — over 200+ Enterprise-grade clients from all over the world.
- Assistance with fundraising, recruiting, business development, and marketing.
- Operational support and resources to help scale the business efficiently.
What are the best-performing companies in your portfolio?
- NewHomesMate helps US homebuyers to find, compare and buy new constructions. It's a marketplace that leverages data science to match buyers, agents, and home builders based on the best potential close after analysing millions of listings and individual buying patterns. Currently, selling tens of millions worth of properties monthly.
- Liki24.com operates an e-commerce platform for medicines delivery that is revolutionizing the pharma retail market. With 2M+ users and strong customer base growth in the EU (Romania, Hungary, Italy, Germany) it is on the way to make cheaper pharma products available to all.
- Awesomic democratizes top-notch design for any company. It operates as a platform that matches your design task with the best-fit designers. In comparison to most modern task-based platforms such as UpWork or Fiverr, Awesomic provides a vetted in-house team and aspires to get things done in 24 hours on monthly-based subscription starting at $999. Official design partner of YC.
What are your notable lessons learned from investments that didn’t work out as expected?
- Importance of thorough due diligence and understanding potential risks
- The need for strong founder-investor alignment and open communication
- The value of adaptability and pivoting when necessary
- Focusing on sustainable growth and profitability over short-term hype
What are the hottest markets you currently look at as VC and where do you see the biggest hype?
- AI and machine learning applications across various industries
- Deeptech (except hardware-first solutions)
- E-Commerce
- Fintech
- Martech
In your view, what are the key trends that will shape the European VC scene coming years?
- Growing interest in emerging tech hubs in Central and Eastern Europe, including Ukraine.
- Rise of government-backed initiatives and funding programs.
- An even stronger pressure to retain talent and deals in a competition with the US-based firms.
