Poland is recognized as one of the top countries in Eastern Europe for establishing a startup, according to StartupBlink. As mentioned in a previous article about Poland, its startup scene remained robust in 2023, ranking 33rd globally and 4th regionally. Poland hosts over 3,000 startups and has a growing number of VC firms, with 210 active firms currently operating.
While some VC firms frequently make headlines for backing startups, others prefer to stay out of the spotlight, yet be of impact. For this article, we asked around about what other investment vehicles founders and GPs in the region should know about.
This article does not cover all Polish VCs but serves as the beginning of an investment map for the country.
With a portfolio worth almost €6M, JR Holding is an investment firm signing cheques of €1-9M for CEE startups in AI & digital business, energy transformation, deeptech, space industry, biotech, medtech, gaming, sustainability, circular economy. The fund is managed by the well known polish investor January Ciszewski, an entrepreneur with 30 years of experience in the stock exchange.
Managed by the serial entrepreneur Maciej Noga, Ataraxay Ventures is an early stage fund investing in HR and EdTech. Maciej also co-founded and manages Pracuj Ventures, investing in Poland and Ukraine. The investment ticket for both funds goes up to €500k.
MKK3 is the family office of Marcin Grzymkowski, the founder of the e-commerce footwear eobuwie.pl. The vehicle invests primarily in Polish companies in photovoltaics, enterprise tech and e-commerce.
Initiated by Bartek Pucek, this is an angel syndicate who invests in AI, infrastructure, open source, and deep tech. It invested in 15 companies so far, including the polish unicorn Eleven Labs. Bartek Pucek has been investing on the internet since 1997 and has collaborated with a16z, Sequoia, OpenAI Fund and others.
RIO ASI is the family office of Rafał Brzoska, the founder of the e-commerce delivery platform Integer Capital Group, and Omenaa Menash, president of Omenaa Foundation. The fund invests both directly and through external fund managers in consumer&retail, services&tech, manufacturing, real estate.
Founded by the businessman Sebastian Kulczyk, this investment vehicle backs companies in technologies, chemicals, infrastructure and real estate. For direct startup investments, Kulczyk founded Manta Ray, an early stage venture capital fund backing mission-driven founders addressing significant global challenges through applying leading edge technologies.
TDJ is a company built on the vision and unwavering determination of Jacek Domogala. In 2010, his son Tomasz took over the management. The fund invests in equity, venture, estate, finance & foundation. TDJ Venture is looking at CEE climate and industry tech solutions in the growth stage, investing €3-6M.
With 25 years of experience and 61 investments, WEG is an independent private investment company founded by Jacek Giedrojć and Witold Grzesiak. They invest up to €15 into CEE based B2B companies with a validated product and proven unit economics.
Founded by Wojciech Piesiewicz, WP2 Investments puts its money into fintech, biotechnology, green energy, e-commerce and digitalization/automation, from pre-seed to Series A.
As a multi-family office, ZPI specializes in asset management, investment diversification, and family governance. Among others, the FO invests in venture capital funds, in collaboration with other family offices and fund management entities.
