The Recursive Presents: Bite-Sized Conversations*
Czech-Luxembourg Tensor Ventures, led by Roman Smola, Martin Drdul, and Petr Ulvr, has officially wrapped up the investment phase of their first fund. Over the course of four years, they allocated €20 million across 20 startups globally.
Their new Tensor Ventures fund is targeting a size of €50 million, offering investors new deep tech opportunities. Fund II will also expand to include investments in space technologies.
The Recursive spoke to Roman Smola, co-founder Tensor Ventures, for more details.
*Our new series of brief interviews is designed to provide insights into the CEE landscape in just 2 minutes. Read below.
Are there any specific startups already in the pipeline for the second fund? If so, what sectors are they from?
Our initial investments are focused on three key technology areas with high growth potential, namely cybersecurity, digital biotechnology and software solutions for programmable chips. But the pipeline of the second fund is much broader. We will also focus on quantum technologies, software and web 3.0 and more.
Can you provide examples of the types of space technologies or applications you are interested in funding?
The applications we will focus on in space tech will be closely related to the technologies we are already doing. This could be cyber security communications, quantum communications, autonomous driving or GPS applications. So these are technologies built on software.
The new fund will allocate half of its resources to startups in the Czech Republic. Are you planning to focus on other CEE countries with the other half? Could you please clarify which CEE countries you are looking at, besides the Czech Republic?
Focus on emerging markets in the CEE region, specifically V4 countries, the Baltics, the Adriatic region and Romania.
Have you had the opportunity to raise any funds yet?
Yes, a substantial amount has already been raised, with the European Investment Fund as the largest LP. We recently announced that the European Investment Fund, Europe’s largest institutional investor, is contributing €20 million to the second fund. These funds will primarily support early-stage startups, with the first agreements with promising startups already in the pipeline.
What is the average investment ticket?
The initial investment sweet spot is around €1 million, with a total allocation of up to €2.5 million per project.
