Croatia got another VC fund! This week Croatian AYMO Ventures announced first closing of their two funds – AYMO Fund and AYMO Accelerator Fund – with a combined AuM of €52 million.
The funds will be operated by Silvije Radišić, Managing Partner, and Nikola Livaković, Ratko Jović and Božidar Pavlović as Partners. Although first-time investors, they are all well-known experts in the ecosystem with formidable experience, primarily in the financial industry.
Funding came from institutional and individual sources, most notably European Investment Fund and prominent local ecosystem players, whose names weren’t disclossed. Both funds have a standard duration of 10 years (until 31 Dec 2034), and the investment period is (as usual) first 5 years.
We have talked about the details of both funds and their plans with Božidar Pavlović, former international banking and fintech executive, now a fund’s partner.
“Through the long and winding road of fundraising we have met lots of great individuals and institutions both in Croatia and abroad, most of which had become our LPs, and we are very proud and thankful for that.”
AYMO’s twin funds hunt deals across the spectrum
Shortage of funds is pervasive issue for the CEE region, but even more-so in case of growth and late stage investing. In the end, AYMO decided in cooperation with EIF, to cover more spectrum and have two funds, one for early and one for later stage investments.
“We have jointly agreed, considering the local market maturity, that there is still some space for pre-seed and seed investments in Croatia, and the accelerator itself is just a consequence :)”
AYMO Accelerator Fund will invest in startup companies in their early phases (pre-seed and seed), the amount ranging from 50K-300K (subject to EU de-minimis rules).
As for the main AYMO Growth Fund, they are looking for the more mature startup companies with proven business models, significant traction (in terms of client base and revenues) and the clear path to scale. So, startups raising funds in Seed+ or Series A phase would be ideal candidates for Growth fund tickets of 1 million euros and up.
When it comes to possible focus of the investments, Pavlović comments: “We don’t see there’s enough space to focus on a specific area or industry at such a small market, so we will be opportunistic.”
The focus will be mainly on Croatian startup ecosystem, but “since nobody’s an island, we will be looking as well at the neighbouring ecosytems leaning on Croatia”, adds Pavlović:
“Croatian startups (and the regional ones willing to relocate to a beautiful Mediterranean coastal country 🙂 with skill, talent and feasible ideas should reach out and talk to us!”
Ecosystem building continues
AYMO Ventures funds were in the making for some time. The reason being that despite their substantial careers, Radišić, Pavlović and the team, as mentioned, are still first-time “emerging” fund managers. Nevertheless, the wait was worth it and the Fund was set up in Luxembourg according to the highest industry standards from the day one, pointed Pavlović.
“We will keep contributing to the local ecosystem just as we personally did so far even without having a VC Fund, and our investees can count on our advice and broad experience, ranging from M&A, business planning, tech expertise to the vast network of business contacts all over the world.”
Last but not least, Pavlović concludes they have very extensive list of potential startups in all phases, and plan to announce their first investments very soon.
