Balnord, a Luxembourg-based early-stage investor focused on the Baltic Sea Region, has announced that it has surpassed its initial €70 million fundraising target, with commitments on track to reach €100 million by mid-2026.
The firm’s debut fund, Balnord Fund I, draws backing from institutional and private limited partners (LPs) across three continents and 12 countries, including the European Investment Fund (EIF), PFR Ventures, and several European family offices, founders, and private investors. Most of Balnord’s previous LPs have reinvested, while many new investors are founders of the firm’s exited portfolio companies.
“We’re investing in the backbone of European industrialisation,” said Marcin P. Kowalik, General Partner at Balnord. “We’ve already deployed around €13 million into 10 companies. The first four have raised €40 million in follow-on rounds and generated €35 million in revenues this year.”
Backing Europe’s industrial and DeepTech resurgence
Balnord’s oversubscribed close comes amid a European funding landscape increasingly oriented toward industrial resilience, dual-use technology, and DeepTech ecosystems. Across the continent, peers such as Suma Capital, Keen Venture Partners, Iron Wolf Capital, IDC Ventures, and C4 Ventures have launched funds targeting similar strategic sectors — from ClimateTech and DefenseTech to AI and quantum technologies.
Balnord’s focus on frontier and dual-use technologies across the Baltic Sea Region closely aligns with these trends. The EIF’s participation also mirrors its wider institutional strategy to support strategic sectors — the Fund backs Suma Capital’s ClimateTech vehicle as well.
As EU-Startups recently noted in its review of European VC trends, the ecosystem is shifting “from climate to resilience,” with new instruments channeling capital into security, defence, and industrial innovation. Balnord’s fund contributes to this broader European movement toward reindustrialisation and technological sovereignty.
“There has never been a stronger time for Europe to build resilient and enduring tech companies,” added Kowalik. “We’re seeing a significant and liquid opportunity to create technologies that will shape the modern world in the coming decade.”
Regional focus and fund structure
Founded in 2024, Balnord targets founders from the Nordics, Baltics, Poland, and Germany, backing companies driving Europe’s re-industrialisation across sectors including space, healthcare, and industrial resilience. The fund plans to invest in at least 22 companies, with initial ticket sizes ranging from €500k to €3 million, and follow-on investments of up to €12 million per company.
“We’re backing resilient entrepreneurs aiming to build billion-dollar companies across the Baltic Sea Region — where we can make a GDP-level impact,” said Aleksander Dobrzyniecki, General Partner at Balnord. “We’re not just investing in companies – we back founders and help them build movements.”
Balnord’s team, Kowalik, Dobrzyniecki, Jarosław Pilarczyk, Wojciech Drewczyński, Hubert Szczołek, and Gabriele Poteliunaite, operates from Gdańsk, Luxembourg, and Berlin. The firm has also formed a Founders Board, featuring Peter Bialo (DocPlanner co-founder) and Davis Siksnans (Printful founder and Mapon CEO), both recognized as Baltic unicorn founders.
Early portfolio and co-investors
Balnord Fund I has already invested in 10 companies, including:
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Astrolight — A space-to-ground laser communication provider that recently demonstrated an undetectable laser link between NATO ships at sea.
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ATMOS Space Cargo — Developing reusable reentry capsules with inflatable heat shields for microgravity access.
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VitVio — Digitising surgical workflows in real time using AI, computer vision, and ambient sensing.
Other investments span space, industrial resilience, and biotech. Balnord has co-invested with leading DeepTech funds such as Expansion, Matterwave, APEX Ventures, Seraphim, OTB, Inventure, Voima Ventures, and Bek Ventures (formerly Earlybird Digital East).
