In a nutshell:
- Romanian-foundеd GapMinder announces that its €80M target venture capital fund, GapMinder Fund II, is already operational.
- The lead investors include the European Investment Fund (EIF), through InvestEU and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
- Their strategy will be similar to the first fund, investing in tech companies in seed and late seed stages.
Get the details:
GapMinder Ventures, the VC fund manager, investing in tech companies from Romania, Moldova, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Bulgaria, launches GapMinder Fund II, an investment vehicle with a target of €80M. The fund became active on February 14th after its first closing and will announce its first transaction soon.
Thе European Investment Fund(EIF) supports GapMinder Fund II with an aggregate of €30M via two initiatives, namely the European Union program InvestEU and the Recovery Equity Fund, part of The National Recovery and Resilience Plan, co-financed by EU via Next GenerationEU.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) invested €10M in this fund. This is the first investment of EBRD in a fund launched by a team of Romanian partners.
What’s next on their agenda:
GapMinder Fund II will deploy the majority of its capital in startups at seed and late seed stages, making first investments of up to €2.5M, with significant follow-on capabilities. In terms of sectors, the investors will focus on B2B startups operating in the Fintech, Cybersecurity, Enterprise Automation, and Data/Analytics verticals. This strategy is similar to the first fund, which invested in the same verticals and technologies.
In their own words:
“We are excited to continue to contribute to the development of the startup ecosystem in Romania and South Eastern European countries. Our vision and strategy as well as proven good execution and performance are validated by the fact we raised our successor fund during a challenging 2023, and we are grateful for the high level of commitment and trust invested in us by EIF, EBRD, and by all our long-term investors, many of whom accompanied us along Fund I as well”, said Dan Mihaescu, GapMinder Founding Partner.
Why it matters:
- GapMinder is a venture capital firm, currently the latest fund in Romania, that invests in technology companies created in Romania and Eastern Europe (mainly Moldova, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Bulgaria), focusing on the seed or late seed stages.
- GapMinder aims to support companies to grow through strategic consulting and direct involvement in scaling the organization, financial discipline, corporate governance and development.
- With its first fund at €50 million size, established in 2018, GapMinder invested in companies such as Druid.AI, FintechOS, TypingDNA, Veridion, Siena.Cx, Cyscale, Deepstash, SmartDreamers, Machinations, Frisbo, Innoship.io.
