Take a detailed look behind the numbers, approaches, and terms of some of the venture capital funds and accelerators in Romania, Serbia, Greece, and Bulgaria, which together make available more than €450M for investment in innovative regional businesses. The Recursive put together this listicle to help regional founders and teams find the right investment and acceleration opportunities.
Romania
- Amount of funds under management – $45M
- Ticket size – up to $1.5M in seed funding and up to $6M in follow-up investments
- Target verticals – SaaS, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, AI, Advanced Analytics, Predictive Marketing, Cyber Security, Digital Transformation, Medtech, and Fintech
- Stages – focus on pre-seed, seed, and Series A companies from Romania and Central Eastern Europe that have achieved some initial traction
- Key investments – FintechOS, TypingDNA, Deepstash
Cleverage VC – a newly formed business angels association between Wargha Enayati, Voicu Oprean, Alexandru Popescu, Sergiu Negut, and Georgios Sofianos (Romanian entrepreneurs with years-long business and healthcare experience)
- Amount of funds under management – currently €1M but it aims to reach funding of €20M in 5 years by attracting new partners
- Ticket size – as of now it varies between around €100K – 500K
- Target verticals – Medtech
- Stages – pre-seed and seed startups in Romania and the SEE region
- Key investments – SanoPass and Oncochain
TechAngels Romania is a group of more than 30 business angels that aims to support and educate entrepreneurs through investments, acceleration opportunities, and mentorship
- Amount of funds under management – new business angels join and contribute with funds but over the past three years the group has invested more than €14M
- Ticket size – varies between €10K – 200K
- Target verticals – technology startups especially ones that develop web, mobile, software, and hardware solutions
- Stages – companies that have at least developed a prototype or have reached the product-market fit stage
- Key investments – Machinations, VoxiKids, and Telios
- Amount of funds under management – €28M
- Ticket size – for seed companies around €500K but for the next Series A stage investments can go well beyond that (up €4.5M) in exchange for 5% to 15% equity and a place in the board of directors of the company
- Target verticals – enterprise technology, consumer technology, hardware and electronics, and other technology and IP-driven startups
- Stages – early-stage companies that have the potential to reach big markets
- Key investments – Druid, Hyperhuman, Questo
- Ticket size – between €50K and €200K in exchange for 5% to 15% common stock
- Target verticals – future of mobility, proptech, future of agriculture, future of coding, smart cities, and fintech
Sparking Capital – focuses on pre-seed & seed investments in Romania in consumer internet, marketing-tech, supply chain-tech, fintech, property-tech, travel-tech, circular economy startups
- Ticket size – up to €300K
- Target verticals – industry agnostics but has a preference for marketing and supply chain tech solutions as well as fintech and proptech
- Stages – pre-seed and seed startups
- Key investments – Bright Spaces, Hyperhuman, and Questo
Simple Capital – a private investment vehicle that is founded by the tech entrepreneur and angel investor Andrei Pitis
- Ticket size – so far investments vary between €500K and €800K
- Target verticals – cybersecurity and enterprise software and AI technologies
- Stages – pre-seed and seed startups
- Key investments – Uniapply, Deepstash, and Neomobility
Roca X is an investment platform that supports disruptive business models in their initial stages.
- Amount of funds under management – €4M
- Target verticals and stages – tech startups in the MVP or prototype stage
- Key investments – SuperOkay, Milluu, Machinations
StepFWD is a pre-accelerator for tech startups
- Stages – first-time and early-stage founders who want to develop their prototypes into profitable businesses.
- Investments and benefits – mentorship and funding opportunities on the Demo Day.
The Climate Vertical is a pre-accelerator that aims to inspire and support entrepreneurs to develop solutions addressing critical climate challenges. It runs a boot camp, a hackathon, open call challenges, and an accelerator program.
- Stages – ideation, MVP
- Benefits – mentoring, access to testing clients and early-adopters, access to investment and grants, access to a network of founders and experts
Rubik Garage is a free and no-equity pre-accelerator program for founders with high levels of commitment.
- Stages – early-stage, pre-MVP
- Benefits – access to a co-working space, startup library with more than 150 titles, mentorship, funding opportunities, and connections with investors and accelerators
Serbia
ICT Hub Ventures – a private investment fund, focused on early-stage technology startups in the SEE region.
- Ticket size – up to €50K in exchange for 5% to 15% equity and a place in the board of directors of the company
- Target verticals – tech B2B companies
- Stages – startups that have a complete team and a scalable solution with an innovative business model
- Key investments – Typist, One Assessment, GiftsUwish
Innovation Fund Serbia – a governmental fund supported by the EU
- Amount of funds under management – so far it has invested over €20M in nearly 700 projects.
- Ticket size – different for each program but overall it varies between €20K and €300K
- Target verticals – R&D and technology,
- Stages – The fund operates six different programs that target startups and R&D consortiums at various levels of development
- Amount of funds under management – €40M
- Ticket size – up to €100K for seed and up to €3M for growth startups
- Target verticals – Adtech, agritech, and SaaS companies
- Stages – early-stage and Series A tech companies from the Western Balkans region
- Key investments -Orgnostic, Sentinel, and Cognism
Greece
Big Pi Ventures – The Big Pi Ventures is an investment fund targeting the B2B segment, focusing on deep-tech and science-based innovation
- Amount of funds under management – €50M
- Target verticals – currently looking for research-based projects and companies that have a distinctive competitive IP and tech advantage over their competitors
- Stages – seed-stage companies with solutions that can address relatively large market size going beyond the Greek market
- Key investments – Bryq, Dataviva, Biomimetic
- Amount of funds under management – €40M (its second fund, while the first fund allocated €32M to 10 startups)
- Ticket size – around €1M to €1.5M in exchange for 15-20% of equity
- Target verticals – tech B2B startups
- Stages – early-stage companies founded by Greek entrepreneurs
- Key investments – Hack The Box, Netdata, Augmenta
- Amount of funds under management – €32M
- Ticket size – €200K initial ticket for pre-seed companies and €400K for seed companies.
- Target verticals – startups with tech B2B and enterprise solutions
- Stages – pre-seed and seed startups
- Key investments – Better Origin, FerryHopper, and Useberry
- Amount of funds under management – €27M
- Ticket size – up to €250K for pre-seed companies and €500K for seed companies
- Target verticals – companies in the R&D, ICT and e-business, and tech space
- Stages – pre-seed and seed startups
- Key investments – Bespot, Allcancode, FoodOxys
- Amount of funds under management – €24M
- Ticket size – up €500K for pre-seed, seed, and follow-up rounds.
- Target verticals – industry agonist but has an affinity for B2B, SaaS, and IoT
- Stages – pre-seed and seed startups.
- Key investments – Loceye, Syncbnb, Pushme
- Amount of funds under management – €50M
- Ticket size – between €300K – €2.5M for early-stage investments and €5 – 10M for follow-ups.
- Target verticals – tech B2C and B2B startups with sustainable business models, PropTech, FinTech, Marketplaces, TravelTech and SaaS
- Stages – seed and Series A
- Key investments – InstaShop, Plum, Blueground
Found.ation operates the EIT Digital Venture Program that supports projects and early startups from Greece, Cyprus, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania
- Ticket size – up €25K
- Target verticals – deep tech business ideas
- Stages – startups and teams that have not yet developed their MVP
Crowdpolicy runs different open innovation initiatives, hackathons, and acceleration programs such as the Visa Innovation Program.
- Target verticals – Health, Travel, Pandemic, Environment, Trade, Energy, Smart City, Tourism
- Stages – pre-MVP startups
Endeavor operates different acceleration and scaling programs such as the Scale-up program, Young Talent Program, OPAP Forward, and the Trophy Challenge.
- Stages – the different programs target entrepreneurs at all stages of development, from university students to established founders.
- Key investments – Augmenta, Apifon, Hack The Box
ACEin – part of the Athens University of Economics and Business and organizes annual 8-months Open Innovation programs that connect corporate innovators with tech talents and research teams.
- Stages – seed startups and teams at the idea stage, pre-MVP
- Key investments – Placeme, Solar Energy Land, Marine Remote Sensing Group
Bulgaria
Blackpeak Capital – a private equity co-investment fund that invests in equity, mezzanine, and other forms of hybrid capital
- Amount of funds under management – €27M
- Ticket size – between €1M and €8M
- Target verticals – industry agnostic with a focus on startups from Romania, Bulgaria Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia
- Stages – growth companies with an established business model and recurring revenue
- Key investments – SoftwareGroup, Bulpros, and Pulso
- Amount of funds under management – €26M
- Ticket size – between €50K and €200K for early-stage startups and up to €3M for growth companies
- Target verticals and stages – tech companies with defensible technology and significant global growth potential
- Key investments – FITE, Vedamo, Cloudpipes, Pliant
- Amount of funds under management – the second fund of Eleven manages €6M
- Ticket size – between €250K and €1M for the initial investment and an opportunity for up to €2.5 follow up investments
- Target verticals – Fintech, B2B, SaaS, Healthtech, Future of Food, Future of Work, Stages – pre-seed and seed companies
- Key investments – Dronamics, Payhawk, SMSBump
- Amount of funds under management – €21M.
- Ticket size – between €1M and €5M equity and quasi-equity funding
- Target verticals – Healthtech, SaaS, manufacturing
- Stages – from early-stage to growth companies that are based in Bulgaria.
- Key investments – Fidelis Research, Cremio, Mammoth DB.
- Amount of funds under management – €21M.
- Ticket size – between €25-50K for pre-seed companies and €50K-1M for growth companies
- Target verticals – Fintech, healthcare tech, e-commerce, and entertainment
- Stages – from early state and growth companies
- Key investments – EconicOne, TokWise, and RPA Consulting
- Amount of funds under management – €4M
- Ticket size – between €100K and 400K
- Target verticals – SaaS, Big Data, AI, RetailTech, Life Sciences, services
- Stages – sector agnostic, companies with a Bulgarian angle and double-digit growth, scalable world-wide
- Key investments – A4E, Allterco, Biodit
- Amount of funds under management – €44M.
- Ticket size – between €25-50K for seed companies and €50K-1M for growth companies
- Target verticals – SaaS, Fintech and blockchain, Proptech, AI, Digital Health
- Stages – Seed and Series A companies from SEE and CEE
- Key investments – Gtmhub, FITE, Cleanshelf
- Amount of funds under management – €26M.
- Ticket size – between €25K and €1M
- Target verticals – industry agnostic, but founders need to be related to Bulgaria
- Stages – from early-stage to growth companies that are based in Bulgaria.
- Key investments – Quendoo, Econic One, Hobo
Morningside Hill Capital Management
- Amount of funds under management – €38.5M.
- Ticket size – between €1750K and €3.5M
- Target verticals – industry agnostic with a focus on companies that generate at least 50% of their revenue in Bulgaria, at least 50% of the company’s staff is based in Bulgaria; at least 50% of the company’s assets are held in a Bulgarian subsidiary
- Stages – early-stage, post-seed, have a validated POC
- Key investments – Nasekomo
- Amount of funds under management – €13M, aims to co-invest with angel investors
- Ticket size – between €200K and €500K
- Target verticals – sector agnostic, but the startups need to develop scalable tech solutions
- Stages – pre-seed and seed-stage startups from Bulgaria, SEE, and CEE
Urban Impact Ventures – a VC with a mission to improve the urban quality of life in Europe
- Amount of funds under management – €30M.
- Ticket size – between a few hundred thousand up to €2.5M
- Target verticals – Mobility, Digital Infrastructure, Physical Infrastructure, Liveability
- Stages – startups with a POC with solutions that have been tested in at least a small market.
Neo Ventures – one of the first open-ended VCs in nEstearn Europe
- Amount of funds under management – started off with €3M but raises capital continuously.
- Target verticals – Space, AI platforms, Healthtech
- Stages – early-stage startups with no geographical limitations
- Key investments – Bulpros, Biodit, EnduroSat
- Amount of funds under management – €23M.
- Ticket size – up to €1M.
- Target verticals – FinTech, AI, Blockchain Technologies, and Shared Economy
- Stages – early-stage startups with validated value proposition
- Key investments – Nasekomo, FantasticStay, Boleron
- Amount of funds under management – €42M.
- Ticket size – between €2.5M and €7M in mezzanine debt, convertible loans and equity investments
- Target verticals – Healthcare, Transportation, Logistics, Manufacturing, Consumer, Retail, Services, Industrials
- Stages – established companies with revenue more than €3M which are based in Bulgaria
- Amount of funds under management – €1M.
- Ticket size – between €10K and €60K equity and quasi-equity funding
- Target verticals – EdTech, HealthTech, FoodTech, Mobility, Sustainability
- Stages – pre-seed startups
- Key investments – Cardinal Bites, Cintelly
- Benefits – $10K in free AWS technology credits, $50K technology credits and other products and services, network access, mentoring, and accelerator programs
- Target verticals – industry agnostic, but exclusively for scalable Bulgarian tech startups that aim to expand into the U.S. market
- Stages – established companies with traction
- Key investments – EnduroSat, Dronamics, LogSentinel
Endeavor operates different acceleration and scaling programs for high-impact entrepreneurship such as the Dare to Scale program as well as its own Endeavor Catalyst fund which co-invests in Endeavor entrepreneurs.
- Stages – founders with innovative ideas who are willing to reinvest their time and money to help other entrepreneurs grow; companies with the potential to scale regionally and globally; companies that are at inflection point for growth.
- Key portfolio companies – EnduroSat, PubGalaxy, ScaleFocus
