Rediscovering the Balkans’ Promise With Tatjana Zabasù Mikuž from South Central Ventures

The next stop for The Recursive podcast is Belgrade, where we get to meet one of the first female investors in the CEE region. 

Tatjana Zabasù Mikuž is the managing partner at South Central Ventures (SCV), an early-stage VC​ fund investing in the Balkans. Last year, they closed their third fund at 70 million euros. 

Tatjana Zabasu Mikuz is also the co-founder of the first venture capital fund in Slovenia, which was created in 2008. Since then, she’s been actively involved in more than 40 investments. She has also served as a board member of companies like Cognism, InPlayer, Efos, and Shout.

“It takes courage, vision, and quite some funding to be able to make it on the global market. We are looking for companies that already have some traction and our role as a local investor is to share the initial risk. To help them grow and bridge the gap to larger markets”, Tatjana explains the role of SCV in her conversation with Georgi Nenov. 

In the podcast, she also talks about:  

• What is the biggest challenge for Balkan startups to scale;
•  The role of regional investors in overcoming those challenges; 
• The mindset shift needed for the systemic success of the regional tech ecosystem; 
• Supporting the next generation of women in tech; 

Check out our previous episode with the VP of Growth at Rakuten Viber Atanas Raykov on the future of super apps.