Venture capital in Poland
The Polish venture market accounts for 3% of the entire European ecosystem of VC investments, mainly in the digital space.
[5] In addition to the manufacturing of computers, cash registers, and developing integration systems, Optimus Pascal, the founder of today's major Polish news portal Onet, was established.
Most frequently, PE/VC funds were small, simple limited liability companies or partnerships in which people with capital were willing to co-finance and then gain from prospective projects of young entrepreneurs.
The situation changed on June 4, 2016, when as a result of the implementation of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive into Polish law, greater fortifications were introduced by appointing two new financial institutions, supervised by Poland's Financial Supervision Authority (Polish: Komisja Nadzoru Finansowego, KNF).
[14] In January 2019, due to the high costs of running a closed-end investment fund and numerous statutory regulations that restricted VC investors, AICs were exempted from double taxation.
CIFs have a wide range of investment opportunities (including asset placement in shares of non-public companies), which is associated with a greater limitation of participation in the fund.
In 2017, it dropped to €106M, and in 2018 venture capital funds invested in Polish start-ups €178M (0.033 percent of GDP), which is 0.847% of 2018's value of the VC market in Europe, amounting to €21B.
The average portfolio of a Polish venture investor is only 9 companies, so it's not an added value of a large scale, but very much appreciated by local startups.
In March 2019, Sunfish Partners launched its PLN 65M (€15M) venture capital fund to invest in Polish deep tech startups.
In an open competition of offers, it had selected micro, small and medium enterprises based in Poland, with particular emphasis on entrepreneurs who conducted research and development activities.
The Agency (Polish: Polska Agencja Rozwoju Przedsiębiorczości, PARP) is involved in the implementation of domestic and international projects, financed from the structural funds, the state budget, and long-term programs of the European Commission.
It participates in the creation and effective implementation of state policy in the field of entrepreneurship, innovation and adaptability of personnel, seeking to transform into a key institution responsible for creating an environment that supports entrepreneurs.
However, in 2008–2015, as part of the Operational Program "Innovative Economy", for a pre-incubation and recapitalization of over 1,200 startups, a total of more than PLN 830M was allocated at the earliest stages of development.
Established in 2007 as an executive agency of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the Center (Polish: Narodowe Centrum Badań i Rozwoju, NCBR) supports risky investments through three major venture capital projects: BRIdge Alfa, NCBR CVC and TDJ Pitango Venture fund, through which the Center creates an ecosystem of developing high-tech ideas.
It insures bold decisions of investors, in the BRIdge Alfa program at the level of 80% of investments, and through the exchange of experience, it educates professional management teams.
Operating since 2016, the Fund (Polish: Polski Fundusz Rozwoju, PFR) deals with subsidizing innovation and stimulating venture investments.
Through PFR Ventures, under the fund-of-funds formula, it offers repayable financing to innovative companies from the SME sector through financial intermediaries: VC funds or business angels.
The fund also provides strategic advice and consultations on scaling, product development, team building, and mergers and acquisitions.
[29] Co-founded by the National Capital Fund (Polish: Krajowy Fundusz Kapitałowy), with assets from the Swiss-Polish Cooperation Programme.
Capitalized at PLN 80M (€18.6M), it provides support and strategic guidance on technology and product, with an extensive network of CEE and US business angels.
Areas of their interest include enterprises and entrepreneurs in Central and Eastern Europe, who want to conquer the global market by utilizing their self-developed solutions.
SpeedUp Group looking for innovations from areas such as: consumer internet, electromobility, energy, fintech, martech, adtech, medtech, IoT and hardware.
Their interested in technologies like Machine Learning,Picture recognition, Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, VR and Blockchain.
The fund's areas of interest include fintech, IoT, agricultural engineering, construction materials, and unconventional energy sources.
[33] With the mission to redefine the energy market, the Hub created a €162M portfolio (as of December 2018) through investing in over 80 disruptive startup and scale-up companies.
Headquartered in Berlin, with teams across Europe including in London, Warsaw and Essen, as well as offices in Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv, the Hub provides funding, mentoring and a platform for co-creation, collaboration and convergence.
With over 25 seed, growth and buyout investments including Polish early-stage success stories Booksy and Brand24, Inovo supports founders with a 100-days plan and several co-investments with global funds, at Series A stage (€1M–1.5M ticket).
Focused on fintech, martech, e-commerce support, logistics, medtech, and sport & wellness, based on marketplace and SaaS models.
In addition to funding, it offers startups technological, business, and marketing expertise, as well as a network of contacts that help accelerate growth and gain a competitive edge.
It has achieved several notable exits, including the sale of RemoteMyApp to Intel Corporation and the acquisition of Primetric by the U.S. industry leader BigTime.
