If you have been operating in CEE, you might have noticed these trends in the early stage venturing:
- most venture capitalists have amazing knowledge of finance, but not many of them are successful entrepreneurs who use growth strategies in practice
- there is a lot of capital available for early stage ventures, but not much of it might be called “smart money” that comes with network and growth opportunities
- valuation and investment tickets in CEE seem to be lower than in Western Europe or Silicon Valley, which often forces startups to relocate before gaining traction
We have been working hard for over a year to address these challenges and find a solution.
Today we are glad to announce the birth of Data Ventures – a next generation seed fund operating in CEE!
What is Data Ventures?
Data Ventures is a boutique venture capital firm focused on big data technologies for B2B.
We are based in Warsaw and invest only in projects with global ambition and potential.
Our view is that investment round done with Data Ventures should be the last one done locally.
Data Ventures principles
Our main investment theme: we believe that data analytics will become an ultimate competitive position driver in every industry in the next few years.
We help entrepreneurs based in Poland build global companies based on this trend.
Our strategy is heavily thesis-driven: we imagine how chosen industries will develop in 4 years from now and choose investment targets that will champion the future.
We are focused on the founders and the product while investing substantially less time than an average fund in deep diving into financials of analysed projects.
How we invest
- Stage – post-MVP investment stage up to growth stage – Seed, pre-A and A rounds
- Size – preferably 100k EUR – 250k EUR, up to 1m EUR. We are open to club deals with investors sharing our values
- Mandate – B2B, product companies, innovative, able to grow revenue 5-10x in 3y, global revenue streams or international expansion as a near-term plan, plain vanilla deals (no IP sharing, no inter-company business, no multi-entrepreneurs)
- Verticals – AI, Blockchain, Cybersecurity, DevOps, Fintech, HRTech, IoT and SaaS sectors
- Approach – we have every day hands-on experience working as strategic advisers and board members in the areas of technology, marketing, sales and product development. We help our businesses with lead generation and strategic partnerships and seek synergies within the investment portfolio.
- Start up founders we are looking for – honest and transparent, learning something new every day, familiar with the lean startup methodology, aware of their competitors and competitive positioning, aware of who their client is (and who is not) and what value proposition they offer, having their MVP and believing that their business is important to the world and will become big.
Who is leading the investment process?
We are a team of entrepreneurs experienced in product development, technology, marketing & sales.
Current team:
There are a few next team members to be announced within the next 3 months.
What are the plans for the future?
We plan to invest up to 7m EUR in the next 3 years. By 2020 we aim to raise a new 25-50m EUR fund for further investments in the CEE region.
Our ultimate goal is to build up the economic power of CEE.
What can we do together?
- An entrepreneur? Let’s have a talk about your project if your business fits our investment criteria: dataventures@gregalbrecht.io
- An investor? You can consider cooperation in sourcing and executing best deals in the big data area: dataventures@gregalbrecht.io
- A corporation? You may be interested in building an investment partnership with us: dataventures@gregalbrecht.io
Contact us today!