The European Investment Fund (EIF) — backed by the InvestEU program — is investing €25 million into the Central and Eastern Europe-based deep tech venture capital fund Radix Ventures to diminish the funding gap for the region’s deep tech founders. Radix Ventures was created by a group of experienced technology entrepreneurs and investors led by Paweł Bochniarz, Wojciech Ratymirski, and Michał Urbanowski.
Together they oversaw Valuetech Seed, one of Poland’s most successful early-stage deep tech funds known for investments in advanced material startup Noctiluca (WSE: NCL) and Lerta Energy, which is a next-generation energy startup acquired by Photon Energy Group in 2022. And while all its general partners are Polish, Radix Ventures has also engaged several leading tech investors in Romania, Hungary, and Ukraine as venture partners responsible for operations in the key regional Central and Eastern European hubs.
The track record of the founders, a proprietary pipeline, and a strong network of partnerships with top research institutions in Central and Eastern Europe have put Radix Ventures in a unique position to take advantage of deep tech opportunities in the region.
This investment is part of the EIF’s mission to support high-growth and innovative small and medium enterprises across Europe to ensure that at least 16% of its activity is in climate and environment-related projects in 2022 with a goal of increasing this to 25% by 2024. Plus it also reflects the ambition of the EIF and its mandators to back managers based across all EU Member States including in underserved moderate emerging innovator countries.
The European Investment Fund (EIF) is part of the EIB Group. And its main goal is to support microenterprises and small and medium companies (SMEs) by helping them to access finance and venture capital. Plus the EIF also actively supports climate fund investments with a strong focus on environmental sustainability. Its activities foster EU objectives promoting innovation, research and development, entrepreneurship, growth, and job creation.
The InvestEU program provides the European Union with crucial long-term funding by leveraging substantial private and public funds in support of a sustainable recovery. And it also helps mobilize private investment for EU policy priorities like the European Green Deal and the digital transition. InvestEU brings together under one roof the multitude of EU financial instruments – which were previously available to support investment in the European Union, making funding for investment projects in Europe simpler, more efficient, and more flexible.
The program consists of three components: the InvestEU Fund, the InvestEU Advisory Hub and the InvestEU Portal. And the InvestEU Fund is deployed through implementing partners that will invest in projects using the EU budget guarantee of €26.2 billion. Plus the entire budget guarantee will back the investment projects of the implementing partners, increase their risk-bearing capacity and thus mobilise at least €372 billion in additional investment.
KEY QUOTES:
“Deep tech businesses are already playing a pivotal role in transforming every sector of the global economy. That is why it is key that the EU make every effort to facilitate and accelerate this progress. Backed by the InvestEU program, we are happy to invest in Radix Ventures and thus boost support for deep tech development across Central and Eastern Europe.”
– Marjut Falkstedt, Chief Executive of the EIF
“We are delighted to have the European Investment Fund onboard as our cornerstone investor. As Radix Ventures founders, we believe that it will be the deep tech startups that are at the center of the next wave of industrial revolution, as so many key sectors of the economy, including energy, manufacturing, and transportation need to transform to deliver on their net-zero targets and respond to strained supply chains and labor shortages. At the same time, we are keenly aware that new technologies that have the potential to transform entire industries, in order to be successfully commercialized need very comprehensive support in areas such as regulations, strategic IP management, and business development — it is the support that Radix is ready to provide.”
— Founder and managing partner of Radix Ventures Paweł Bochniarz
