Venture capitalists that have backed startups such as Socure (raised $741.9 million) and Cornerstone OnDemand (now NASDAQ: CSOD) are launching a new fund to support startups in Central Europe. So far, ff Venture Capital’s new “Red & White” fund has closed €32m to date, with an eventual target of €60m later this year.
The new venture capital fund, based in New York and Warsaw, will focus on early-set and late-stage seed investments in startups addressing areas such as enterprise software, industrial technology, and sustainability transformation.
The ff Red & White Fund will be a partnership with JBIC IG Partners, a Japanese investment advisory firm, which has helped secure several Japanese multinational companies and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), a policy-based financial institution in Japan.
The fund aims to track startups in Central Europe that are able to capitalize on their expertise in managing supply chains, energy shortages, controlling inflation and reducing carbon emissions.
Two new Japanese partners, Masayuki Ohta and Taro Hizume, both from JBIC IG Partners, will move to Warsaw as part of the move.
“This fund will open up a previously unexplored market for startups in Central Europe, and give Japanese companies access to the latest technology of European institutions,” said Maciej Skarul, Partner at ffVC in his statement.
ffVC launched its first CEE-focused business in 2020. It now has a portfolio of nearly 20 European companies. This new fund will focus on startups from Germany, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary.
Founded in New York in 2008, ffVC has a global portfolio of more than 90 companies, and has more than 30 exit companies.
Masayuki Ota, partner at ffVC added: “JBIC IG Partners identified the Central European start-ups as ideal partners for Japanese multinationals, given the similarities between the economic structures in which they operate, the issues they are trying to solve, and the problem-solving profile of their founders.”
He added that with its presence on the ground on both sides of the Atlantic, ffVC plans to build this new link between Europe and Japan.
