LAUNCHub Ventures announces first closing at €44M for its new fund and grows the team

Target total fund size is €70M, to be closed by Q2’2021

LAUNCHub Ventures, an early-stage European VC, has completed the first closing of its new fund at €44M. The fund’s target size is €70M. Founded in 2012, LAUNCHub Ventures invests in technology startups in Seed and Series A stages, focusing on companies in the South Eastern Europe (SEE), broader CEE region as well as startups with SEE co-founders worldwide. LAUNCHub Ventures is backed at this stage by the European Investment Fund, corporations in the tech sector and successful Bulgarian founders. The advanced discussions with other private and institutional investors set the timeline of the final close by Q2 2021.

LAUNCHub Ventures will invest in 25 startups in the next 4 years. The initial investment range is between €500K and €2M, more than a half of the total fund size will be kept as reserves to support the funding needs of portfolio companies in follow-on rounds. LAUNCHub Ventures will provide capital to the most promising entrepreneurs building companies in verticals such as B2B SaaS, Fintech, Proptech, Big Data, AI, Marketplaces, Digital Health. The fund will also actively invest in the Web 3.0 / Blockchain space where its first successful deals date back in 2014 – the early days of this emerging sector.

LAUNCHub Ventures are not only doubling down their efforts to support CEE founders, but also strengthening the team while maintaining focus on equality. “We’re incredibly proud to announce that this year we’ve reached a 50:50 gender split in our team.” said Irina Dimitrova, Partner at LAUNCHub Ventures. CFO since the fund’s inception, Irina was recently promoted to operating partner. Team additions include Raya Yunakova, who joins as an Investor, previously working for PiLabs in London and Mirela Yordanova joining as an Associate, previously leading the startup community at Google for Startups Campus in London.

There is a huge concentration of highly skilled developers in most countries in CEE – approximately 1.3 developers for every 100 people in the workforce. “Central and Eastern Europe’s rapid economic growth has caught the attention of Western investors searching for the next unicorn. The region has huge and still untapped potential with more and more local success stories, paving the way for the next generation of CEE tech founders.” said Todor Breshkov, Founding Partner at LAUNCHub Ventures.

Across the previous and the new fund LAUNCHub Ventures have backed companies like:

GTMHub (The world’s leading and most intuitive OKR software, followed-on by CRV)
FintechOS (Banking and Insurance middleware for automation and digital innovation acceleration, followed-on by Earlybird and OTB)
Cleanshelf (Enterprise SaaS management and optimisation platform, followed-on by Dawn Capital)
Office RnD (Co-working and flexible office space management, followed-on by Flashpoint Ventures)
Giraffe360 (Robotic camera for real estate listing automation, coinvestment with Hoxton Ventures and HCVC)
Ferryhopper (Ferry ticketing platform for Southern Europe, coinvestment with Metavallon)
Fite (Premium direct to consumer digital live streaming for sports, followed-on by Earlybird)

LAUNCHub Ventures is supported by InnovFin Equity, with the financial backing of the European Union under Horizon 2020 Financial Instruments and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). The fund is also a beneficiary of the InvestBG Equity instrument.

LAUNCHub Ventures are looking for an Investment Analyst to join their team. Find out more and apply for the position here.