Profile: SMOK Ventures — Polish VC Fund

AIN.TECH conducted a series of interviews with the most active Polish VC funds. It is aimed to give the startups full information about the ecosystem of the country, as well as to make it easier for them to find the appropriate fund for further cooperation.

This time we prepared a short article about SMOK Ventures VC fund. 

When the fund was launched?

November 2019 

What is your investment focus?

Digital and gaming startups in Poland and CEE.

What is the average investment amount?

We invest between $50k and $1M, the sweet spot is around $250k in early-stage (pre-product or early traction).

How many deals does the fund make per year?

Around 10 per year. We have made 9 deals so far this year. 

Does the fund invest only in Polish startups or in foreign projects too?

Focused on Poland but we have done 2 investments outside of Poland already as well. Best case scenario for foreign investments is if there is a connection to Poland though, as we can help with hiring and business development locally.

What does the fund offer except the investment?

We connect Poland and CEE region with Silicon Valley and Southeast Asia via our US-based partners Paul and Dan Bragiel and their extensive network across top founders and corporate executives. Some of the companies they invested in involve unicorns Uber, Unity, Stripe, Pokemon Go, Zappos, GoJek or Carousell.