Czech Tilia Impact Ventures launches €32M second fund to support CEE companies with a ESG focus

Prague-based investment firm Tilia Impact Ventures has announced the launch of its €32 million second fund financed by the European Investment Fund and Ceska Sporitelna Bank. The fund aims to support CEE companies with an Environmental, Social, and Governance focus.

• The fund will invest in seed-stage companies with mission-driven entrepreneurs from CEE dealing with climate, education, and healthcare solutions, having a sustainability-focused impact.
• Among the countries that the fund targets are Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
• A typical investment ticket provides an initial equity or convertible debt funding of up to 1.5 million euros and has a one to seven years’ investment horizon.

About Tilia Impact Ventures

• Founded in 2018, Tilia Impact Ventures backs CEE founders in solving meaningful social and environmental problems at scale. The firm’s focus is on climate, health, inclusion, and education tech. Tilia Impact’s inaugural fund invested in Czech IT company DatLab, Hungarian startup Munch, Polish alternative pre-school e-platform The Village, and fashion platform Nold.

” ‘Systemic change’ is the key concept for us. We are investing in technologies and business models which can transform entire industries and systems, rather than only bringing temporary benefit,”

Andrew Gray, general partner at Tilia Impact Ventures, said.

• Major investors in the second fund are the European Investment Fund, via the InvestEU program, as well as Ceska Sporitelna Bank, part of Austria’s Erste Group. The fund also attracted a number of prominent Czech businessmen like Libor Winkler of RSJ, Zbynek Frolik of Linet, Ondrej Bartos of Credo, Jan Barta of Pale Fire Capital, Tomas Vala of Siko, and Vaclav Kurel of Benefit Plus.
• The fund is already in advanced negotiations on several deals, which are yet to be announced.