180 funds invested in Poland over the last 2 years — Inovo VC summary

180 VC and CVC funds have invested in Poland over the last 2 years. In 2023, there was a 50% drop in the foreign funds’ activity in Poland compared to 2021. Only 3 new Polish VC funds: Avivo Capital, LSA Ventures, and Radix Ventures, were launched in 2023. AIN.Capital shares key points of the ultimate map of the Polish funding ecosystem in 2023 prepared by Inovo VC.

2023 was not as successful as 2021 and 2022 for the Polish market. There has been a decrease in the number of investments due to the global slowdown in the technology sector, and the completion of their investment cycle in 2023 of some funds.

• 51 foreign venture capital funds invested in Polish startups in 2023 (-40% compared to the same period last year and -46% compared to 2021)
• 46 local VCs provided equity financing this year (-25% y/y and -28% vs 2021)

5 most interesting deals in Poland over 2023:

• €17.3 million round for ElevenLabs from Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, and Andreessen Horowitz, with further participation from Credo Ventures, and UK’s pre-seed fund Concept Ventures;
• $20 million investment for Vue Storefront led by Felix Capital, with participation from Creandum, Earlybird, SMOK Ventures, Movens Capital, and SquareOne;
• $5.8 million Series A funding round led by J2 Ventures and Story Ventures for Aether Biomedical;
• $2 million pre-Seed round co-led by Heartcore and Inovo VC for Quesma;
• $14 million Series A funding round for AI Clearing led by Prudence with participation from FJ Labs, Tera Ventures, Inovo, and Innovation Nest.

The most active funds on the Polish market

This list includes those funds that announced at least 1 investment in a Polish startup since the beginning of 2022, as well as Polish funds that have attracted some capital in 2023, but have not yet made any investments. Among local VC funds are Inovo, Black Pearls, bValue, SpeedUp, Radix Ventures Partners, Smok Ventures, and Aper Ventures.

Predictions for 2024

Despite last year’s data, 2024 is expected to be a good year for the Polish startup ecosystem. There is a global recovery in the technology sector, and for the first time since the first quarter of 2022, the median new ARR among software companies turned positive.

About 40 new funds are to be launched in 2024, as the Polish Development Fund launches the second edition of its programs.