About KAYA VC

• KAYA VC manages over $300 million in assets across 4 funds. KAYA co-invests and partners with funds like the British-American Index Ventures, European Creandum, EQT, and US-European Goldman Sachs. Their advisory network includes founders like Tomáš Čupr of Rohlík, as well as Juraj Masár and Veronika Koleják of Better Stack.

• Since the launch, it has more than forty companies in its portfolio, with the value of their shares reaching €300 million. KAYA’s portfolio includes two unicorns: the Czech online grocer, Rohlík, and the Polish Docplanner, a global platform managing healthcare practices and scheduling.

We support big dreams and ambitious plans. We help create the best conditions possible for our entrepreneurs, enabling them to overcome challenges more easily. We connect them with other successful entrepreneurs for advice and back their belief that the Central European Region is a fertile ground for building global companies that can win in their respective markets,

Tomáš Obrtáč, one of four equal partners in the fund, says.

More on the Fifth Fund launch

Now, the firm is preparing to launch its fifth private investment fund, which will have 80 million at its disposal.

KAYA expects their investor composition for their fifth fund to be similar to the previous one, where the majority of finances came from institutional investors and about three-quarters of the capital originated from the private sector. The minimum investment in KAYA is expected to be €1 million.

The fund also added that it does not specialize in a specific segment, category, or mission of startups. But KAYA aims to invest primarily in Czech, Slovak, and Polish companies.

About Product Fruits

• Launched in 2019 by Karel Papik and Ladislav Salom, Product Fruits provides a Digital Adoption Platform (DAP) that provides a no-code interface and easy integrations for creating seamless product onboarding processes. The startup has signed up nearly 1000 customers, including Sanof, Rakuten, and Mango.

• Product Fruit’s team claim that its Digital Adoption Platform has enjoyed accelerated 4x growth over the last year. Now it focuses on automatically building workflows and determining customer conversion likelihood. Additionally, in March 2023, the startup raised an €1.6 million in seed round, bringing its total funding to €3.1 million.

Product Fruits is actively harnessing the game-changing power of AI for digital adoption solutions, and we’re doing it in a way that isn’t just for show. This funding round will make it possible for us to see the project through. Considering the downturn in funding across the tech industry, we also take this as a heartening endorsement of the success we’ve already had and the promise we’re demonstrating,

Ladislav Salom, co-founder of Product Fruits, said.

Reflex Capital, a Prague-based early-stage venture capital fund, led the current investment. It is the only investor in the round. Product Fruits will use the fresh funding to accelerate the developmentof its AI-driven digital adoption platform, to grow its staff by no fewer than ten people, and expand into European and US markets.

• Webglobe was co-founded in 1999 by Igor Strečko and Juraj Hanták. Now, it manages almost 300,000 registered domains belonging to almost 100,000 clients a nd registers approximately 10% of national domains in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Serbia. Webglobe offers a wide range of products from domains and web hosting to marketing and security tools for digital business of small and medium-sized businesses.

The deal details:

group.one headquartered in Sweden with offices in 12 countries. It serves over 2 million customers, predominantly small- and medium-size enterprises and provides digital solutions such as Software as a Service and Hosting. The company has grown its revenues to over €300 million in the financial year ending 30th September 2023.

The CEE region is a vibrant space offering immense potential for providing digital solutions to small businesses. This strategic acquisition aligns perfectly with our growth ambitions. With Webglobe’s strong position in the region and talented team, we are confident in our ability to accelerate growth and innovation in this dynamic region,

Daniel Hagemeier, CEO of group.one, commented.

The sellers are Webglobe founder Igor Strečko and investment fund from the portfolio of Sandberg Capital, a Slovak private equity firm established in 2014. It focuses on small and medium-sized companies in the sectors of IT, telecommunications, agriculture, education, and retail. Sandberg Capital manages more than €340 million on behalf of private and institutional investors.

Advisors on the transaction on the seller side were investment bank Raymond James, law firms Barger Prekop (Slovakia); Kocián, Šolc, Balaštík (Czechia); and Moravčević, Vojnovič and partners (Serbia) and financial advisor BDO. The deal amount was undisclosed.

• Co-founded in 2017 by Martin Herman, Robert Herman, Simon Rovder, and Viktor Jurasek, Powerful Medical develops PMcardio, an AI-powered ECG interpretation platform. It enables healthcare professionals to detect acute heart attacks along with 38 other cardiac abnormalities. The medical device analyzes any image of a 12-lead ECG and compares it against previous patient records using AI.
• According to the startup, its systematic approach aims to redefine care coordination within the healthcare system. The integration of PMcardio into existing hospital workflows streamlines the triage process with an AI-augmented patient assessment pathway to provide early and precise diagnosis.

The impact of our technology is not limited to the immediate treatment of heart attacks; it extends into the future well-being of patients. Our AI models in development focus on ECG-based screening for heart failure as early as asymptomatic patients presenting for a routine check-up to their GP and early recognition of sudden cardiac death predictors, ensuring patients have the best chance for a healthier, longer life,

Dr. Robert Herman, Chief Medical Officer at Powerful Medical, states.

• The startup was backed by the European Innovation Council, part of the European Union’s Framework Program for research and innovation Horizon Europe, which aims to identify, develop, and support innovative, high-risk projects from Europe. The grant and subsequent investment will help fulfil the company’s plans for commercialization and further expansion.

In 2022, Powerful Medical raised €6.2 million in a seed round to accelerate global expansion and develop its product. Investors were CB ESPRI Impact One, bpd partners, Venture To Future Fund, and several business angels. Here are the details:

• The EIC Accelerator offers startups and SMEs grants of up to €2.5 million combined with equity investments through the EIC Fund ranging from €0.5 to €15 million or more. In addition to financial support, all projects benefit from a range of Business Acceleration Services that provide access to leading expertise, corporates, investors, and ecosystem actors.
• Companies can submit their ideas to the EIC Accelerator at any time. They are evaluated within 4-6 weeks. Since launching EIC in 2021, over ten thousand startups have submitted their ideas. The next batch of EIC Accelerator is scheduled on 13 March 2024.

About the fresh EIC Accelerator program

242 companies were interviewed by investors and entrepreneurs out of a total of 1083 full proposals submitted. 42 selected companies will together receive up to €285 million in funding. Most of them (62%) will receive the blended finance option, which is a combination of grants and equity investments.

17% of the total proposals were submitted by companies with female CEOs. The applicants come from 39 different countries, with the highest number of participants coming from Germany, France, and Israel. 14% of applications originate from widening countries.

CEE startups to receive the support:

• IQM Finland, an Espoo-based developer of industrial-grade quantum computers with error correction and mitigation capabilities;
• SpinDrive Oy, Finland’s startups that provides design, prototyping and serial production of active magnetic bearings (AMBs) for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM);
• Basemark Oy, a Finland-based automotive software and service company specializing in Augmented Reality & ADAS visualizations and HMI graphics for software-defined vehicles;
• VEXLUM Oy, Finland’s laser company making narrow-linewidth VECSELs for Quantum Technology applications;
• Powerful medical, a Slovakian medtech startup that offers an application for more accurate heart attack diagnosis;
• Smart Farm Robotix, a Sofia-based company that develops a fully autonomous solar-powered lightweight weeding robot, using AI for plant recognition, precision contact and contactless weeding methods suited for hard soils, hilly terrains, and arid climates.

Most companies are going to receive grant financing within the next 2-3 months, while the first investments will be made within two months, depending on the urgency of the companies’ needs.

• Founded in 2023 by Katarína Šimková, Closerocket develops a B2B sales platform designed to help companies find and connect with sales talent. The platform provides a variety of features to help companies scale their sales efforts, including access to a global network of sales professionals, a sales strategy development tool, and a sales reporting system.
• Nowadays, the startup generates monthly revenue of over €40,000. CloseRocket claims that its platform enables companies to manage their sales teams and track their performance.

We are building a platform that is built for merchants and reflects their needs, the way they work and the nature of their business. Marketers usually don’t like CRM tools and consider them a burden,

says Katarina Šimková, the founder and CEO.

• CloseRocket received an investment from the Slovakian fund Vision Ventures. Czech Jinej Fond also joined. The so-called angel investors include Andrej Kiska, Peter Komorník, Michal Šimkovič, and others.
• The investment will be spent to expand its offerings into the US market.

About CloudTalk

• CloudTalk was founded in 2016 by Martin Malych and Viktor Vanek to help businesses connect seamlessly with customers over the phone and make customer experience the greatest competitive advantage for driving more revenues.

• The company focuses on building a platform that not only meets the evolving needs of the remote workforce but also exceeds customer expectations with innovative features like AI-powered dialers, conversational intelligence, and speech recognition.

It’s been fun to see how our product solves challenges for over 4,000 sales and customer-facing teams across 100+ countries, powering more than 400 million customer conversations. That translates into an unbelievable 665 years of calling,

Martin Malych, CEO of CloudTalk, said.

The new investment will strategically accelerate CloudTalk’s growth and product innovation, mainly in enhancing its AI-powered cloud phone system and contact center solutions.

Who are the investors?

• The Series B round was co-led by KPN Ventures, the venture capital investment branch of KPN, The Netherlands’ leading telecom and ICT service provider, and Lead Ventures, a fresh Budapest-based venture capital and private equity firm, specialist in financing scaleups in Central Europe.
• The startup also saw the support from the existing investors Point Nine Capital, henQ, Orbit Capital, and Presto Ventures.

I think back to 2018 when we were closing the CloudTalk investment. It was one of Presto’s very first and at the time, CloudTalk was a budding startup with a few clients and a minimalist product. It’s amazing to witness how far the company has come and the challenges its team has had to grapple with over that time. The current investment round marks another milestone in CloudTalk’s journey of becoming a market leader in customer voice communication tools. We’re proud to have been with them from the beginning and look forward to supporting their journey as we advance,

Premysl Rubes, founding partner of Presto Ventures, said in a comment to AIN.Capital.

This funding comes at a crucial time when sales and customer service teams worldwide are aiming at improving performance and efficiency during major economic changes.

• Elv.ai was co-founded by Jakub Šuster, Gabriel Tóth, Ľudovít Ďurman, and Milan Dubec in response to hybrid warfare and russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Originally, the startup was launched as a non-profit project by the Slovak communications agency New School Communications to filter hate content and protect online discussions.
• Currently, Elv.ai is based on a combination of technology and human factors. By utilizing machine learning and human moderators who control the AI and recognize possible linguistic nuances not picked up by technology, Elv.ai can identify and remove inappropriate and hateful content promptly.

We perceive that the media space has changed significantly and that the need to protect online discussions and social networks from hatred is growing. In our native Slovakia, we monitor and moderate the discussions of roughly one-third of the media market and help a number of major institutions that want to control the posts of their online discussions: without misinformation, hoaxes or hate speech. We are pleased that even in the Czech Republic, we have quickly found conscious media houses that consider it their duty to protect their fans and users from hateful and misinformation content,

Jakub Šuster, co-founder and CEO of Elv.ai, said.

• Since its launch in Slovakia, Elv.ai has recorded over 2,500,000 hateful or disinformation comments out of more than 16,000,000 and has identified over 5,000 fake profiles. In the Czech Republic, out of more than 2 million monitored comments on 44 profiles, up to 504,000 were hateful content, which is 24%. 
• Among the startup’s clients are the television stations Markíza and JOJ, the radio stations Expres and Evropa 2, and the online magazine Refresher. Now, it manages control over the content of discussions of more than 100 profiles for 30 clients, including Slovakian social media of the European Commission, Prima TV, and the Economia publishing house.

Slovak CB ESPRI Impact One fund, which focuses on projects with measurable positive social benefits, led the current round. Elv.ai will use the capital to accelerate its European expansion.

• Luigi’s Box is a leading Slovak technological company that provides e-retailers with intelligent product search and recommendation. Their solution also helps companies understand how to use customer purchasing behavior data in order to increase sales.

• The company was co-founded in 2014 by Gejza Nagy (CEO), Tomas Kramar (CTO), and Michal Barla (CPO). Their technology is used by more than 3,500 e-commerce sites, their biggest clients include Alza, Acer, Benu, Electro World, Kosik.cz, Telefónica O2, and Under Armour.

“This opportunity has come at the right time in the evolution of Luigi’s Box. We’ve been working with Persoo on the acquisition for several months. We have a similar company culture, product, and vision for the future of e-commerce. We’re excited to have the Persoo team join us, bringing additional industry expertise and strengthening our position in Europe as we work towards new goals together. On the client side, the transition will be as seamless as possible. We’re confident that clients of both Persoo and Luigi’s Box will benefit from us joining forces, as they will now get an even better product,”

Gejza Nagy, co-founder and CEO of Luigi’s Box, commented.

About the deal

• The exact amount of the deal is undisclosed. However, the approximate amount is several millions euro.
• The deal also marks the first full exit for the Czech VC fund Presto Ventures, as well as another successful exit for Lighthouse Ventures.

“We backed Persoo in 2019. Since then, the company has undergone many changes and developments that have propelled it forward – in terms of product, as well as the start of a successful foreign expansion. We’re happy to have played a part in their growth and believe that together with Luigi’s Box they will carry on this momentum across Europe,”

Roman Nováček, partner of Presto Ventures, commented on the acquisition.

• After the acquisition, Persoo will be fully incorporated into Luigi’s Box.

• The first Nova Post branch was launched in Bratislava, at the address Dunajská 7495/14. Clients can receive documents, parcels and cargo up to 100 kg from Ukraine. The branch works every day.

“Our main task is to logistically connect European countries with Ukraine. We want Ukrainians in Slovakia to receive the service they are used to at home in Ukraine. And Slovak business will be able to enter the Ukrainian market, where there are 30 million active consumers,“

says Oleksandr Lysovets, CEO of Nova Post Europe.

Oleksandr also added that Nova Post has already invested more than €100,000 to enter the Slovakian market. The company plans to continue developing its network there and provide the possibility of delivery to partner post offices throughout the country.

• Nova Post courier delivery is also available for Ukrainians to any address throughout Slovakia. Delivery from Slovakia to Ukraine takes from 5 days.
• The cost of delivery from Ukraine to Slovakia:
  • documents – €12;
  • parcels up to 2 kg – €15;
  • parcels up to 10 kg – €20;
  • parcels up to 30 kg – €35;
  • parcels from 30 to 100 kg – €1.2 for each kg;
  • delivery by courier is paid additionally €3 for shipments up to 30 kg or +€8 for each kg for shipments from 31 to 100 kg.

To date, Nova Post has already opened 62 branches in Poland, Lithuania, Czechia, Romania, and Moldova.

• Founded in 2017 by Andrej Coplak and Peter Lauber, Blockmate provides analytical insights into the world of digital assets and connect it with open banking. Through its platform, it offers the ability to onboard over 300 million users, analytics, risk assessment, interaction with crypto portfolios, and a range of other financial functions.
• In addition, Blockmate’s technology uses the Open Banking standard to connect cryptocurrency users with over 25,000 existing fintechs. Their clients included news agencies, government, and financial institutions.
• The round saw participation from a group of European investors:
  • Seed Starter, a program that helps startups with the go-to-market phase and engages their projects in the Slovak Savings Bank’s environment. The largest portion, amounting to €760,000 comes from this program.
  • Tensor Ventures, Czech deeptech-focused fund
  • DEPO Ventures, a Prague-based fund, focusing on early-stage startups from CEE and the Baltic region
  • Czech Token Ventures, with a focus on venture investments into blockchain technologies, building crypto infrastructure (validators, servers, hotspots), occasional trading, education, and advisory services.
  • BADideas.fund, an angel investor syndicate investing €50-€150K tickets in post-MVP startups in CEE.
  • ZAKA Ventures, a family office investing in pre-seed and seed startups.
  • Diaspora Ventures, a pre-seed fund that supports European entrepreneurs building tech companies in the US.

“This investment round allows us to accelerate our efforts to revolutionize financial services and bridge these sectors. We firmly believe that this partnership represents a unique opportunity for innovation and growth, both for users and financial institutions,”

says Andrej Coplák, co-founder and CEO of Blockmate.

• Launched in 2019, InoBat specializes in the research, development, design, manufacturing, supply, and recycling of electric batteries. InoBat focuses on the automotive, commercial vehicle, motorsport, and aerospace sectors. 
• The startup is supported by investors and partners such as Rio Tinto, Amara Raja, Ideanomics, the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank. In addition, InoBat has signed declarations of intent with the governments of Spain and Serbia to build EV battery plants, but those agreements are not final.
• Gotion High Tech was founded in May 2015. It specializes in the development and manufacture of power batteries for energy vehicles, energy storage applications, power transmission, and distribution equipment. The company has cooperation with Volkswagen, Tata Group, Vinfast, and Jinko.
• The acquisition is the first such major investment by a Chinese battery maker in a European startup. Its main goal is to accelerate R&D across the battery value chain including scaleup, structuring and financing templates.

“Our partnership with Gotion High Tech heralds a new era in significant value creation through collaborative win-win alliances, helping to close the gap between Asian battery leaders and the rest of the world. GIB will nurture and grow InoBat‘s strategic premise and ethos for customized bespoke R&D to deliver safe high performance batteries and green energy solutions,”

Mr. Marian Bocek, co-founder and CEO of InoBat, added.

• The companies didn’t disclose the terms of the investment and InoBat’s valuation.

• Munch was founded in 2020 by Bence Zwecker, Albert Wettstein, Kirill Perepelica, and Botond Zsoldos. In November 2022, the company merged with Czech-based app Nesnězeno, co-founded by Jakub Henni.
• Munch offers a food management platform for restaurants, bakeries, hotels, supermarkets, and other stores to sell surplus food. The platform helps businesses to make food management sustainable from an environmental, social, and economic point of view, enabling clients to reduce food waste and also profitable losses.
• The startup claims that it has saved over 800,000 food packages from going to waste, resulting in the prevention of nearly 2 million kilograms of CO2 emission. Munch also has its charity project that deliver food to those who need it.
• The investment was led by Fiedler Capital, a Budapest-based venture capital firm. Among its investments is ＄1.5 million round for Latvian startup Trace.Space. To date, Ljubljana-based Silicon Gardens, an early-stage VC firm that aims to empower Slovenian startups such as local Muffin, also participated.
• Munch will use the investment for further expansion across the CEE region and beyond, encompassing countries such as Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Greece, Bulgaria, and others.

• Founded in 2015, SuperScale offers a comprehensive SaaS analytics platform, which helps game developers and publishers identify revenue-boosting strategies, as well as expert publishing and game management services to grow game earnings. The startup team consists of 70, with offices in London, Bratislava, and Gdańsk.
• Among its partners are such global companies as EA, Fingersoft, Big Fish Games, Google, LEGO.

“In 2023, it’s arguably more difficult than ever for companies to scale their games, so it felt like time to expand the scope and depth of our services to support more developers and publishers to succeed. This funding endorses the incredible hard work of our team, and will help us hit major milestones in our ambitious roadmap as we drive rapid growth for SuperScale and our customers alike,” 

Ivan Trancik, CEO and founder of SuperScale, said.

• Venture to Future Fund, a joint initiative of EIB, the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic, and the Slovak Investment Holding, led the current round. The firm invests in local startups, among them are participation in a €6.2 million round for Slovak greentech Sensoneo. Bratislava-based VC firms Across Private Investments and Zero One Hundred also joined. 
• SuperScale aims to use the new investment to expand the product lineup and geographic reach.

• Established in 2000, EMI Group is a manufacturer of access doors and locks for logistics and industrial buildings in a wide range of sectors, including retail, logistics, military, and healthcare. The company claims that it performs over 2,000 installation projects for over 1,500 clients annually. EMI operates assembly facilities in Romania and Slovakia, and service and maintenance capabilities in Romania and Belgium.
• In May 2023, Warsaw-based Innova Capital announced raising €324 million, in the interim closing of its Innova/7 fund. The fund focuses on sectors such as industry, business/financial services, the consumer lifestyle products, and services market.

“EMI has developed a successful integration model, allowing small service companies to retain their identity and autonomy while benefiting from scale and group best practices. We are thrilled to be partnering with Jerome France and Morphosis Capital in this exciting consolidation opportunity,”

Andrzej Bartos, senior partner of Innova Capital, commented the deal. 

• Innova acquired 51% stake in EMI Group via a combination of partial buy-out and €15 million capital increase. It will help to solidify the company’s position in existing markets and entering new countries.

• Founded in 2017 by Andrea Basilova and Martin Basila, Sensoneo is a global provider of smart waste management solutions. The solution combines unique ultrasonic Smart Sensors that monitor waste real-time with accessible software. This can enable cities and businesses to manage their waste cost-efficiently, be more environmentally responsible, and improve the well-being of people.
• According to the company, the customers can achieve overall waste collection cost reduction of at least 30% and carbon emission reduction up to 60% in cities. Sensoneo is already installed in over 80 countries across Europe, North America, South America, Middle East, Australia, and New Zealand.

• Taiwania Capital led the round. It is a Taiwan-based venture capital firm that invests in Series A global technology startups from its $200 million CEE fund. The existing investors also participated in the round including Crowdberry, EIC Fund, and Venture to Future Fund.

“Sensoneo is an excellent example of how a company based in the CEE region can attract international customers and compete globally by consistently prioritising innovation. As a global leader, Sensoneo holds a unique position that allows the company to effectively target the rapidly growing smart waste management market. We believe that Sensoneo’s technology is setting the standard in smart waste management, and we are excited to be part of the story,”

Mitch Yang, CEE Fund’s Managing Partner, comments.

• With the fresh funds, Sensoneo is planning on building the largest smart waste installation in Europe, comprising 11,100 sensors in Madrid.

In the Startup of the Day column, Dr Justin E Lane, the co-founder of CulturePulse shares more details about the startup’s idea, its product, and future plans.

The Startup of the Day column on AIN.Capital is dedicated to tech projects from all sectors that originated from the CEE countries. If you would like to introduce your project, please fill in the questionnaire.

Tell us about your startup. How does it work?

CulturePulse develops an AI-based platform that can fully analyze a target audience group and provide a resonance score on the message/copy/ad that will essentially cut through the noise and really touch the customers.

Our system’s deep knowledge of the markets enables us to increase accuracy not only with themes but also with average buyer profiles. This allows our users to select their target audience from a market perspective, such as one-time buyers, lifetime buyers, and more. With CulturePulse, you can leverage our advanced analytics capabilities to make data-driven decisions and optimize your marketing strategies for maximum impact in your target market.

The platform offers a variety of modules for users to choose from, or they can request custom data analysis and research. The best part of this SaaS marketplace is that you are using a digital twin of your audience to do all the testing before you publish to your real audience, so you save time, and money and take the guesswork out of your advertising and communications.

How did you come up with the startup’s idea? What was the reason/motivation behind it?

Companies often make decisions by counting likes and views to measure sentiment, but CulturePulse helps to capture the beliefs and motivations of customers to make predictions of their buying behaviors and craft resonant messages. This is what we felt was missing in the market, and as we were already doing this for government research projects, so we could see the value, we wanted to create a marketplace that enables marketers to conduct research and audience testing quickly and in a safe environment.

As scientists, we do not use numbers we don’t understand and this was something we wanted to simplify for marketers and offer them a platform to be able to do that, so they can take charge of their advertising budgets with confidence and not rely on old-fashioned metrics such as likes and views, or numbers and strategies from agencies that could be hunches, or not based on real beliefs and motivations of their customers.

How long did it take to reach the prototype or MVP? What did you encounter?

CulturePulse made a significant decision last year by identifying a niche industry where our platform could provide immediate and practical value. This decision was based on extensive market validation and an understanding of customer needs.

Since our proprietary AI technology has the potential to serve multiple use cases, we have built several prototypes for different clients. But one thing all customers have in common: imagine if you could know what your customers think of you and your product without even asking, just like knowing what the other person thinks of you on a date.

So ultimately it took us around a year to fully develop the MVP even though the platform has been in development since 2020.

When exactly did you launch your product? Or when the launch is planned?

We have been developing the technology for the best part of ten years but were previously using it for enterprise projects such as research studies where we would work with governments such as a partnership with the Woolf Institute to uncover the real sentiment of the people caught within the Northern Ireland Troubles, and with the Norwegian Government to understand the sentiment of the people around the COVID lockdowns, amongst others.

It wasn’t until 2020 that we developed a more simplified platform that can be used by entrepreneurs, teams, and even individual digital advertising professionals.

Tell us about the startup’s business model. How do you monetize your product?

We were using the technology for enterprise customers. Every enterprise customer has different needs and the scope of work on these projects can vary hugely, so these would be costly on a case-by-case basis.

Now, however, we have further developed the platform to meet the needs of entrepreneurs, individual professionals, and marketing teams whereby they have three monthly options including:

• a free basic account for one user, which can test up to 20 text outputs for one audience (great for small business owners or those new to AI);
• a premium account for $99 per month, which can be used by one user for up to 200 text inputs and access to all audiences and detailed analysis (perfect for remote workers with clients in many sectors);
• custom enterprise users who need unlimited user accounts, customized text inputs with access to all audiences, and detailed analysis (this plan also comes with a dedicated account manager).

What are your target markets and consumers?

CulturePulse AI works in 80+ languages, but right now we are focused on the US and UK markets. Our consumers are essentially the advertising and communications communities who can use our technology to enhance their conversions.

If the startup has already launched the product, what are the results: metrics, income, or any clear indicators that can be evaluated?

We have been developing our product offering at a rapid pace and now count a number of Enterprise customers to date, with more in the pipeline. The nature of this kind of customer is that while Enterprise users have huge impacts, they don’t have monthly users in the long run, so right now we are measuring revenue.

What about your team? How many people are working in the startup? If you’re looking for new employees, indicate whom exactly.

Myself and Dr. LeRon Shults (we’re both Doctors of Philosophy, not medicine), and we met in 2015 when LeRon asked me to move from Oxford University to Boston University to help lead the development of a large AI project where we would study using my idea of Multi-Agent Artificial Intelligence.

While together, myself and LeRon had ideated and built the technology that CulturePulse has today, we met Maja Roknic, a renowned product manager in Europe, in 2020. She quickly joined our team, as Co-founder and CPO, sharing her insights on leveraging social media for product development and shaping the CulturePulse vision into the product that you see today. We also invited a fractional CMO to come in and help with initial sales.

We also have 2 developers, 5 data scientists, a copywriter, and 1 marketer. Furthermore, we are looking to hire a Sales Manager to grow our sales team in the US and EU, as well as a director for government contract support.

Have you already raised any investments? Provide us with more details on each funding round: the amount, investors, and the purpose of the investment.

Recently, we’ve raised $1 million in a seed round from Slovak VC firm Zero Gravity Capital, and used this investment to introduce more developers to enhance the platform, so users will be able to self-service all their AI needs easily and interpret the data themselves.  

What’s next? Tell us about your future plans.

We’ll be announcing a Series A funding round soon, and we hope to raise a minimum of $2 million which we will use to acquire new B2B customers which will include small businesses and individual users such as the digital nomad communities, as well as large scale organizations with a fully customizable product offering, to meet their unique needs and requirements.

New team members in Europe and the US, which will include developers and also a robust sales team, will be added to help scale the company where the goal is to add 1000 individual new users to the platform, and 4-5 enterprise users, by the end of 2023.

• Launched in 2021 by Justin E. Lane, F. LeRon Shults, Brian Swichkow, and Maja Roknic, CulturePulse creates a behavioral and psychological digital twin of an audience that users can test content on for resonance before testing live. It helps businesses to better understand needs of customers, based on theirs real beliefs and motivations.
• CulturePulse platform can quantify anger, anxiety, personality, morality, family, friends, finances, inclusivity, racism, hate speech, and over 50 other categories across more than 80 languages. The startup also claims that its solution predicts with clinical accuracy of almost 95% correlation.
• The round was led by Zero Gravity Capital, one of the most active Slovak VC firm in 2022, according to AIN.Capital. On the beginning of 2023, Zero Gravity led a €1 million round for Readmio, the developer of an app with fairy tales for children. 
• The startup will use the fresh round for further expansion of its team and exit to new markets. The main aim is to use social networks effectively and reduces their negative impact.

• Sensible Biotechnologies is a biotechnology company that was founded by Miroslav Gasparek and Marian Kupculak in 2021. The company is based in Oxford, and has a biomedical research center in Bratislava. 
• Sensible Biotechnologies builds a cell-based platform for the production of high-quality mRNA. The platform eliminates the major bottlenecks in the mRNA production process in an effort to unlock the full potential of mRNA technology for the next generation of therapeutics and vaccines. 

“This funding will enable us to advance the development of our cell-based mRNA manufacturing platform and to unlock the full potential of mRNA technology in life-saving therapies, while strengthening the robustness of the mRNA supply chain,”

said Miroslav Gasparek, the CEO and co-founder of Sensible Biotechnologies.

• The pre-seed round was led by Berlin-based VC fund BlueYard Capital, with participation from US accelerator Y Combinator, German’s early stage venture firm Amino Collective, California-based VC firms Civilization Ventures and Recode Health Ventures, and Czech ZAKA VC that has recently joined a $2.5 million seed round for the UK fintech Prograd.
• Sensible Biotechnologie will use the fresh funding to accelerate the development of its mRNA manufacturing platform. 

• Founded in 2018 by Branislav Safarik, Radoslav Stompf, Rastislav Kuba, and Vladimir Miskovsky, Fuergy develops automated and highly predictive energy solutions for the management of energy production and consumption that save costs and maximize the use of energy resources, especially renewable ones.
• Fuergy claims that it is the only company in Slovakia that provides all-in-one energy solutions from smart battery storage, through software for the management of electricity production and consumption, to electricity trading.
• Fuergy’s aim is to change the way people use and share electricity and thus accelerate the transition to energy decentralization with a high share of renewables. Among its clients are Zeleziarne Podbrezova and the National Football Stadium. 
• The fresh funding was led by Slovak Pro Partners Holding, a major investment group operating in the CEE region, mainly in the private equity, real-estate, and finance sectors. It has been on the market for more than 25 years and manages assets worth more than €1.5 billion.

“The decisive factors in favour of investing in FUERGY were primarily the innovativeness of its products and energy management, the complexity of the provided energy optimization solutions, as well as the high level of expertise of the company’s founders and management,” 

Tomas Zednicek, senior partner at Pro Partners Holding says.

• Fuergy plans to use the investment to provide smart battery systems brAIn to companies that can’t afford them, to expand the development and sales team, and to invest in new product development. The startup also plans to expand to the Czech and Polish markets. The investment will be implemented within the next three years.

• Founded in Bratislava by Branislav Pulis, Jan Zizka, Michal Maly, and Tomas Kovacovsky Photoneo, Brightpick Group is a leading robotics and AI company with more than 300 employees and 5000 technology installations worldwide across the US, Europe, and Asia. Its customers include leading companies such as General Motors, Volkswagen, and KUKA.
• Launched in 2020, Brightpick offers warehouse automation solutions for e-commerce and grocery order fulfillment. The company’s end-to-end robotic solution autonomously picks, consolidates, and dispatches orders in large, small, and micro fulfillment centers. The solution takes a month to deploy, enables warehouses to reduce their picking labor by 95%, and cuts costs for order fulfillment by half. 

“We are seeing extremely strong interest from existing and new customers for Brightpick’s solution because it helps customers cut operating costs and eliminate labor challenges, two relevant concerns in today’s tough economic environment,”

said Jan Zizka, CEO and co-founder of Photoneo Brightpick Group.

• The fresh $19 million round was led by Taiwania Capital, based in Taiwan with offices in Silicon Valley and CEE. Taiwania Capital targets SaaS, AI, IoT, enterprise software, information security, 5G network, biotechnology, healthtech, and medtech. The round also included follow-on investments by prior Series B lead investors IPM Group and Alpha Intelligence Capital. Additional investors in this round include H&D Asset Management, Venture to Future Fund, and Kolowrat Group.
• The new funding will be used primarily to scale Brightpick’s warehouse automation solution for e-commerce and grocery order fulfillment in the US. 

CEE startups are initially focusing on international markets. Product companies are included in global industry rankings. Outsourcing companies work with clients from all over the world. At the same time, there is a very limited amount of available verified and regularized information on the CEE tech scene in English. In this text, AIN.Capital is committed to filling the gap with tech events in the CEE region.

AIN.Capital has selected the most important and largest IT events in Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Finland that will be held in 2023. Visiting these events will introduce you to the CEE technology scene, will help you find employees, clients, startups, investors, press coverage, useful acquaintances, and much more.

Have we missed any events? Let us know: lp@ain.ua

• Founded in 2016, 0100ventures is a venture builder running multinational co-working spaces, organizing international conferences and accelerating CEE companies. 

“We are convinced Slovakia and Czech Republic, along with the wider CEE region, possessed some of the best technological talents in the world. We are ready to help these startups and developers grow and gain the attention of the rest of the world,”

Michael Csonga, partner of 0100ventures comments. 

• The VC fund is led by its investment partners Michael Csonga, Vit Hanus and Dusan Duffek. 
• 0100ventures’ has previously closed €23 million fund that was focused mainly on Czech and Slovakian startups, including Prague-based real estate market-making platform providing buying solutions Reado, and US municipal web communication portal Simplicity. 
• The second fund will target to broaden its remit. It plans to invest in early stage rounds, at seed and series A, but will also provide LP funds to other central European venture investors. Bets from these funds could permit Zero One to take a wider view on the regional ecosystem.

• Founded in 2021 by Adam Pavlisin, Martin Antos, Denis Laca, and Slavomir Glinsky, Acreom develops a dev-first knowledge base with task management, which enables developers and entire teams to organize work. Among its clients are Stripe, Google, Microsoft, DeepMind.
• Acreom launched a beta version in early November and a live product at the end of the month. The startup claims it has so far acquired thousands of developers. A public API should be available later this year. It will be open source and Acreom will offer customization options.
• The fresh round was co-led by one of the most active Czech VC fund Nation 1, according to AIN.Capital that has already launched acceleration program for Czech and Slovak startups. Another investor is a Berlin-based business angel group of CTOs and CPOs Expedite Ventures that supports tech founders hands-on with know-how and capital.
• Acreom will spend the investment for software development, and accelerate the market expansion, particularly into the United States.

Methodology

We applied the same methodology, as we used in preparing rankings of the most active Polish, Baltic, Finnish, Hungarian, Czech, Romanian, and Bulgarian venture capital funds. Firstly, to create the list of top Bulgarian backers, we analyzed the investment activities of all active VCs in this country for the period from January 2022 to June 2022. 

After that, we chose those that made one or more investments in startups in the first half of 2022, and conducted a survey among them. Relying on their answers, open source information, as well as Dealroom.com and Crunchbase data, we chose 5 backers that have led or joined at least one round in the six months of 2022. 

This ranking consists of profiles of the5 most active Slovak VC funds and shows information on the number of investments they made in total and within the period mentioned above, funding focus, ticket sizes, management team, and recently closed deals.

1. Neulogy Ventures

• Number of investments: 50 / 3 of them in H1 2022
• Managing Partner: Christian Mandl
• Fund size: €20 million
• Region: CEE, Slovakia
• Industries: cleantech, B2B SaaS, medtech, Mixed Reality. The fund mostly focuses on deeptech
• Investment stages: early stages
• Ticket size: €500,000-€3 million

The Bratislava-based Neulogy Ventures is one of the leading companies that specializes in technology commercialization in the CEE region. The VC fund focuses on early-stage investment in the form of seed capital, or venture capital for the later stages. Neulogy’s goal is to add value beyond financing, having a long-term, hands-on approach to investments.

Recent investments: GroupSolver, GA Drilling.

2. Zero Gravity Capital

• Number of investments: 19 / 3 of them in H1 2022
• Partners: Dušan Duffek, Marek Zamecnik, and Vít Hanuš
• Fund size: €23 million
• Region: Slovakia
• Industries: generalist
• Investment stages: pre-seed and seed 
• Ticket size: up to €200,000

Zero Gravity Capital is a VC fund that are looking for professionals or ambitious talents who have a knack for solving market failures and those who embody leadership and efficient problem-solving qualities. The VC fund focuses on companies from various industries, with global mindset and innovative, scalable business models to provide them with necessary capital combined with a hands-on approach.

Recent investments: jobno.one, Wewell, Patron.GO.

3. 365.fintech

• Number of investments: 16 / 3 of them in H1 2022
• Managing Director: Rudolf Vrabel
• Region: Slovakia, Europe
• Industries: B2B and B2C fintech, insurtech and big data startups
• Investment stages: seed
• Ticket size: €50,000-€500,000

365.fintech is a VC fund which aims to provide financing and operational support in various business aspects of early-stage European startups. The fund’s primary focus is on B2B and B2C fintech, insurtech, big data and business intelligence companies. As a part of the banking group, 365.fintech is able to facilitate the access to banking sectors for its fintechs.

Recent investments: Velaris, Ondato, Montonio.

4. Vision Ventures

• Number of investments: 19 / 2 of them in H1 2022
• Partners: Tomáš Bél and Gabriel Horvath
• Fund size: €11 million
• Region: Slovakia
• Industries: sector agnostic
• Investment stages: pre-seed and seed 
• Ticket size: €100,000-€1.6 million

Vision Ventures is the Bratislava-based Vision Ventures fund. It has generalist approach and invests across various industries, focusing on Slovakian companies that are aimed to scale internationally. The fund’s ticket is between €100,000 and €800,000, but the investment size depends mainly on the need for financing and the development stage of the company and can reach €1.6 million. By acquiring the stake in portfolio company, Vision Ventures intends to hold it for a longer period of time, from 3 to 8 years.

Recent investments: Sloneek, theshop.dev.

5. Eterus Capital

• Number of investments: 16 / 1 of them in H1 2022
• Investment Director: Martin Šmigura
• Fund size: €23 million
• Region: Slovakia
• Industries: generalist
• Investment stages: growth stages
• Ticket size: €500,000–€5 million

Founded in 2008, Eterus Capital is a Bratislava-based private equity fund that focuses on investments in growth-phase small and medium-sized companies. It invests only into minority positions and management control always remains in the hands of the original shareholders. The Eterus Capital also provides transaction advisory, securities trading, and asset management.

Recent investments: GroupSolver.

• Founded in 2019 by Martina Ivanova and Tomas Bukoven, Peelo develops a peel wax packaging for food, made of certified cotton, natural resin and coconut and jojoba oil. The result is a sustainable and ecological product that can be used repeatedly, washed and composted. 
• Peelo solution helps to reduce unnecessary disposable packaging and food waste in the home, which is often caused by improper storage. Since its launching, the company has acquired over 10,000 clients in Slovakia and Czech Republic.
• The fresh round was led by Rockstart, an early stage investor that empowers purpose-driven founders in energy, agrifood and emerging technologies. To date, Rockstart has invested in more than 300 startups, and its alumni value is more than $1 billion.
• Slovakian CB Investment Management fund, that co-led the round, focuses on fintech, agritech, healthtech, and ESG also participated. 
• Peelo will use the investment to enter 4 new markets until the end of 2022 (Denmark, Netherlands, Poland, and Hungary), further develop the products, and hire new team members in order to rapidly grow.

• Founded in 2015 by Barbara Fazekas, Kristof Bardos, and Peter Langmar, Green Fox Academy provides online and offline courses for junior programmers and Salesforce specialists. The company focuses on retraining courses, additional education programs, and corporate training programs in the IT sector. 
• Green Fox entered the Czech market in 2018, followed by Slovakia two years later. To date, since establishment, Green Fox has trained more than 4,000 IT specialists, and headquartered in Budapest, Prague, and Bratislava.
• Founded in 2014, Bratislava-based Sandberg Capital is a private equity firm. The company prefers to invest in IT, agriculture, retail, telecommunication, and education sector companies based in Slovakia and Czech Republic.
• The acquisition of a stake in Green Fox Academy is Sandberg Capital’s direct investment in Hungary. After the transaction, Sandberg Capital assumes the role of strategic investment partner in Green Fox Academy. The companies do not disclose the amount of the deal.
• The fresh deal will help to accelerate Green Fox Academy international expansion and to develop corporate services and courses.

• Founded in 2017 by Martin Herman, Robert Herman, Simon Rovder, Viktor Jurasek, Powerful Medical develops PMcardio, its flagship, AI-powered medical solution for interpreting ECGs and precisely diagnosing cardiovascular diseases.
• PMcardio can now accurately detect 38 cardiac diagnoses from a single ECG input. The app also provides precise, guideline-adherent treatment recommendations that help physicians make immediate medical decisions and correctly refer patients to secondary care.

“The PMcardio application will be officially launched in early 2023, but we are already seeing a lot of interest in our technology. This is confirmed by the fact that the pilot version of our digital platform is currently used internationally by more than 12,000 medical professionals”, 

said Martin Herman, CEO and co-founder of Powerful Medical.

• The fresh round was supported by Slovak investment fund CB ESPRI Impact One, Prague-based family office bpd partners, and Slovak Venture to Future Fund (VFF). 
• The proceeds will help Powerful Medical further develop its product, expand globally, as well as monetize PMcardio.

How does the Amazon humanitarian aid hub work

• A network of Amazon fulfillment centers across Europe is now preparing and delivering more than four million critical supplies donated by both Amazon and its customers—including shelter materials, hygiene items, blankets, and clothing.
• For those who want to help, Amazon has compiled lists of essential goods from Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
• After that, the Amazon Transportation Services team is shipping them to the new hub in Slovakia.
• From Slovakia, the humanitarian aid will be distributed throughout Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Moldova, and the Czech Republic to quickly help Ukrainian children and families in need.
• The distribution is carried out through charitable organizations Save The Children, the International Federation of Red Cross, and Red Crescent Societies.

AIN.Capital reminds that Amazon and AWS do not have data centers, infrastructure, or offices in Russia, and also adhere to the policy — not to do business with the Russian government.

Vacuumlabs is a software development company that builds modern full stack fintech solutions for startups, scale-ups, and incumbent banks. Among the projects in its portfolio are:

• MOX is Hong Kong-based first next-generation digital bank
• CO₂ 2030 calculator for Swedish fintech company Doconomy
• Yoroi, a wallet for Ada cryptocurrency and others

Vacuumlabs is headquartered in Bratislava, Slovakia, and has offices in the Czech Republic, Hungary, China, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Since 2012, when the company was founded, it has grown to 290 employees. Vacuumlabs specialists work with many tech stacks, including Kotlin, Python, Clojure, Golang, TypeScript, React, React Native, Swift, AWS, Terraform, Docker, and Kubernetes. The company says that it is ready to collaborate with developers from other fields, as well as to train talented engineers.

Currently, Vacuumlabs is entering the Ukrainian market and plans to hire over 100 Middle and Senior level professionals. They will be able to work remotely on the company’s projects together with colleagues from other countries and, if they wish, relocate to Bratislava, Prague, or Budapest. As the company notes, an office in Kyiv will also be opened, but later.

“Ukrainian developers are some of the best professionals in the IT market, being capable of working with the complex and interesting projects that we offer. We believe that we are very close culturally. That’s why we want to build the team and complement our projects with Ukrainian talents,” Matej Ftacnik, CEO of Vacuumlabs.