STARTGUIDE VC

🌟 Private Wealth Meets Venture Capital Growth 🌟 The venture capital landscape is evolving! 🚀 A new PitchBook analysis highlights how private wealth is unlocking unparalleled opportunities for growth in VC. Traditional barriers like high minimums and illiquidity are breaking down, thanks to: - Secondaries: More liquidity and quicker returns for cautious investors. 💸 - Evergreen Funds: Simplified, accessible investment models that offer periodic liquidity and diversified portfolios. 🌱 📈 STARTGUIDE VC Fund II " SGTwo" echoes this revolution, targeting early-stage CEE startups with a hands-on approach. By combining strategic mentorship and regional market advantages, we aim to deliver impactful returns while nurturing innovation. 🌍✨ Curious about the future of VC and how private wealth is reshaping the game? Read more in the latest report from PitchBook : https://lnkd.in/eScVg2sR #VentureCapital #PrivateWealth #Innovation #SGTwo #StartupGrowth #InvestmentOpportunities

💣Meet us at TRUESDAYS ! STARTGUIDE VC offers hands on support to its portfolio companies, but we like to share with the community as well. Hope to see you there!

What a busy month for our team! You could meet Seen Aquin Avila and Petr Jahn at the Wealth Forum. Jana Sedláková at Web Summit in Lisabon or at the #VelvetInnovationConference in Brno. And because we are always on a mission to find Europe's top talent, let's meet at Slush in Helsinki next week!

⭐️Our team and our newest colleague Jana Sedláková have been featured in The Recursive. Read how Jana, Seen and Petr see the market, VC investments in the region and what is in store fot STARTGUIDE VC’s second fund!

🏆 We’re thrilled to have partnered with GroupM to launch the #BusinessOpen startup competition, spotlighting innovative AI-driven startups in marketing making strides toward big business impact. 🤝 At STARTGUIDE VC, our goal is not only to help startups secure investment, but also to mentor them and let them grow with our hands on approach. Part of it is helping startups get insights and feedback from their target customers. ⭐ Together with GroupM we could champion the most exciting #adtech and #martech ventures on the Czech market and connect them with top marketing teams and provide strategic support. 🥇 Our expert jury—featuring Jan Los from L'Oréal, Renata Rosendorfska from GroupM, and our own Petr Jahn — chose Lakmoos AI as the winning startup. Lakmoos AI’s solution offers real-time market research through AI-simulated consumer behavior, proving invaluable for fast, actionable insights. 🙌 The jury awarded special recognition to White Label Loyalty for its adaptable platform with personalized campaigns, AI-driven analysis, and gamification. ⭐ Another special recognition went to Wantent, which uses advanced AI to gauge audience emotions through facial movements and micro-expressions. 👌 And last but not least - Forloop.ai's AI-powered market monitoring tool for FMCG brands and Boost.space's AI platform for data synchronization across cloud applications made an impression as well! Looking forward to the next event!

We missed one of our GPs, Seen Aquin Avila at our investment committee this week ⭐! He left for Milan for the Zero One Hundred Conferences in Milan! What are Seen's key insights regarding the evolving priorities in PE & VC? 1. Value Beyond Capital: LPs now favor GPs who deliver strategic guidance and operational expertise alongside funding, emphasizing partnerships that drive long-term value. 2. Sustainability & Digital as Value Drivers: ESG and digital transformation have moved from trends to essential strategies, marking a shift in what defines sustainable investment. 3. Undervalued Mediterranean Potential: Sectors like fintech, healthcare, and renewables in the Mediterranean offer rich, underexplored opportunities with fewer competing investors. And a shout out to Dominic Maier and Christiana Manzocco for a very interesting panel yesterday! The conference reinforced that adapting to these new expectations is crucial for future-ready, impactful investments.

Our General Partner, Seen Aquin Avila, will be attending the Zero One Hundred Conferences in Milan from October 28th to 30th! This premier event brings together LPs, GPs, and PE professionals to discuss the latest trends and opportunities in private equity and venture capital. If you’re attending and would like to connect with Seen for a chat over coffee, we’d love to hear from you. Reach out to schedule a meeting. 🚀☕ #0100Conference #VentureCapital #LP #GP #StartGuide #FamilyOffice #FoF

🚀 Tuesday night was a celebration of an exciting milestone: the launch of SGTwo, StartGuide's second fund, dedicated to early-stage startups in Central and Eastern Europe! Introduced by our GPs - Petr Jahn, Seen Aquin Avila and Jana Sedláková, surrounded by partners, investors, and friends, we unveiled our €25 million fund, ready to drive growth across sectors like Healthtech, Fintech, and Cybersecurity and AI powered startups. These sectors were also represented in our panel discussion by some of the startups StartGuide has already invested in - BinarBase and Carebot SGTwo builds on the momentum of SGOne. Over the past 1.5 years, SGOne has invested €1.6 million across 13 startups, each receiving 10-15 hours of dedicated support monthly. This approach has driven some very nice results of more thatn a 25% follow-on rate — highlighting the impact of a hands-on approach that’s about much more than capital. SGTwo will take this model even further, targeting 35-40 high-potential startups with the same level of dedicated mentorship, strategic advice, and network access. Tuesday night was a powerful reminder of the community we’re building, one that’s here to create meaningful impact, not just in numbers but in real relationships and shared goals. 💼🌍 Here’s to the journey ahead with SGTwo and to shaping the future of innovation, together!

🔥 𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲’𝐬 𝐕𝐂 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐁𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐚𝐧 & 𝐂𝐄𝐄 Join us today for a virtual 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐀𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐕𝐂 𝐏𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 featuring 𝟔 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬 that will be presenting their strategies and vision, focused on the 𝐁𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐚𝐧 & 𝐂𝐄𝐄. 🕒 The event kicks off at 𝟑 𝐏𝐌 𝐂𝐄𝐓, providing a unique platform for leading VC funds to showcase their approach to investing in one of the most promising markets. 𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭: 🔹Lighthouse Ventures is an early-stage VC, focused on technology projects with global vision. Their mission is to nurture inspiring ideas throughout their critical early-stage, financially as well as professionally, with an international team of partners bringing together expertise in entrepreneurship, startup mentoring, mergers and acquisitions, media and marketing. 🔹Nesprit is driving clean innovation by actively supporting and investing in the most outstanding early-stage teams, and sectors like ClimateTech, WaterTech, FoodTech, and IIoT. At Nesprit, they are driven by the simple idea of leveraging technology and innovation to foster growth and sustainability in Central and Eastern Europe's emerging markets. 🔹Sunfish Partners is investing at the intersection of three massive opportunities: CEE, DeepTech, and early-stage. Sunfish CEE II is the second fund of an accomplished German-Polish team. The new fund is doubling down on the proven strategy from their first fund, a portfolio with 16 exceptional startups at the forefront of technological innovation. 🔹STARTGUIDE VC is a VC fund dedicated to empowering early-stage digital startups in the CEE region, with a particular focus on sectors like FinTech, Enterprise Software, HealthTech, IoT, and B2B SaaS. StartGuide is more than just an investor - strategic partners dedicated to turning innovative ideas into market-leading companies. 🔹Fifth Quarter Ventures is the premier early-stage VC for startups in the Adriatic region. With extensive capital allocation and operational expertise, they strive to be the first significant institutional investor in our portfolio companies, leading funding rounds and securing a board seat to ensure we can contribute meaningfully to their long-term success. 🔹GapMinder VC is an early-stage VC fund, igniting the next wave of DeepTech and SaaS born in South Eastern Europe and diaspora. The team is rolling up their sleeves and helps start-ups scale in the US and other large markets. They are growing disruptive technologies, daring ideas and strong leaders, and we value creativity, value creation and the potential of the businesses to impact markets. 🔗𝐉𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲: https://lu.ma/fq57z8w5 With over 𝟏𝟏𝟎+ 𝐋𝐏𝐬 already attending, this is your chance to connect with top investors and discover the future of venture capital in the Balkan & CEE regions. We look forward to seeing you there! 🎉

Taking on a new role is always a bit of a leap – it's that balance between the fear of failure and the excitement of what could be. This year has thrown its fair share of challenges at me, both personally and professionally, but I’m thrilled to announce something exciting amidst it all. Alongside my role as a partner at SEDLAKOVA LEGAL, I’ve taken on a new challenge as the General Partner of STARTGUIDE VC. StartGuide is currently launching its second fund, focusing on digitally-driven startups, and I couldn’t be more excited to help these companies grow. What drew me to this role wasn’t just my love for technology (because let’s be honest, that’s a given in the VC world these days 😃). It was also the opportunity to take my support for female founders to the next level. I believe in backing businesses that make a difference and in empowering those who often face more barriers than others. This new role allows me to do just that. Here’s to the next chapter – to building, scaling, and supporting the future of innovation.