Eastern Europe's first solo GP venture fund, Underline Ventures, achieves $20M target

Underline Ventures, Eastern Europe’s first solo GP venture fund has announced today the final close of its first fund at $20 million. The vehicle is aimed at supporting some 20 early-stage startups established by Eastern European founders, offering an average ticket size of $500,000.

Tech.eu first reported on How to Web founder Bogdan Iordache’s initiative in July 2022. At the time, Iordache stated that the fund had raised half of its targeted $20 million.

Iordache shared:

“We are lucky to partner with investors who have a deep conviction that Eastern European founders can build significant technology businesses, despite the current macro environment.

“We know founders fundraising in this climate have to show a lot of resilience - while this may be a difficult start, on the long run it can be a great way to start.”

Closed and beginning deployment

Backed by over 30 founders and early-stage operators from companies including UiPath, Telerik, Green Horse Games, Bitdefender, FintechOS, MultiversX, MorphL, Smartbill, as well as family offices and funds of funds, Underline Ventures has invested in seven investments thus far:

From Romania; Agtech startup Sera, e-commerce video infrastructure startup Videowise, business data enrichment startup Veridion, people intelligence platform Nestor, legal compliance outfit Goodlegal. 

From Croatia: hosptech firm turneo. 

From Serbia: team online research organisation platform Collabwriting.

While Iordache says that the fund is vertical agnostic, he notes that particular attention is being placed on founders who have a global mindset from the very beginning and operating in the fields of enterprise automation, AI, cybersec, industrialtech, defence, and climatetech.

Full service support

Beyond capital, Underline Ventures offers an in-house support system comprised of recruitment services via Ioana Patran, ex-Microsoft, communication management with the help of ex-How to Web & Pago team member Adriana Spulber, growth advice via former UiPath head of growth marketing and marketing automation Vlad Ionescu, financial planning and fundraising with UiPath CIO Mihai Faur, and integrated marketing strategy with the help of Ioana Serban, ex-FintechOS.

“Our platform is not a checkbox, but part of our core strategy at Underline. We want to help founders address some of the key operational hurdles they face, on their own terms, either with the support of our team or by leveraging our extensive network,” concluded Iordache. 

Find out more about Underline Ventures and the road to raising $20 million amidst global crises in Bogdan Iordache's exclusive Tech.eu guest contributor post, A walk through hell: How Eastern Europe’s first solo GP venture fund Underline Ventures raised $20M

Lead image: The Underline Ventures team. Photo: Uncredited.