Today Austrian firm Elevator Ventures launched EV II, a €70 million VC fund investing in innovative Series A and B companies.
Founded in 2018, Elevator Ventures aims to bridge financing gaps and to foster innovation by elevating the growth of startups in fintech and Beyond Banking — a platform-based business approach, financial services are provided in an integrated suite through an ecosystem of different service providers in areas like mobility, energy, agriculture and others.
The fund includes participation by RBI, Raiffeisen-Holding Niederösterreich-Wien and Raiffeisen-Landesbank Steiermark, Over the last years, Elevator Ventures invested in a portfolio of 15 companies, including in investment banking (vestr), e-signature & identification (Autenti) and RegTech (Kompany). Its celebrated three successful exits: FinCompare, Kompany and Twisto.
In parallel to its direct investments, it has also invested as a Fund of Funds into the Fintech Growth Fund Europe managed by Speedinvest. FGFE's investments include Bitpanda, Wayflyer and Moove. Raiffeisenlandesbank Niederösterreich-Wien is the first bank to use Bitpanda's Crypto as a Service platform to offer crypto trading services to its clients.
According to the firm:
"The maturing tech ecosystem in Austria and Central and Eastern Europe. Central and Eastern Europe has become Europe's fastest emerging startup ecosystem with amazing talent and founders. However, the region still lacks the attention and funding resources of other more mature regions such as Western Europe and North America.
To fill this gap, we believe that corporates play an important role in financing the growth phase of startup development. Elevator Ventures, with the backing of its LP base, will continue to do their part in promoting innovation in the region."
Lead image: Elevator Ventures. Photo: uncredited.
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