Bulgarian seed stage VC fund LAUNCHub Ventures has closed its new €18 million to invest in startups in Bulgaria and Southeast Europe.
Lyuben Belov, one of the firm’s cofounders, said that the region is underserved when it comes to funding: “Our strategy is to become the obvious first choice for entrepreneurs in our region.”
With this, its second fund, the Sofia-based firm will invest anywhere between €300,000 and €700,000 per company, and in some cases up to €2 million, whether it’s a new investment or supporting an existing portfolio startup. It previously ran a €9 million fund for pre-seed deals.
Investors in the fund include the European Investment Fund (EIF), the founders of Bulgarian software company Telerik, and a number of other investors whose names have not been disclosed. LAUNCHub is headed up by Belov, Todor Breshkov, Rumen Iliev, Stanislav Sirakov, and Stephane Gantchev.
“LAUNCHub largely contributed to the growth of the Bulgarian and regional startup ecosystems,” said Svetozar Georgiev, cofounder of Telerik, which was acquired by Progress in 2014. “We are happy to participate in this growth, standing just right to LAUNCHub in a desire to support, inspire and grow this community.”
LAUNCHub’s portfolio currently features companies in an assorted set of fields, such as combat sports streaming service Fite and Doctrian, a platform for connected pharmacies with pharma companies.
Its latest investment is in fintech startup HiCharlie, based in San Francisco but founded by two Bulgarians.
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