The VC which backed such a startups as Socure (raised $741.9M) and Cornerstone OnDemand (now NASDAQ:CSOD) is launching a new fund to support startups in Central Europe. To date the new “ff Red & White” fund from ff Venture Capital has closed €32 million so far, with a final target of €60 million later this year.
The new New York-and-Warsaw-based VC fund will focus on Series A and late seed investments in startups tackling areas such as enterprise software, industrial tech, and sustainability transformation.
The ff Red & White fund will be a partnership with JBIC IG Partners, a Japanese investment advisory firm, which has helped secure several Japanese multinational corporations and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Japan’s policy-based financial institution.
The fund aims to hunt down Central European startups able to leverage their expertise in supply chain management, energy shortages, inflation control, and reducing carbon emissions.
Two new Japanese partners, Masayuki Ohta and Taro Hizume, both from JBIC IG Partners, will relocate to Warsaw as part of the move.
Maciej Skarul, partner at ffVC said in s statement: “This fund will open up a previously unexplored market for Central European startups, and grants Japanese corporations access to cutting-edge European frontier enterprise technologies.”
ffVC launched its first CEE-focused in 2020. It now has a portfolio of nearly 20 European companies. This new fund will focus on startups from Germany, Austria, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary.
Founded in New York in 2008, ffVC has a global portfolio of more than 90 companies, and had over 30 exits.
Masayuki Ohta, partner at ffVC added: “JBIC IG Partners has identified Central European startups as ideal partners for Japanese multinationals, given the similarity of the economic structures they operate in, the issues they are trying to solve, and the problem-solving profile of its founders.”
He added that with its presence on the ground on both sides of the Atlantic ffVC plans to build this new connection between Europe and Japan.
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