In a nutshell
- Sofia-based BrightCap Ventures has closed the first closing of a new fund targeting €60 million.
- The new funding will be invested in founders in South-Eastern Europe to help them expand into Western European and US markets.
- Ticket sizes range from €400,000 to €3 million and are aimed at the pre-seed and seed stages.
Learn more
BrightCap’s Fund I portfolio has successfully closed five of its 22 investments, raising more than $150 million in follow-on capital.
The firm’s investments include LucidLink, a storage collaboration platform that recently raised $75 million in Series C funding; Pliant, an IT infrastructure automation company that was acquired by IBM earlier this year; and Enview, a pioneer in scalable AI for 3D spatial data, which was acquired by Matterport.
The fund will prioritise three key areas: future of work, digital health and fintech.
Why is this important?
BrightCap’s goal now is to cover a larger geographic area, support it with larger investments and participate in more follow-on rounds, representatives from The Recursive said.
In their words, “The technical talent is world-class and founders are more efficient at using the capital they raise.” According to a McKinsey study In particular, B2B startups from Eastern and Southern Europe boast the highest efficiency rates, earning five times more return per equity investment than US startups.
Interestingly, BrightCap II is a VC firm with a majority of general partners who are women: Diana Stefanova joined the team as a full-time partner after 16 years at VMware.
The fund combines public capital from the Recovery and Resilience Fund (RRF) administered by the EIF with more than 30% private capital from new and existing private and corporate investors.
In Their Own Words
“We are excited to continue partnering with incredible entrepreneurs from the region and abroad. The first few investments of Fund II are already in the final stages and we can’t wait to share with you what we’ve been working on once we’re closed,” said Elina Kharatcheva.
Georgi Mitov added: “BrightCap II is an exciting new step for our company – it is bigger, broader in scope and has even greater ambitions than our first fund. At the same time, our philosophy has remained the same since day one: working with highly technical founders with expertise and global reach. This positions us firmly in the AI era, where opportunities seem to be everywhere, but lasting tech winners will be built by the few.”
“The technology industry is at a critical juncture. With BrightCap II, we have the opportunity to acquire and nurture the region’s next generation of category-defining companies into success. I look forward to using my technology experience to help SEE startups scale their businesses and reach global markets,” concludes Diana Stefanova.
