ZAKA VC unveils first fund at €15m to support early-stage startups in US and Europe

Prague and London-based ZAKA VC (ZAKA), has established its first fund (ZAKA VC Fund I) at €15 million to support early-stage startups in US and Europe.

Founded in 2020, ZAKA started as a family office investing purely private money in pre-seed and seed startups. Since then, it has grown with more than 55 invested companies worldwide in its portfolio and over €11 million invested. To mention some of the notable investments of ZAKA include: ExcepGen, Sensible Biotechnologies, Miros.ai, Supliful, Lime Therapeutics, Webel.

Back in its beginnings, ZAKA primarily focused on its domestic CEE market but over time, it expanded its presence to the UK and US. Unlike most of CEE based funds, ZAKA’s focus is to explore and fund the European diaspora in US, US-based teams, or CEE-based teams with the ambition to scale to US. The demand from external investors to co-invest alongside ZAKA led to creation of its first venture capital fund. The ZAKA VC Fund I sized €15 million is now starting with a €10.5 million first closing in July 2024 with a minimum LP ticket of €130k for qualified investors only.

The story of ZAKA goes back to family businesses of Jan Kasper and Peter Zalesak. They have built and co-own over 60 companies boasting a turnover exceeding €1.4 billion in multiple sectors like retail, media, mobility, energy, development, agro, leisure and hospitality. ZAKA was founded as a synergistic add-on, expanding their activities to the venture capital asset class and being closer to the frontier of innovation in the rapidly changing economy.

Jan Kasper, Co-founder and Managing Partner, ZAKA: ''The trigger to create ZAKA was my daughter Valentina who has introduced me to the emerging startup ecosystem. I recognized this opportunity as an exciting way to invest the capital we generated in our family businesses. I suggested this idea to my friend and fellow entrepreneur Peter who has always been a tech and innovation enthusiast.''

Peter Zalesak, Co-founder and Partner, ZAKA: ''Even before founding ZAKA, I invested and helped startups, but I realized that it was full-time business. After conversations with Jan, we decided to do it professionally – to hire the right team and establish rules and processes for selection, evaluation, approval and managing the best companies that are emerging around us.''

The investment team of ZAKA, next to its founders Kasper and Zalesak, is complemented by former VCs, founders, venture builders and tech enthusiasts such as Andrej Petrus (Newton Venture Fellow, Forbes 30u30) and Jan Buza (multiple co-founder and business developer with previous VC experience).

With purely private money, the family office has invested in 55+ which made it stand out as one of the most active VC family offices in Europe. Its strong network of investors, venture partners and scouts led to the ability to co-invest alongside top lead investors and sharing cap tables with funds such as First Round Capital, Y Combinator, General Catalyst, BlueYard, Pioneer Fund, Sam Altman`s Apollo Fund and many more.

Andrej Petrus, Head of Investment Committee, ZAKA VC: ''Two interesting factors led us to the conclusion to double down on early stage investing in the coming years and to enlarge our capital base. Firstly, there is a strong disbalance between demand and supply of early-stage funding worldwide, compared to the peak in 2021. Capital is scarce but the number of new first time or repeating founders is increasing. The second and more exciting factor is a new technology paradigm. Advancements in AI are opening new, previously non-viable business cases across all sectors. Analog to the mobile and cloud era, we believe that current years will create new, category defining future decacorns in the AI space.''

The venture capital fund aims to invest in pre-seed and seed-staged startups across Europe (predominantly Central Europe, Baltics, UK, DACH) and the US, acting as a co-investor, with the ability to co-lead. The main investment focus is on B2B software, cross-sectional application of AI in B2B and biotech and health tech.

''US ecosystem remains in our interest, and we plan to enhance our presence there. It produces highly competent and motivated founders and offers a huge market to conquer. This is why the investment returns are extremely compelling, despite higher valuations compared to the CEE region, '' says Kasper.

Bridging the eastern and western VC markets, ZAKA believes to be a strong partner for ambitious founders as well as for investors eager to discover new opportunities.

www.zaka.vc

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