Bulgarian VC firm Eleven Ventures has today announced its Eleven Fund III which will bring €60 million investment to South-Eastern Europe.
Established in 2012 by Daniel Tomov and Ivaylo Simov, who were later joined by Bulgarian tech entrepreneur Vassil Terziev, as an early-stage VC firm, focusing on the SEE region. Eleven Ventures supports tech companies in five priority verticals – fintech, health, future of food, future of work and comm tech. The firm has been a key part of developing the SEE startup ecosystem, investing in the likes of Payhawk and Gtmhub.
The tech industry in South-Eastern Europe is on the rise and accelerating fast. It’s claimed that the region raised €2.25 billion in 210 deals over the past year. This latest fund closed by Eleven Ventures is their third and is 10x the size of the previous fund, raised in 2018 – showing a demonstrable growth in the region and a considerable commitment from the firm towards supporting even more activity.
The firm has already made 7 new investments from the new fund, including the Romanian Frisbo (Ecomtech), ProductLead (Ecomtech) and SuperOkay (Future of Work), the Greek Biopix (Healthcare) and the Bulgarian PlanDelta (Future of Work), Metasim (Future of Work) and BeMe (Healthcare).
Eleven Ventures aims to bring authentic and genuine value to the table, looking for innovative companies that will go on to conquer global markets. Eleven has been instrumental in catalysing the SEE region’s startup ecosystem. In its IPO in March 2020 – the first-ever for a VC fund in the region – the firm listed its first fund with over 20 portfolio companies on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange under the Eleven Capital public entity.
Ivalyo Simov, founding partner at Eleven Ventures, said: “Our job is to seek out the local heroes in Southeast Europe and give everything we have to support their growth and global outreach. We’re trying to inspire the local entrepreneurial community to look beyond the region’s ecosystem and have more daring aspirations.”
About 80% of the new fund’s backers are repeat investors, including EIF, and the funds LP-base includes over 60 individuals that bring a wealth of experience to the table, including deep global networks and decades of entrepreneurial experience. These experts are not ‘passive’ LPs either, with many offering follow-on funding, mentoring, support, and network access to Eleven Ventures’ portfolio companies.
Alain Godard, Chief Executive at EIF (the European Investment Fund) commented: “Fostering innovation is a priority for the European Union in order to improve well-being and drive prosperity. We are pleased to continue our partnership with Eleven Ventures and proud to back their third fund which invests in the next generation of technology innovators and entrepreneurs of South Eastern Europe.”
2020 was a massive year for European tech. Funds such as this one will prove instrumental in ensuring that Europe’s tech and startup ecosystem continues to thrive.
