We write the first check for AI and resilience founders in Central, Eastern and Northern Europe.
We invest at pre-seed and seed in the AI and resilience software that keeps Europe independent. Central and Eastern Europe has strong technical founders, but little early capital and few experienced operators to help them. We write the first institutional check, then put our operators to work on each company’s go-to-market from the day we invest, so more of them reach Series A.
Building software costs much less than five years ago. Selling it does not. Most early companies get stuck on sales and distribution, and that is where we help.
A venture firm that puts technology first.
Our partners use software built on our own data: more than 2,600 companies we screened from 2023 to 2025, and what we decided on each. Our test is simple: does a partner using it make better decisions than without it?
For investors in our fund, this means: partners see more companies, so we choose from more. We decide faster, so we win rounds other funds also want. And each company gets more go-to-market help, which helps it raise its next round.
Who runs the firm, and how decisions get made.
Nine years in corporate finance, then 500 Startups in San Francisco. Built three companies and sold one. Founded BADideas in 2022 and grew its syndicate to 38 companies, including the hotel-pricing software company RoomPriceGenie, acquired in January 2025 at €75M.
Three-time founder with one exit. More than 40 angel investments across CEE and West Africa. Based in Atlanta, he helps our companies meet US investors, raise follow-on rounds and sell in the US. Leads our investment process, from first screen to decision.
Co-founder and former COO of Printify (Riga, 2015). Its backers included Index Ventures, Virgin Group, H&M Group, Will Smith’s Dreamers VC and Google AdSense pioneer Gokul Rajaram. In 2024 it merged with Printful, which was valued at over $1B in 2021. More than 25 early-stage investments, including Nordigen, Revolut and OpenSea. Part of BADideas since its first syndicate deals in 2022.
A BADideas member since 2022. Co-founded Nordigen, the pan-European open-banking API. After GoCardless bought Nordigen, he became VP of Connectivity there. The Dutch payments group Mollie bought GoCardless in 2026 for about €1.05B. Owns all technology at BADideas, so a small team can do the work of a much larger one.
Each investment has one deal lead who backs it and runs the process. The investment committee makes the final decision. A team in four countries checks each company before we invest.
Operators who scaled Zendesk, Square and Scale AI work on our founders’ go-to-market.
How Fund I is structured and run.
A Latvian alternative investment fund with the state development finance institution ALTUM as anchor investor. Its manager is registered with the Bank of Latvia.
Reach a partner directly.
We work with a small group of institutional investors, family offices and strategic partners. If we have spoken, or someone we both know pointed you here, request the materials and a named partner will follow up.