Operating from Prague and London, ZAKA VC has announced the establishment of its first fund, sized at €15 million to support early-stage startups across the US and EU markets. The main investment focus is on cross-sectional application of AI in B2B, biotech, and health tech.
About ZAKA VC:
- Founded in 2020 by seasoned entrepreneurs Jan Kasper and Peter Zalesak, ZAKA VC has started as a family office investing private money in pre-seed and seed startups. Now, its team consists of 6 core members, with more than 55 invested companies worldwide in their portfolio, and over €11 million invested.
- Among its investments are ExcepGen, Sensible Biotechnologies, Miros.ai, Supliful, Lime Therapeutics, Webel, Eigen Therapeutics. Initially, ZAKA VC focused primarily on the Central and Eastern European market but has since expanded its presence to the UK and US. Now, ZAKA VC is alsodedicated to the European diaspora in the US, US-based teams, and CEE-based teams with plans to scale to the US.
ZAKA team
The fresh €15 million fund:
- ZAKA claims that the demand from external investors to co-invest alongside ZAKA led to creation of its first venture capital fund. 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 €130,000 for qualified investors only.
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, —
Jan Kasper, сo-founder and Managing Partner of ZAKA, commented.
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, biotech, and health tech.
