ZAKA VC, a European venture capital firm with an international portfolio of over 60 companies, has announced its expansion into North America, establishing a presence in Silicon Valley. This strategic move is led by Filip Orth, who joins ZAKA as Principal, overseeing operations in the US and Canada.

AIN asked Filip Orth about ZAKA’s main goals and plans in the region, as well his opinion on how the fund will help startups from the CEE region with international expansion.

  1. What are ZAKA VC’s main goals for its expansion into North America?

One of our goals is to expand our portfolio of North American startups, which currently comprise one third of our portfolio. Among our long-term goals is to fully support European entrepreneurs on their international journey, particularly their expansion to North America.

  1. How will the North American office help European startups with expansion, and what impact do you expect to have on these startups?

As we did in the past, do today and will continue in future, our North American office is going to be active in building and strengthening crucial relationships with the local ecosystem in order to provide as much insight and resources to our portfolio companies, which are either already here or intend on entering this market. 

We have a very close relationship with our portfolios and hence our physical presence will make it easier for them to navigate the North American market. Because our fund is active in both geographies we will offer this "helping hand" to potential portfolios as well, which will bring them a great advantage if already present at either or both markets.

  1. ZAKA VC has already invested in several North American startups. What advantages does having a permanent presence in Silicon Valley bring to the fund and its portfolio companies?

There's always an advantage with having a physical presence in a given geography, not just holding a mere virtual address. As it's in the case of the VC world, the interaction between a VC and the founding team requires a certain degree of confidentiality and trust. Our permanent presence in Silicon Valley shows our seriousness about this market and our current portfolio companies that we are focused to continue their support here in their vicinity, not only from our European headquarters. Whether it's through the crucial networking aspect or simply being able to have an immediate reach within Silicon Valley, which is a global startup hub.

  1. What are the biggest challenges European startups face when trying to enter the US and Canadian markets, and how will ZAKA VC plan to help them overcome these hurdles?

Typically, European startups are not as familiar with the North American market prior to expanding here and hence we can help them with a softer landing when arriving to such a big but also complex-to-navigate market as North America is. Whether it may be navigating the given ecosystem, having the right introductions or actively fundraising in subsequent rounds. All of these come fast and startups don't have the time nor resources to deal with them on their own while they're busy with operations. This is where the VC should come into play to support.

  1. Given your background in venture capital and international startup sales, how will your experience shape ZAKA’s strategy in North America?

I'm determined to leverage my early stage VC experience in order to identify truly promising but disruptive ventures, which are led by determined founders with a long-term vision. Since our strategy is focusing on early stage startups, the potential lies in the founder/founding team including their vision.

In the beginnings of a startup you can only identify the non-monetary aspects to determine whether they will later have a promising monetary success as well. Having hands-on experience in working with startups whether from the fundraising side or the building side, ZAKA's strategy will be shaped by a proactive support of existing as well as future portfolios.

  1. Will there be any changes to ZAKA’s investment strategy in the region? Will ZAKA’s core focus on healthcare, life sciences, and deep tech remain the same?

No particular changes, ZAKA will continue its focus on the aforementioned domains of HealthTech and Life Sciences, DeepTech, and Industrial Tech, all while of course exploring other sectors as well and hence being opportunistically sector agnostic.

  1. Lastly, how do you see the relationship between the European and North American startup ecosystems evolving in the coming years? What opportunities excite you the most?

The relationship between the European and North American startup ecosystems is certainly unique. You often see expansionary efforts with a direction from Europe towards North America but as it is the case with Healthtech related startups for instance, you can also spot the opposite and in such cases we're happy to be present in both markets. That way we're leveraging our unique set of skills and knowledge from both geographies. I think the evolutions of these two ecosystems in the coming years is going to be particularly influenced by the evergrowing AI. 

Nonetheless North America will still be a milestone wanted by international founders, however Europe will have an important role as it's the case with Biotech for instance, where much research is being conducted.

Opportunities, which I look forward to are within the deeptech space (not only in the global AI landscape with regards to the agentic AI or the much awaited AGI) certainly but my interest also expands to the constantly evolving quantum computing and robotics.

About ZAKA VC

ZAKA VC is one of the most active VC family offices—turned VC fund—in Europe. 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.

Its recent portfolio includes Spanish platform Webel, German startup ExoMatter, as well as American biotech companies Lime Therapeutics and Eigen Therapeutics

Read more: We are preparing a new fund in 2024, sized between €12-15M.” Interview with Jan Kasper from ZAKA VC

Jan Kasper