Polish Czysta3.vc fund on track for a record year
Czysta3.vc, one of the most active early-stage VC funds in CEE, has made its 25th investment & plans to make another 17 by the end of 2022.
Czysta3.vc – a Polish venture capital fund with a capitalization of €11M – invests the average ticket of €250k. After catching the momentum during the Covid-19 pandemic it’s increasing the pace year by year. In 2019 – 5 investments were made, in 2020 – 10 and this year it’s aiming at 15, which makes it one of the most active early-stage VCs not just in Poland, but in the whole CEE scene.
2021 should be the most challenging years for us. During first three quarters we’ve made 10 investments & still our pipeline is full of interesting start-ups. We plan to invest approximately 4 million euro by the end of 2022. With our scope the average ticket of 250k euro is enough in Poland to build an MVP & get first revenues
– says Szymon Janiak, co-founder & managing partner at Czysta3.VC
Czysta3.VC invests mainly in the seed or pre-seed stage. The common elements that connect all start-ups in the portfolio are software and the internet as the main field of activity. Recently fund invested in INKsearch – a platform that offers reservation systems for tattoo studios & marketplace for artists & customers. Founders of the company launched online consultations, which lead to nearly 1 million users. It also invested in Sunmetric, Rating Captain or Staffly. The next 2 agreements should be signed no later than the end of November.
We follow our unique strategy with a bit more risk-averse approach in comparison to typical VC. We’re not chasing unicorns. We want our portfolio to be consistent yet diversified in terms of business models & verticals. Some of our companies have reached break-even point after 2 years on the market. We aim at 5-7x CoC in a relatively short time
– adds Szymon Janiak.
The Fund has been launched in January 2019 & already made its first exit. Semoni – a company using AI for unstructured data analysis, was sold to a strategic investor. The next partial exit is planned for the upcoming quarter.
After 2 years our startups generated over 5 million revenue & some of them are already profitable. The forecast for 2021 indicates that our assets are growing rapidly which is proven based on Q3 results. Intense cooperation with the founders succeeds in great numbers, so we’re truly happy about it.
– explains Janiak.
Polish VC market is extremely competitive so general approach to start a fund & seek for innovative companies is clearly outdated. Fund needs to be specialized in particular niche and offer added value to LPs.
The team plans to continue its strategy oriented at internet ventures. The scope of interest includes such sectors as Martech, Fintech, Proptech, HRtech, Cloud or E-commerce. The next investment should be announced within a few next days.