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Top 10 Active Poland Investors in 2025: Complete Guide for Founders

Deqian Jia
Deqian Jia
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Poland InvestorsCEE InvestorsFundraisingVenture CapitalStartups

Poland's VC scene in 2025 is busy. Reports from PFR Ventures and Inovo show over €100M+ being invested per quarter and ~30 local funds still actively doing new deals after a big shake-out of older, publicly-backed funds. (grupapfr.pl)

But from a founder's POV the real question is simple:

Who should I actually talk to, and how do I not waste 6 months on the wrong investors?

This guide focuses on 10 of the most active, high-reputation investors that are genuinely relevant for Polish founders in 2025. All of them are either headquartered in Poland or have a strong, on-the-ground Central European strategy with real Polish portfolios.

When preparing your pitch, having a professional data room is essential. Peony helps Polish startups organize investor materials with AI-powered document organization, track investor engagement with page-level analytics, and securely share sensitive financial and operational data. With transparent pricing at $40/user/month, Peony delivers enterprise-grade secure data rooms without the $5,000-20,000 per-deal costs of legacy platforms.

We'll cover:

  1. How to pick the right Poland investors
  2. 10 key funds — who they are, what they like, and how to know if you're a fit
  3. 5 tactical tips for pitching Polish & CEE-focused VCs

1. How to Pick the Right Investors in Poland (2025 Reality Check)

1. Understand how "active" the fund really is

Poland had more than 100+ VC vehicles at the peak. A big chunk of them were backed by public money (PFR, NCBR, etc.) and many are now out of their investment period. By mid-2025, investors estimate only a bit over 30 Polish VC funds are still actively doing new deals. (LinkedIn)

So before you chase a fund:

  • Check their latest deals / portfolio news (website, LinkedIn, Crunchbase, Dealroom, PFR reports).
  • Look for 2023–2025 investments, not just a nice looking portfolio page.
  • Confirm they've raised a fresh fund recently (e.g. OTB's $185M Fund II, Movens' €60M Fund II, bValue Growth, etc.). (Vestbee)

If the last new deal is from 2021, treat them as "nice for intros and advice," not core to your raise.

2. Map yourself on three dimensions

For Polish investors, the filters are usually:

  • Stage

    • Pre-seed / seed specialists (Inovo, SMOK, Innovation Nest, Market One Capital, SpeedUp). (PitchBook)
    • Multi-stage funds (Movens, bValue, ffVC, OTB, Black Pearls). (Movens Capital)

  • Sector focus

    • Deeptech / real-tech: OTB, Black Pearls, SpeedUp, bValue Growth. (OTB Ventures)
    • B2B SaaS / marketplaces: Inovo, Market One Capital, Innovation Nest, Movens. (Inovo)
    • Software / gaming / devtools: SMOK, ffVC. (SMOK Ventures)

  • Geography

    • Some funds are "Poland-plus-CEE" (Inovo, Movens, SMOK, OTB, ffVC, Black Pearls, SpeedUp). (Poland startup map)
    • Others are pan-European but Polish-rooted (Innovation Nest, Market One Capital, OTB). (Innovation Nest)

You'll move faster if you only target funds that explicitly invest:

  • At your stage,
  • In your sector,
  • With Poland/CEE clearly in scope.

3. Use Poland-specific discovery tools

On top of Crunchbase / PitchBook / LinkedIn, there are a few ecosystem-native tools you should absolutely use:

  • PFR Ventures reports – quarterly breakdowns of who is actually doing deals in Poland. (pfrventures.pl)
  • Dealroom Poland map – interactive map of Polish startups & investors, filterable by stage & sector. (Dealroom.co)
  • Lists like Seedtable / Shizune / Vestbee / BaseTemplates – ranked lists of active Polish funds, often updated 2024–2025. (Shizune)

Treat those as a sanity check against this article and to discover niche funds beyond the top 10.

2. Top 10 Active Poland Investors in 2025 (Who They Are & When to Pitch)

Quick note: ordering is roughly by visibility & perceived reputation among founders / ecosystem watchers in 2024–2025, not by AUM.

1. Inovo Venture Partners (Inovo.vc)

  • HQ: Warsaw
  • Stage: Pre-seed, Seed, early Series A (PitchBook)
  • Typical check: Up to ~€4M initial, with follow-ons. (Poland startup map)
  • Focus: Ambitious CEE founders (often Polish) building global B2B or marketplace plays.

Inovo is widely seen as the flagship Polish early-stage fund. It's repeatedly highlighted in PFR/Inovo's own market outlook as one of the key drivers of the local ecosystem, and has won "VC House of the Year" from the Polish PE/VC Association. (Wikipedia)

The fund has been very active even in a slower funding environment: their 2024 update mentions 14 new portfolio companies in 2024, beating their own target. (Medium)

Best fit if:

  • You're a CEE founder with real traction (revenue / strong growth) at pre-seed or seed.
  • You're targeting a large global market (SaaS, marketplace, AI-driven tools, etc.).
  • You're okay with a hands-on partner that will push you on metrics, fundraising, and execution.

How to approach them: Warm intros via existing portfolio founders perform best. They're also fairly transparent about portfolio and team on their site — study who led companies similar to yours and reach out precisely.

2. Market One Capital

  • HQ: Warsaw & Barcelona
  • Stage: Seed & early Series A (Market One Capital)
  • Ticket: ~€0.5–2M
  • Focus: Marketplaces, platforms, and network-effects businesses across Europe.

Market One is the reference investor in marketplaces coming out of CEE, with early bets on Docplanner, Brainly, and other category leaders. (Vestbee)

They're ex-founders themselves and very opinionated about network effects, liquidity, and unit economics. If you're marketplaces / SaaS with strong retention and repeat behavior, they're worth prioritising.

Best fit if:

  • You're building something with network effects (supply/demand, B2B networks, infra platforms).
  • You're past "idea" stage with some marketplace liquidity or SaaS usage pattern emerging.
  • You want a partner who deeply understands marketplace playbooks.

3. SMOK Ventures

  • HQ: Warsaw (US-Polish fund)
  • Stage: Pre-seed & Seed (first checks ~$100k–$1M) (SMOK Ventures)
  • Focus: Software, devtools, gaming, AI; CEE + diaspora.

SMOK brands itself as a US VC bridging Silicon Valley and CEE, with ~$35M across two funds and 30+ startups backed across 9 CEE countries. (Vestbee)

They're particularly strong in gamedev, devtools, and software infra, and often help portfolio companies attract follow-on capital from US and Western European funds.

Best fit if:

  • You're a technical founding team building devtools, gaming, or AI software.
  • You want US connections early (co-investors, follow-on funds, advisors).
  • You're raising a lean, fast pre-seed / seed and care about founder-friendly VCs.

4. Movens Capital

  • HQ: Warsaw
  • Stage: Pre-seed → Series A+ (multi-stage)
  • Ticket: €0.25–3M initial; up to €5M follow-on (Movens Capital)
  • Focus: Tech companies from CEE with global ambitions, especially AI, SaaS, fintech, healthtech, climate & future of work. (Movens Capital)

Movens is one of the most visibly active funds in 2025, thanks to its newly launched €60M Fund II, backed by EBRD, PFR Ventures, and 80+ founders & operators. (pfrventures.pl)

Fund II is explicitly designed to lead pre-seed, seed, and up to 10 Series A+ deals across CEE, with a strong tilt toward AI-driven companies. (Tech.eu)

Best fit if:

  • You're an ambitious CEE founder going for big markets (B2B SaaS, AI-native infra, fintech, climate, health).
  • You want a fund that can follow you across multiple rounds rather than dropping off after seed.
  • You like working with ex-operators who will dig into strategy, pricing, and go-to-market.

5. bValue

  • HQ: Warsaw
  • Stage: Seed (bValue Starter) & Growth (bValue Growth)
  • Ticket: Seed from ~€100k+; Growth €5–15M (bValue Fund)
  • Focus: Tech & tech-enabled companies across CEE, helping bridge the gap between VC and classic PE.

bValue runs two strategies: an early-stage seed fund and a €90M+ growth fund targeting fast-growing tech companies with proven models. (Vestbee)

They're often mentioned in ecosystem commentary as one of the more active mid-stage investors in Poland, stepping into the Series B-ish gap that used to be underserved locally. (piraiee)

Best fit if:

  • You're post-product, post-revenue, scaling fast with clear unit economics.
  • You want a partner through scale-up, not just the first cheque.
  • You're okay with them pushing for governance, reporting, and discipline — it's a strength if you're serious.

6. OTB Ventures

  • HQ: Warsaw & Amsterdam
  • Stage: Late Seed, Series A & B (OTB Ventures)
  • Fund size: $185M+ Fund II, largest deeptech fund originating from CEE. (Vestbee)
  • Focus: Deeptech / "real-tech" – Enterprise AI & Data, SpaceTech & Physical AI, novel computing, fintech infra, cybersecurity.

OTB is Poland's deeptech heavyweight: backed by LPs including the NATO Innovation Fund, with a €185M+ Fund II focused on scaling European deep-tech startups. (Vestbee)

They usually come in at Series A once there's clear technical validation and early commercial traction, but up to ~10% of the fund can go into earlier seed bets. (TechCrunch)

Best fit if:

  • You're building deeptech / hard IP: space, novel compute, advanced AI, cybersecurity, infrastructure.
  • You're already seeing enterprise pilots / early customers, not just lab demos.
  • You want a fund with global deeptech signaling – helpful for later US/UK rounds.

7. SpeedUp Venture Capital Group

  • HQ: Poznań
  • Stage: Seed – Series A (speedupgroup.com)
  • Ticket: ~€50k–4M
  • Focus: Early-stage tech across CEE: consumer internet, fintech, martech/adtech, medtech, IoT, hardware, ML/AI, computer vision.

SpeedUp is a multi-fund platform that's been around since 2009 and is consistently listed among leading early-stage investors in Poland. (Private Equity International)

They like bold technical founders, and are comfortable with a wide range of verticals as long as there's tech & international ambition.

Best fit if:

  • You're an early-stage tech startup with some traction and a global angle.
  • You're okay with a fund that will be quite hands-on in the first 3–8 years of your journey.
  • You want a partner outside of just Warsaw, tapping the Poznań / Western Poland ecosystem.

8. Black Pearls VC

  • HQ: Gdańsk
  • Stage: Seed, post-seed, Series A (blackpearls.vc)
  • Ticket: ~€100k–1M+
  • Focus: Deeptech across Northern & Central Europe with a special love for Poland & the Baltics (digital health, enterprise software, fintech, ESG/data, etc.).

Black Pearls is a deeptech-leaning, Baltic-flavoured investor, and one of the key funds turning Gdańsk into a serious tech hub. They explicitly back startups with defensible tech and strong IP, often via their Discovery Tech Seed Fund. (blackpearls.vc)

Best fit if:

  • You're in deeptech / digital health / fintech / enterprise infra with real tech defensibility.
  • You're happy to be based (or partially based) in Poland/Baltics and build from there to Europe.
  • You appreciate a smaller, more relationship-driven VC that helps you access EU programs and cross-border networks.

9. Innovation Nest

  • HQ: Kraków
  • Stage: Early-stage B2B SaaS (pre-seed, seed, early Series A) (Innovation Nest)
  • Ticket: ~€100k–1M
  • Focus: European B2B SaaS with global ambitions; very strong B2B specialization.

Innovation Nest is one of the earliest Polish VCs to build a tightly focused B2B SaaS thesis: they back early European SaaS teams and help them expand from Kraków/CEE to Western Europe and the US. (Innovation Nest)

They're frequently highlighted in "top Poland investors" and 2025 ecosystem lists. (LinkedIn)

Best fit if:

  • You're a pure B2B SaaS team (PLG, sales-led, or hybrid).
  • You're early but serious about going global and willing to work on GTM fundamentals.
  • You want a partner who really cares about positioning, pricing, and repeatable sales motion.

10. ff Venture Capital (ffVC – Europe / Red & White)

  • HQ: New York & Warsaw
  • Stage: Late seed & Series A (Central Europe fund) (ffvc.com)
  • Ticket: Typically seed / A cheques for enterprise & industrial tech.

ffVC is a US–Poland bridge fund running a dedicated €60M Central European fund (ff Red & White) for late seed and Series A companies, with a Warsaw office and 25+ CE investments. (ffvc.com)

They focus on enterprise software, industrial tech, sustainability transformation, robotics, AI, energy, and similar sectors — exactly the kinds of companies that often come out of Poland's engineering talent.

Best fit if:

  • You're post-seed, raising a serious late seed / Series A round.
  • You fit nicely into their enterprise / industrial / AI / energy / security themes.
  • You want a fund that can bridge you to US capital and customers.

3. Five Quick Tips for Pitching Polish & CEE-Focused VCs

Let's end with some very tactical stuff, founder-to-founder.

1. Lead with traction and ambition, not just grants and R&D

Poland has a strong grant / public-funding culture, but top funds are looking for:

  • Paying customers, not just pilots.
  • A credible path to €50M+ ARR (you'll see this literally on Movens' and Inovo's materials). (Movens Capital)

Make sure your deck hits:

  • MRR / growth
  • Retention / usage
  • Unit economics (even if rough)
  • "Why this can be a big global business, not just a nice Polish company"

2. Be explicit about why Poland + CEE is your superpower

For these funds, the winning narrative is often:

"We're using Polish (and CEE) engineering cost + quality to win in a global market."

Highlight:

  • Access to cheaper, high-quality talent vs West.
  • Any regulatory / domain advantages (e.g. EU regulation expertise, industrial clusters).
  • How that translates into capital efficiency — many PFR/Dealroom reports point out CEE startups' efficiency compared to Western peers. (Vestbee)

3. Do your homework on each specific fund

A lot of "no's" in Poland right now are simply strategy misfits:

  • Pitching OTB a classic DTC ecommerce brand (no deeptech = no deal). (OTB Ventures)
  • Pitching Market One a non-network-effects product. (Market One Capital)
  • Pitching Innovation Nest with B2C marketplace instead of B2B SaaS. (Innovation Nest)

Before you email:

  1. Read their thesis page and recent blog/interviews.
  2. Identify 2–3 recent portfolio companies closest to you.
  3. Explicitly say: "We're similar to X and Y in your portfolio, but doing Z in [market]."

4. Use local reports to show you understand the macro

Dropping one or two data points from PFR + Inovo market reports or Dealroom CEE reports does two things:

  • Shows you understand where the ecosystem is moving (e.g., Series A deals peaking in 2023 then dipping, Q1 2025 bounce, etc.). (pfrventures.pl)
  • Signals that you're not living in a fantasy but pricing your round realistically for CEE.

Think slides like:

"Poland is now one of the most active early-stage markets in CEE with €167M early capital since 2024; we're positioning ourselves as one of the top X companies in [sector] coming out of this wave." (Vestbee)

5. Make it easy to say "yes" (structure + process)

Polish & CEE VCs are still relatively small teams. You stand out if:

  • Your data room is clean (yes, hi Peony 👋) — short URL, clear folder structure, proper file names.
  • You send one crisp update email after each major milestone (new revenue, big customer, term sheet, etc.).
  • You propose a simple process: "Week 1: intro & Q&A → Week 2: deeper product / metric review → Week 3: partner call → Week 4: decision."

That kind of clarity is weirdly rare and will instantly mark you as a founder who knows how to run a process — something these funds appreciate, especially in a 2025 environment where they're seeing fewer but higher-quality deals. (piraiee)

Why professional data rooms matter for Polish startup fundraising

Polish startups need to present complex documentation—financial projections, regulatory compliance, partnership agreements, and market expansion plans—professionally to build investor confidence.

Peony helps Polish startups create investor-ready data rooms with AI-powered organization that sets up in minutes instead of weeks.

Key benefits: page-level analytics show which documents investors review most, enterprise security protects sensitive information, and transparent pricing at $40/user/month—93-99% cheaper than legacy platforms charging $5,000-20,000 per deal.

Conclusion

Raising capital in Poland in 2025 requires matching your stage, sector, and geography to the right investors. The funds on this list are actively deploying, but they're selective. Bring clear traction, a global ambition narrative, and a Poland/CEE superpower story—not just grants and R&D.

Having a professional data room is table stakes for serious fundraising. Peony helps Polish startups organize investor materials, track engagement, and securely share sensitive data at a fraction of legacy platform costs.

Ready to pitch Polish investors? Set up your investor data room with Peony in minutes, not weeks.

Q&A Section

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Peony provides enterprise-grade security with identity-bound access, dynamic watermarking, and screenshot protection. With link expiry and instant access revocation, you maintain complete control over sensitive documentation.

What data room features are essential for Polish startups pitching to investors?

Polish startups need data rooms that handle complex documentation: financials, regulatory compliance, partnership agreements, and market expansion plans. Peony offers AI-powered organization, page-level analytics, custom branding, and comprehensive security. With 10-minute setup vs weeks for legacy platforms, Peony helps Polish startups look professional without breaking the budget.

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