Istanbul, Turkey · Venture Capital 500 Istanbul is an Istanbul-based early-stage venture capital fund established in 2016 by Enis Hulli and Rina Onur Şirinoğlu in partnership with 500 Global, operating as a distinct fund entity focused on Turkey and Emerging Europe. The fund raised a €30M Fund II and later evolved into 500 Emerging Europe, targeting a €70M raise for the broader CEE and Baltics region. Its portfolio of 37+ companies includes three unicorns — Insider, BillionToOne, and Carbon Health — with portfolio companies collectively generating over $600M in annual revenue and attracting $1.1B in follow-on funding. The fund backs pre-seed to seed-stage startups with typical cheques from €200K to €3M.
Dublin, Ireland · Accelerator ACT Venture Capital is Ireland's most established and most active venture firm, founded in 1994 and headquartered in Dublin. Over three decades it has backed more than 140 Irish and European technology companies, raising over €600M across six funds — including its largest, a €140M fund closed in 2022 — and generating dozens of exits with a combined enterprise value of around €4.6bn. Its limited partners include the European Investment Fund, Enterprise Ireland, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund and AIB, several of whom have backed the firm for more than twenty years.
Led by Managing Partner John Flynn alongside General Partners Debbie Rennick and John O'Sullivan, ACT invests from seed to expansion stage with cheques up to €10M across software, AI, deep tech, health tech, energy and fintech in Ireland and the UK. Landmark outcomes include the $400M sale of UWB semiconductor company Decawave to Qorvo (2020), the acquisition of digital-mental-health platform SilverCloud Health by Amwell (2021), and SoftBank's €473M investment into connected-vehicle company Cubic Telecom at a €900M+ valuation (2024). Recent active deals include AI pathology company Deciphex and energy-optimisation platform GridBeyond.
Riga, Latvia · Venture Capital Buildit is a Riga-based hardware and IoT accelerator-VC hybrid founded in 2014, operating as the first accelerator in the Baltics and Nordics focused on physical-device startups. It runs cohort programmes and provides pre-seed funding up to €250k for Latvia-incorporated startups, with seed follow-on up to €1.5M for Baltic and Nordic companies. The firm has made over 120 investments and manages the Buildit Latvia Pre-Seed Fund (2022 vintage). Portfolio companies span energy, health tech, smart living, and robotics, including Aerones.
Dublin, Ireland · Person General Partner at ACT Venture Capital, where she has built her career since the 1990s. A chartered accountant and former KPMG corporate-finance professional, she invests across software, health tech and deep tech and works closely with founders on growth and exits.
Cambridge, United Kingdom · Person George Malliaras is the Prince Philip Professor of Technology at the University of Cambridge, a leading researcher in bioelectronics and the use of organic electronic materials for medical devices and neural interfaces. He is a keynote speaker at NANOTEXNOLOGY 2026 in Thessaloniki.
Helsinki, Finland · Venture Capital Inventure was founded in 2005 in Helsinki by Timo Tirkkonen, with Tuomas Kosonen (ex-Nokia, ex-Rovio CFO) joining shortly after; the firm manages approximately €377 million in assets under management across four funds, with Fund IV closing at €144 million. The firm backs Seed and Series A companies across the Nordics and Baltics with tickets of €300,000–€5 million, focusing on deep tech, B2B SaaS, consumer internet, health tech, and AI. Its portfolio includes Wolt, Swappie, and Stravito. Inventure is one of the most established and prolific seed-stage investors in the Nordic ecosystem.
Dublin, Ireland · Person Partner and co-founder of Fountain Healthcare Partners, where he leads medical-device investments. He brings operating and finance experience to the firm's medtech portfolio, supporting companies through clinical development, regulatory milestones and exits.
Tallinn, Estonia · Venture Capital Founded in 2016 by Kristjan Laanemaa, Margus Uudam, and Tommi Uhari, Karma Ventures is one of Estonia's most prominent deep-tech venture capital firms. Its €70M Fund I and €100M Fund II back late-seed and Series A European deep-tech software startups, with tickets up to €5M. The firm is particularly active in AI, cybersecurity, health tech, and enterprise software across Europe. Notable portfolio companies include Starship Technologies, Tuum (formerly Modularbank), Sonarworks, Infermedica, and CybExer Technologies, establishing Karma as the go-to Tallinn-based partner for hard-tech European founders.
Sofia, Bulgaria · Venture Capital Founded in 2012 by Lyuben Belov and partners, LAUNCHub Ventures is Sofia's largest dedicated early-stage VC, currently deploying its third fund which closed oversubscribed at €74M in late 2021 (first close €44M). The fund invests at pre-seed and seed stages with ticket sizes of €300K–€3M, backing founders across South-Eastern and Central-Eastern Europe. Sector focus spans fintech, proptech, future of work, devtools, health tech, and enterprise software; portfolio includes Quantive (strategy platform), OfficeRnD (flex-space SaaS), FintechOS, and Giraffe360. Seventy-five percent of portfolio companies have raised follow-on rounds, with aggregate follow-on capital exceeding €400M.
Helsinki, Finland · Venture Capital Lifeline Ventures was founded in 2009 in Helsinki by Petteri Koponen and Timo Ahopelto and has grown into Finland's largest VC focused on unlisted growth companies, raising its €400 million Fund VI in 2025. The firm invests at the angel and seed stage with tickets of €100,000–€2 million, backing sector-agnostic founders from day one across Europe. Lifeline has seeded most of Finland's best-known unicorns, including Supercell (acquired by Tencent for $8.6B), Wolt (acquired by DoorDash for $8.1B), Oura, ICEYE, and Aiven. With over 115 portfolio companies and more than a dozen exits, it is the benchmark early-stage firm in the Finnish ecosystem.
Luxembourg City, Luxembourg · Startup A University of Luxembourg spinoff founded in 2016 by researchers Pouyan Ziafati and Aida Nazarikhorram. LuxAI develops the QTrobot, a 60 cm humanoid social robot designed to support therapists and educators working with children who have autism or special educational needs. The robot is assembled in Luxembourg and sold in over 25 countries across Europe, Asia, and North America.
Madrid, Spain · Angel Investor Martin Varsavsky is an Argentine-Spanish serial entrepreneur and one of Europe's most prolific angel investors, having founded seven companies across telecom, connectivity, and health tech including Jazztel, FON, and Prelude Fertility. Based in Madrid, Varsavsky invests across the full spectrum of early-stage technology, with a particular focus on connectivity, health tech, and climate-related ventures. His portfolio spans dozens of startups across Spain, the US, and Latin America. Varsavsky brings a unique transatlantic perspective, connecting Spanish founders with Silicon Valley networks, and is widely regarded as one of the founding figures of Spain's modern tech investment scene. He is known for his willingness to bet on unconventional founders and markets others consider too early.
Istanbul, Turkey · Venture Capital Revo Capital is Turkey's largest technology-focused venture capital firm, founded in 2013 by Cenk Bayrakdar and Berkin Toktaş, having raised over $250M across three funds. Fund II closed at a landmark €90M in 2021 — oversubscribed with backing from IFC, EBRD, EIF, DEG, and the Turkish Development and Investment Bank — and Fund III reached an $86M first close in 2024 targeting over $100M. The firm has invested in 48 startups across Turkey, Eastern Europe, and the Baltics, achieving 18 exits and producing unicorns Getir and Builder.ai; portfolio companies have attracted $3.5B in follow-on capital between 2021 and 2025. Revo concentrates on early-stage B2B and B2C ventures in fintech, SaaS, cybersecurity, health tech, AI, and gaming.
Warsaw, Poland · Startup Sundose was founded in 2017 by Michał Gołkiewicz and Tomasz Styk and launched commercially in Poland in 2018. The company runs a direct-to-consumer subscription model, personalising daily supplement sachets from dozens of ingredients based on a health questionnaire and optional blood-test data, and has expanded to the UK, Germany, and Italy. It raised a $6M Series A in 2021 led by DX Ventures and Atmos Ventures, with participation from Delivery Hero Ventures.
Kaunas, Lithuania · Innovation Hub Tech-Park Kaunas (rebranded from Kaunas Science and Technology Park in 2022) is Lithuania's largest science-business cooperation park, originating from the country's first business incubator established in 1998 and formally reorganised into a science park in 2006. Located at K. Petrausko g. 26 in Kaunas, it hosts over 100 companies working in IT, engineering, health technologies, social innovation, future energy, and sustainable chemistry. The park provides co-working space, a business incubator, soft-landing programmes for international companies, and access to KTU academic resources.
Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg · Incubator Luxembourg's national technology incubator, established in June 2012 by the state as a merger of the former Technoport incubator and the Ecostart business support infrastructures. Located at the Belval Innovation Campus, it hosts around 40 companies at any given time across ICT, health, space, and industrial sectors. Services include a business incubation programme, a fabrication laboratory, and coworking space. More than 150 companies have passed through since inception.