Bucharest-based Early Game Ventures (EGV), a venture capital firm, on Thursday, announced the launch of a new €60M fund — Early Game Ventures Fund II, to invest in early-stage startups in CEE.
The fund received €30M from the European Investment Fund’s Recovery Equity Fund, financed by the National Plan for Recovery and Resilience under the Next Generation EU.
“This new fund is a confirmation that we did a good job with Fund I — our exits so far have a 45% IRR. Many thanks to our LPs in both funds for trusting us,” says Cristian Munteanu, Managing Partner EGV.
The new fund will invest in early-stage technology startups. This fund will continue the thesis of the first Early Game fund and focus on areas such as cyber security, enterprise software, and AI applications.
The investments will be split between Romanian startups and the rest to European or other startups.
Dan Calugareanu is currently working as a Partner in both the funds managed by Early Game. Before this, he served as the Chairman of Tech Angels and worked as an angel investor.
Florin Visa, who has 24 years of experience in private equity investments, venture capital, M&A, and corporate finance in CEE, joined Early Game during the initial negotiations for the second fund.
Early Game Venture: Investing in early-stage startups
Founded by Cristian Munteanu, Early Game Venture invests in startups that jumpstart new industries in Europe’s emerging markets.
EGV is also running a concierge accelerator, taking in only 5 or 6 startups per year for a very intensive and tailor-made program. At the Accelerator stage, the VC invests anywhere between €50,000 and €200,000 in exchange for 5 per cent to 15 per cent common stock.
During the Series A funding round, the VC’s sweet spot for seed-stage investments is €500,000, but they are willing to invest up to €4,500,000 in one company if the opportunity is worth it.
Besides funding, the VC helps companies with
- Access to investors and partners in Europe and the US
- Talent & retention
- Business development
- Building right partnership
- Promoting and growing brands
- Operations strategy
