On September 16th, during a press conference with representatives of the Ministry of Funds and Regional Policy and the National Economy Bank, PFR Ventures announced the launch of four new venture capital funds created under the PFR Starter program. Among them is Hard2beat, managed by Maciej Zawadziński, Maciej Frankowicz, and Konrad Trzyna.
Successful Fundraising
The total capitalization of the fund will amount to 84 million złoty, consisting of 23.4 million złoty from 30 private investors and 56.5 million złoty from PFR Ventures. The aforementioned amount is complemented by a contribution from the Fund’s team of 4.1 million złoty.
“We are very pleased with the fundraising we have conducted. We carried it out from mid-January to the last days of February of this year. Initially, we planned to raise 12 million złoty from private investors, as this was necessary to meet the application criterion of the PFR Starter program. However, our offer was very well received by investors, and in the end, we raised almost twice as much as we expected,” says Konrad Trzyna. The fund’s investors are mainly entrepreneurs (80% of investors, of which 4/5 are tech entrepreneurs) and experienced financial investors (the remaining 20%). “Most investors are people from our first or second circle of contacts. We realize that their decisions are largely based on trust in us as managers,” he adds.
“Launching the fund would not have been possible without the investment from PFR Ventures. We went through a lengthy application process that began on February 29 when we submitted our offer as part of the PFR Starter program. Over the following months, PFR analyzed our offer, investment experience, checked our reputation, and verified the information we provided in the offer,” says Maciej Frankowicz
Investment Plans
Over the next four years, the fund plans to invest in more than 20 companies in the pre-seed and seed stages. For the first rounds of financing, the fund’s investment ticket will range from 1 to 3 million złoty, but the best companies can expect to raise up to 8 million złoty from the fund for the first and subsequent financing rounds (a significant part of the investment budget will be allocated to follow-up investments).
“We do not focus on a specific sector, however, obviously, there are sectors in which we feel more comfortable or in which we see greater potential such as cybersecurity, spacetech, AI or IoT. We are particularly interested in deep-tech projects in which software is the key component. We want the companies we invest in to have a unique technological advantage that is difficult to replicate,” says Maciej Zawadziński.
“Apart from assessing projects for their investment attractiveness, we will pay special attention to the idea creators themselves. We are primarily looking for entrepreneurs who understand that building a company is a marathon, not a sprint. We appreciate people who do not give in to the weight of adversities, are ready for challenges, ups and downs, which they will undoubtedly encounter. We want our founders to be resilient, to be able to say that they are hard to beat,” continues Maciej Zawadziński.
The Hard2beat partners expect that the first investments of their fund will be made as early as December this year.
Source: https://managerplus.pl/rusza-nowy-fundusz-hard2beat-z-kapitalem-84-mln-zl-na-pokladzie-m-in-pfr-ventures-i-30-inwestorow-prywatnych-86227
