- The first closing of LAUNCHub Ventures’ third fund has raised €65 million, with a target of over €75 million.
- Of the first three investments made by Fund III, two were directed towards founders who had previously obtained support from LAUNCHub.
- The fund plans to make approximately 25 pre-seed and seed investments, the first of which will range between €300,000 and €3 million.
LAUNCHub, a pre-seed and seed venture capital firm based in Sofia, closed its first round of financing for Fund III, securing €65 million in commitments against a target of at least €75 million.
Among the investors are the European Investment Fund, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, a number of family offices, and over 10 of the previous LAUNCHub founders. The International Finance Corporation, which invested in Fund II, is currently considering joining for the second closing.
The fund intends to carry out about 25 investments over a period of five years, the first of which will range from €300,000 to €3 million. It can lead rounds of up to €7 million and has reserves set aside for Series A funding.
“We prefer to act as a major investor in the rounds. After fourteen years, our belief in this region continues to grow, and the results back up our approach. We’ve supported nearly 100 companies, had 18 exits, and about 40% of our pre-seed and seed investments have reached Series A. Fund III allows us to keep supporting founders at the most important stage, and the results from Fund II show that our strategy works,” says Stanislav Sirakov, general partner, to Tech Funding News.
According to Sirakov, it was difficult to raise capital because there are few large private investor groups in the area, and most family offices are first-generation. He emphasises that although institutional support is important, it is not sufficient on its own.
For this reason, LAUNCHub has widened its investor base to include tech entrepreneurs and, more recently, pension funds and banks. “Was it easy? No,” he says, “but compared to five or seven years ago, the market is now much more mature and sophisticated.”
A generational handover
The fund looks after about 100 companies, has more than €100 million under management and has secured over €700 million in additional funding from investors including Founders Fund and Sequoia; among its portfolio companies are Ampeco and FintechOS.
LAUNCHub announced in 2021 that its team had reached a 50:50 gender split.
The fund’s size is roughly the same as it was earlier. LAUNCHub closed its last fund at €74 million in December 2021, meaning the new target of €75 million or more is largely unchanged, even though the size of each investment has increased.
When the first round of investment for the previous fund was completed, initial investments ranged from €500,000 to €2 million. Although the press release states that the minimum investment for Fund III is €300,000, Sirakov told TFN that the range is €500,000 to €3 million.
The fund’s mandate is deliberately wide. “If you limit yourselves to enterprise SaaS,” Sirakov says, “then you’re probably not performing very well at the moment.” Yet all three of the Fund III transactions so far have been concerned with AI: broad in principle, but in reality heavy on AI.
What Fund III has to prove
Rivalry is increasing, with major funds from the United States and Europe becoming involved in the area, and what used to take two or three months is now being carried out in one or two days. “You have to demonstrate value even before you sign your term sheet,” says Sirakov.
The local competitor e2vc announced the first closing of its €100 million Fund III in January 2026.
LAUNCHub operates by providing support to founders at an early stage, seeing them through to exit, and then reinvesting by bringing them on as investors. Of the first three deals, two have followed this strategy.
The next 22 investments will show whether the fund can expand beyond its small group of repeat founders.
