Bucharest-based Underline Ventures has announced the close of its first fund at $20 million. The fund focuses on backing the Eastern European founders at the earliest stages, enabling them to build high-growth startups with global ambitions. As per the VC firm, it plans to back over 20 early-stage Eastern European founders with an average investment of $500k.
The fund was raised from tech founders and operators alongside other business leaders and international fund-of-funds. Underline Ventures plans to double down its efforts to further develop an impactful platform for its portfolio companies.
What does it provide?
The VC develops an extensive, hands-on platform that allows founders to get relevant support for some of the core operational issues they face.
The founders backed by Underline Ventures benefit from recruitment services with the help of Ioana Patran, ex-Microsoft, communication management with the help of Adriana Spulber, ex-How to Web & Pago, growth advisory with the help of Vlad Ionescu, ex-UiPath, financial planning and fundraising with the help of Mihai Faur, UiPath and integrated marketing strategy with the help of Ioana Serban, ex-FintechOS. Also, Bogdan Iordache helps on venture strategy and fundraising.
Founders and operators from companies like UiPath, Telerik, Bitdefender, etc. are also advising the portfolio startups regularly, whenever the startup’s need arises.
To date, fund has finalised seven investments in Romania, Croatia, Serbia, and the broader Eastern European diaspora, ranging from big data & AI and cybersecurity to e-commerce infrastructure.
“We are lucky to partner with investors who have a deep conviction that Eastern European founders can build significant technology businesses, despite the current macro environment. We know founders fundraising in this climate have to show a lot of resilience – while this may be a difficult start, on the long run it can be a great way to start.”, said the General Partner of Underline Ventures, Bogdan Iordache.
Bogdan Iordache: “We are focused on supporting exceptional founders to build solutions for hard problems that can scale globally. Founders come first, and we are vertical agonistic, but we’re paying extra attention to enterprise automation, AI, cybersec, industrial tech, defence, and climate-related startups.”
