Business Forum • 17 September, 2024 at 10:45 AM
Early Game Ventures, the most active venture capital investment fund in Romania and one of the most active in CEE, joined the new investment round recently completed by Youni. The Romanian edtech company is developing a regional ecosystem for young people who want to study abroad and is preparing the launch of a new technology based on artificial intelligence to optimize the university admissions process.
The new round, worth $1,000,000, was led by the Czech fund Soulmates Ventures. Early Game previously invested in Youni, through Early Game Fund I, in successive pre-seed and seed rounds, which was joined by other investors.
"Youni is one of the edtech startups in our portfolio in which we invested shortly after the launch of our first fund. We have constantly followed their evolution, the innovations they bring to the market of formal education and we are convinced that the new investment will give them wings for what they want to develop in the future," said Dan Călugăreanu, Early Game Ventures Partner.
The investment will help Youni bring to the market a new technology based on artificial intelligence aiming to optimize the admission processes in universities anywhere in the world. Youni currently collaborates with more than 600 universities in Europe, the United States, Asia and Australia.
"This unique new technology is already being tested at several famous universities in the United States. We received very positive feedback. By automating certain processes, our technology has already managed to reduce by more than 30% the efforts and time allocated by universities' teams for the admissions process. We are confident that the new investment will help us develop this new business line and become the preferred admissions technology provider for universities around the world," said Andrei Nicolae, Youni CEO.
The investment confirms Early Game's thesis of providing support and capital to promising startups, regardless of their stage of development or financial needs. Early Game is the right VC fund for brave startups looking for a lead investor ready to take risks.
Early Game Ventures (EGV) II is an investment fund with risk capital (venture capital) capitalized by the Recovery Equity Fund, managed by the European Investment Fund, and financed by the PNRR within the Next Generation EU.