Business Forum • 15 October, 2024 at 11:32 AM
Early Game Ventures, the most active venture capital investment fund in Romania and one of the most active in CEE, announces the performance of its first fund - Early Game Fund I. The startups in the portfolio had total annual revenues of more than €43 million and a total headcount of more than 400 employees in 2024. Some of the companies doubled their revenues in 2024 compared to the previous year, and most are present on several continents, thus proving that innovation has no borders.
Between 2018 and 2022, Early Game Ventures Fund I invested in 28 startups. So far, it has made 4 exits at a yield of 45%.
More than 2.5 million people around the world use every day the products and services of companies in which Early Game Fund I has invested, whether we're talking about parents connecting with their children's teachers in 2,400 schools through Kinderpedia, tourists using Questo in more than 500 cities worldwide, employees of more than 200 large corporations accessing information through Druid or using MeetGeek in conference calls in more than 100 countries and 30 languages.
Tokinomo has retail and FMCG customers on five continents, Milluu manages the relationship between owners and tenants for properties worth over €140 million in Romania and Poland, and Bible Chat is the fastest-growing mobile app in Europe.
FameUp managed over 400,000 nano and micro-influencers through its platform, and Youni attracted over $50 million in scholarships for Romanian students studying at universities outside the country in just two years.
Ogre.ai recently announced a new investment of €3 million and a partnership with the Austrian energy giant Verbund.
OxidOS is developing the operating system for electronic control units that will make the cars of the future 100 times safer than today's.
Brand Minds registered yet another success with this year's edition of Central Europe's most important business event, which it organized at Sala Palatului.
And these are only a few examples of the achievements of the Early Game Fund I' portfolio startups.
"Our role in the life of these companies is to support them not only financially to reach their potential. We are not only investors, but also a sound board for their ideas and strategy advisors if needed, and we make available to them all our experience and network of connections so that they can accelerate the growth shortly after the initial investment. We are happy to see that most of those we invested in followed their dream and, with the support of our team, managed to bring disruptive technologies and products to market, appreciated globally," says Cristian Munteanu, Managing Partner of Early Game Ventures.
In April 2024, Early Game launched a new €60 million investment fund, Early Game Fund II. To this moment, four investments have been made from the new fund in cybersecurity, AI, and healthtech startups.
Early Game Ventures (EGV) is a venture capital firm funded mostly through the Competitiveness Operational Program 2014-2020, co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund.
The European Investment Fund (EIF) is part of the European Investment Bank Group and is the leading risk financier for Europe's SMEs through venture capital, collateral, and microfinance instruments. In Romania, the EIF implements financial instruments co-financed through structural and investment funds, such as JEREMIE 2007-2013, SME Initiative, ROP, JOP, NRDP.