Another business first for Croatia – a local venture capital fund.
Croatia finally has its first local venture capital fund which will invest in start-ups and whose managers claim they will complete their first investment by the end of the year, reports Poslovni.hr on October 28, 2015.
South Central Ventures Fund made a presentation yesterday in Zagreb, where it will have its offices. After the fund reaches the full operational level, which is expected in the next two months, it will have available 40 million euros. In addition to Croatia, the fund will invest in start-ups in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and Montenegro. Darko Liović, general manager of Hamag-Bicro, said this was a great day for Croatia, stressing that Croatia is the first country in the region which has given financial incentives to the fund. This was precisely the reason why the launch presentation was held in Zagreb.
“Croatia has invested more than two million euros in the fund and we expect that South Central Ventures will find a lot of good opportunities to invest in Croatian start-ups”, Liović noted. Hubert Cottogni, managing director of the European Investment Fund, which is the initial founder of the fund together with the European Commission and the EBRD, thanked Croatia for being the first country in the region to recognize the importance of investment in start-ups.
“Banks in the region are consolidating their balance sheets which means that the offer of funds for start-ups is very limited. We are therefore delighted that Croatia has supported this initiative of the Commission, EIF and EBRD, and particularly happy that private investors from Croatia are also involved in the project”, Cottogni said.
Allegedly, there are two private investors from Croatia, and one of them is Nenad Bakić. Luka Abrus from Five company said that they will logistically help the South Central Ventures Fund with information about start-ups. Domagoj Oreb, former head of Ruđer Inovacije, and now head of South Central Ventures for Croatia, said they plan to invest in Croatia up to 30 percent of the total funds. They plan to use five percent of the money for seed investments up to 100,000 euros, and the rest for investments in the expansion of businesses in the amounts between 500,000 and 3 million euros. “We will invest exclusively in minority shares, between 20 and 49 percent”, Oreb concluded.
