Emerging Europe’s technology and innovation scene is thriving: new money and new ideas are coming onto the market all the time. To keep you up to date with the latest investments, innovations, events and accelerators, each week Emerging Europe brings you a round-up of the region’s tech, investment and start-up news.
Baltic-based angel BADideas.fund tops one million euros invested
Less than a year after its launch, the total amount invested through the early-stage angel investor BADideas.fund last week crossed the one million euros mark.
Since April 2022, the angel investor syndicate has now invested 1.2 million euros in 11 start-ups overall, ranging from 50,000 to 200,000 per investment ticket.
The fund is backed by over 150 members including some of the people who have been building Pipedrive, Printify, Nordigen, Vinted, and Printful – among others.
While the current BADideas portfolio represents a diverse mix of industries – including an operations platform for event planning, on-demand dropshipping service and an all-in-one recruitment platform – the syndicate has been deliberately targeting tech-enabled start-ups in the B2B and marketplace spaces with roots in the Baltics and Central and Eastern Europe and global expansion plans.
The overall portfolio includes predominantly early-traction (73 per cent) companies from Latvia (37 per cent), Estonia (27 per cent), Lithuania, Ukraine, Slovakia and Germany, and covers the B2B (55 per cent), marketplace (27 per cent) and enterprise (18 per cent) sectors.
“The combination of our own start-up building experience and geographical focus allows us to spot and make bets on the best startup teams in the region,” says Raimonds Kulbergs, founder of BADideas.fund.
“Our strength lies within the collective expertise of our 150+ strong community of experienced start-up builders including unicorn founders that our start-ups can tap into, starting from a rigorous vetting process and extending to individual support.”
Looking ahead, the BADideas.fund has growth plans beyond expanding its member base and portfolio.
“The idea was borne out of a shared interest across accomplished startup builders and founders to not just build wealth, but also meaningfully support our start-ups, ” Kulbergs adds.
Future plans include creating space for investors to connect with start-ups within a particular expertise area, launching a platform with online learning resources, and teaming up with TechChill 2023, arguably the most highly-anticipated start-up event in CEE, to support the pitch battle with a prize – a chance to get up to 150,000 euros in investment.
Abris-backed circular economy leader GreenGroup buys Lithuania’s Zalvaris
GreenGroup, a leader in the circular economy in Central Europe, last week acquired Zalvaris – the largest industrial waste management company in Lithuania.
Part of an ambitious M&A strategy, the acquisition will consolidate GreenGroup’s position in industrial waste management, following its entry into the sector in 2020 through its investment in Eltex in Romania.
The acquisition of Zalvaris is part of GreenGroup’s new investment plan, totalling 200 million euros, focused on consolidating its position as the largest integrated recycling group in Central Europe, through capex investments and bolt-on acquisitions.
Zalvaris is GreenGroup’s seventh bolt-on since Abris Capital Partners, the ESG transformation specialist private equity investor made its initial investment in the company in 2016, and the third add-on in the past nine months.
It follows the acquisitions of SIGAD, a Romanian developer of environmental reporting software, and Ecso, a Lithuanian polyethylene recycler, marking its entry into the polyolefin market.
Zalvaris is one of the largest and longest established industrial waste management companies in Lithuania. It has grown its market coverage across 10 waste purchasing sites and more than 4,000 customers nationally, as well as developing a strategy to expand internationally.
Zalvaris provides a one-stop shop for processing all types of waste produced by industrial companies. Aside from handling waste and developing unique recycling solutions for it, the company also offers waste management consulting and audit services.
“Zalvaris has been expanding beyond Lithuania for some time,” says Vitoldas Sapožnikovas, CEO of Zalvaris.
“This move to join forces with GreenGroup will help support our sustainability commitments and business development for our clients and partners.”
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