Speedinvest

Bridging the gap between CEE and Europe’s leading innovation hubs to build a more competitive continent. In just one week, our 3rd annual Tech Melange conference will bring together the best founders from the region, international investors, industry-leading LPs, and senior ecosystem voices from across Europe to Vienna for a curated, invite-only event to discuss tangible ways to strengthen the European tech ecosystem and its global competitiveness. Vienna is uniquely positioned as a cultural and economic bridge across CEE and Western Europe, making it the perfect destination to discuss the region’s growing role in shaping a more resilient and sovereign European tech landscape. This year’s edition will spotlight Europe’s innovation story, featuring four CEE unicorn founders alongside the most ambitious early-stage entrepreneurs, investors, and policymakers driving the continent’s next chapter of growth. We're deeply grateful to our partners Amazon Web Services (AWS), Raiffeisen-Holding Niederösterreich-Wien, BRANDL TALOS Rechtsanwält:innen, and Österreichisches Bundesheer (Austrian Armed Forces) for making this gathering possible.

Tide, Bitpanda, ARX Robotics, Gigs, Pliant, Moove, and many more – these are just some of the companies we’ve backed with growth capital. Because supporting ambitious founders doesn’t stop at Seed. Since 2019, Speedinvest Growth has been investing across EMEA, sometimes doubling down on our early partnerships, other times backing breakout companies for the first time when they’re ready to scale. Our focus: the infrastructure that makes industries run. From AI and fintech rails to mobility platforms and defense tech, we invest in the systems that power entire economies. In our latest blog, Tom Filip Lesche, Wissam Nasreddine, and Varun Rekhi share how we approach growth investing, why infrastructure sits at the heart of our strategy, and how our model is built for long-term support. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/eEkEQdyJ

AI adoption and corporate/VC collaboration defined Bits & Pretzels 2025, and Speedinvest was proud to join the conversation. Founders, investors, and corporate leaders met in Munich last week to discuss the future of innovation, with Speedinvest proudly part of the action as a partner of the Bits & Pretzels CIO AI Summit. Our General Partner, Marie-Helene Ametsreiter, joined the stage to discuss how corporations and VC firms can work together to accelerate the adoption of AI and scale transformative technologies. Continuing that dialogue, our Sophia Escheu and Markus Lang hosted a roundtable with Florian Bankoley, CDO at Bosch Mobility, and other European CIOs, deep-diving into how AI strategies can be scaled across industries. And beyond the conference halls, we brought our community together for Founders’ Fest: Wiesn 2025 at Schützen Festzelt, celebrating portfolio founders and the collaborative spirit at the heart of Speedinvest. It was a busy, fun, and memorable week in Munich. We can’t wait to do it again next year!

We are excited to announce the close of another €30M continuation vehicle, completed in partnership with Ion Pacific. A few weeks ago, we announced the first of multiple continuation vehicles totaling €60M in commitments. With this second vehicle now closed, we continue to execute on our proactive DPI strategy: providing liquidity to our LPs while maintaining exposure to a select group of high-performing portfolio companies. That said, reaching this milestone was far from straightforward. Navigating legal hurdles, aligning stakeholders across multiple funds, SPVs, and portfolio companies, and launching not one but two continuation vehicles in parallel came with a steep learning curve. Lawrence Kilian, who co-leads our in-house DPI team, captured the key lessons learned along the way on our blog. Link to the article in the comments below.

Our latest newsletter is here! In September, we discussed the bold proposals needed to take full advantage of Europe's once-in-a-generation talent opportunity with Dr. Matthias Knecht (Billie, Project Europe), Jens Schneider (TU Wien), Anna Stürgkh (European Parliament), Conor McNamara (Stripe), and Oliver Merkel (Flink). You'll also find updates from Finary, Nofence, Aerska, DJUST, 10%, Complori, Flexkeeping, Qovery, and more from Oliver Holle on our first two continuation funds with €60 million in commitments to address the growing liquidity challenge in European venture capital. Click the link in the comments to read & subscribe ⬇️

Global tech talent is on the move, and Europe has a once-in-a-generation chance to attract it. In the latest edition of our Build in Europe series, we turn our attention to Talent. Heightened political uncertainty and attacks on academic freedom have led to a greater interest in global talent moving to Europe. But turning that interest into lasting integration and leadership will require bold action. Conventional approaches won’t be enough. In this article, we go beyond the headlines and speak directly to politicians and policymakers through conversations with leaders at the forefront of innovation: Dr. Matthias Knecht (Billie, Project Europe), Jens Schneider (TU Wien), Anna Stürgkh (European Parliament), Conor McNamara (Stripe), and Oliver Merkel (Flink). Together, we explore concrete proposals: from a pan-European Startup Tech Visa and stock option reform to rebuilding Europe’s research competitiveness. The opportunity is clear. The question is whether Europe can move fast enough to seize it. Read the full article on our blog – link in the comments.

Mews acquires Flexkeeping to provide hoteliers with a fully unified management platform from check-in to check-out. We first backed Luka Berger, Aljaž Ketiš, and the Slovenia-based Flexkeeping team in 2016. Since then, they have built one of the leading automation and scheduling tools for hotel housekeeping teams. Flexkeeping’s easy-to-use, analytics-driven suite helps housekeeping teams increase productivity, cut costs, and improve both staff morale and guest satisfaction. Becoming part of Mews’ hospitality operating system will take this innovation to the next level, giving Mews’ 12,500 customers across more than 85 countries a truly best-in-class housekeeping platform natively connected to their PMS. Our congratulations to Luka, Aljaž, and the Flexkeeping team on continuing their missions as part of the MEWS family.   The links to Mews’ blog article and additional media coverage are in the comments.

We are proud to co-lead Aerska’s $21M Seed round as the company pioneers RNA medicines to treat, delay, and prevent diseases of the brain. Delivering genetic medicines to the brain has long been blocked by the blood-brain barrier. Aerska’s platform combines RNA interference – already proven effective in the liver – with innovative “brain shuttle” technology to enable durable gene silencing in the central nervous system, opening a new therapeutic pathway for patients affected by devastating neurodegenerative diseases.  Andrea Zitna, Partner with our Health & Bio investment team, says: “We’ve been building a complementary portfolio of bets in neuro space across digital health, medtech, and bio. We’re very excited about the recent advances in brain shuttles and the promise of RNAi medicines for the brain. From our very first meeting with Jack, we knew we wanted to back him and the world-class, multidisciplinary team he’s assembled." Together with age1 and BACKED VC, with participation from Ada Ventures, BlueYard Capital, Kerna Ventures, Lingotto, Norrsken VC, PsyMed Ventures, and Saras, we’re thrilled to help Aerska scale its life-changing technology and vision.

Backing DJUST: Seamless, AI-powered B2B Commerce. Fragmented systems, manual processes, outdated tools – selling in B2B is anything but simple. DJUST fixes that. Its modular SaaS platform helps manufacturers, distributors, and retailers streamline everything from ordering to payments, built entirely around B2B needs. With their new €7M funding, the team is doubling down on product: launching AI agents to automate workflows and introducing Djust Pay to bring integrated, B2B-specific payments into the platform. On our blog, Wissam Nasreddine from our Growth investment team, explains why we’re excited to join New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Elaia in supporting Arnaud, Eric, and the team as they expand across Europe. The links to Wissam’s article and additional media coverage are in the comments.

Qovery has raised a $13 million Series A to redefine DevOps automation and accelerate its US expansion. Hiring and retaining DevOps talent is one of the biggest challenges facing engineering teams today. Paris-based Qovery solves this by automating the entire lifecycle of application deployment and infrastructure management across any cloud, enabling teams to scale faster, reduce costs, and focus on building products instead of managing complexity. With half of its business already coming from the US, the new funding will support expansion in the region and further advance Qovery’s AI-driven product innovation. Florian Obst, Principal with our Saas & Infra investment team, says, "DevOps is still the splinter in every engineering team’s shoe. Qovery is pulling it out, making DevOps feel almost too easy, and racking up happy customers on both sides of the Atlantic in the process. For us, it is a no-brainer to continue supporting them." We are excited to continue supporting Romaric Philogène, Pierre Mavro, Morgan Perry, and the entire team in their Series A, led by IRIS with participation from Crane Venture Partners, Techstars, Irregular Expressions, and multiple angels, including Datadog co-founders Olivier Pomel and Alexis L., Docker, Inc co-founder Sébastien Pahl, and Checkout.com CTO Ott Kaukver, who also joins the board. Learn more about Qovery and the Series A in the comments section ⬇️