Catalyst Romania launches a new venture capital fund that will invest more than EUR 40 million in technology companies

The Catalyst Romania investment fund, supported by 3TS Capital Partners, launches its second fund intended to finance technology, media and telecom companies, after the completion of the first round of capitalization. The fund, which aims to raise EUR 40-50 million, was set up following the call for expressions of interest launched by the European Investment Fund (EIF) to management teams to invest financial resources from JEREMIE Reimbursed Resources, from the program InnovFin Equity of the EU and following a consistent participation from private investors.

Catalyst Romania is the first fund manager that manages to launch the second “early growth” venture capital fund, after the success of the first fund that was mostly financed by the JEREMIE Initiative. In recent years, the First Fund has invested over EUR 12 million in 10 well-known technology companies in Romania, including Elefant.ro, Vola.ro, Vector Watch, Avocatnet.ro, SmartBill, Green Horse Games and OmniConvert.

Catalyst Romania Fund II will continue to target technology companies that already have a history of products launched on the market and experienced management teams. In the initial investment period, the new fund will invest between 1mil. and EUR 3 million in a number of 16 Romanian companies, in order to support their international growth and expansion objectives. Catalyst will also facilitate these companies' access to know-how, resources, business partners and investors from Europe, the USA and Asia. Given that it benefits from various sources of capitalization that complement EIF financing, the investment policy allows the fund to identify investment opportunities in other countries in Eastern Europe or around the world, as long as the entities concerned register economic activities in Romania, or through local operations, either through development or sales teams.

"We are launching the new venture capital fund at the right time for technology companies. The field is experiencing a new stage of development fueled by Covid - 19. Despite human, social and economic difficulties, the pandemic is pushing us to move faster than usual towards a safer, more flexible and digital world. We are ready to offer companies and teams in the field of technology the much needed financial resources, as well as our long experience in growing business in the field ", said Marius Ghenea, Managing Partner Catalyst Romania.

The financing available to the Catalyst Romania II fund through JEREMIE Romania Reimbursed Resources and the InnovFin Equity program amounts to EUR 15 million. The rest of the capital was secured by the participation of more than 30 private investors - experienced local entrepreneurs and top executives from various fields, including several founders of companies in which Catalyst I invested.

„We have known the Catalyst Romania management team for many years and we have always been impressed by their activity, by the investment portfolio, as well as by their involvement in the Romanian entrepreneurial ecosystem. We are glad to see that they managed to launch the second generation of the fund and that we are part of this project ", said Adrian Mihai, Managing Partner of FAN Courier

JEREMIE Romania is a set of financial instruments initially financed from Romania's structural funds in the 2007-2013 programming period. At the end of the programming period, under a new agreement signed in September 2020, the EIF continues to manage, for and on behalf of the Government of Romania, funds reimbursed from the initial implementation, called JEREMIE Reimbursed Resources.

„JEREMIE enters a new stage - by reusing the financial resources reimbursed from the previously implemented instruments, the initiative continues to form an ecosystem of private equity investments in Romania, facilitating the attraction and cooperation of public, institutional and private investors. It is the most important contribution of JEREMIE, in addition to supporting SMEs in Romania with financing and investments that help them grow and create jobs. I wish success to the experienced Catalyst Romania team ", added Pablo Millan, Head of Unit, Mandate Management - Equity, FEI.