LAUNCHub Ventures, a Sofia-based venture capital firm, has announced the first close of its third fund, targeting more than €75 million.
The first close has already secured €65 million in commitments from leading international financial institutions, regional entrepreneurs, family offices, and more than ten LAUNCHub portfolio founders who have exited their own companies to support the next generation of entrepreneurs.
“Fourteen years in, our conviction about this region gets stronger and the results we see further support our thesis. Close to 100 companies, 18 exits, and around 40% of our pre-seed and seed investments reaching Series A. Fund III lets us keep backing founders here at the point where it matters most, and what Fund II has produced tells us the approach works,” said Stanislav Sirakov, General Partner at LAUNCHub Ventures.
Fund III is backed by the European Investment Fund (EIF) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The firm says the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which backed LAUNCHub’s second fund, is considering joining the second close.
LAUNCHub III is funded by the European Union’s NextGenerationEU programme, with additional backing from the Romanian government under the Romania Recovery Equity Fund and the Bulgarian government under its Recovery and Resilience Plan.
Founded in 2012, LAUNCHub Ventures backs pre-Seed and Seed stage startups across Central and Eastern Europe and South-Eastern Europe (CEE/SEE), as well as the region’s diaspora. Across its first two funds, LAUNCHub Ventures has backed nearly 100 companies with more than €100 million under management, and its portfolio companies have drawn over €700 million in follow-on funding from international investors including Founders Fund, Sequoia, Index Ventures, and Insight Partners.
Its notable portfolio companies include Ampeco, FintechOS, Colossyan, Giraffe360, Veridion, and Ferryhopper. The firm counts 18 exits to date, including SPLX’s acquisition by Zscaler, FITE’s sale to Triller, and OfficeRnD’s acquisition by Blue Star. LAUNCHub says 75% of portfolio companies go on to raise a follow-on round and roughly 40% reach Series A.
With Fund III, the firm plans to make around 25 early-stage investments over a five-year investment period with initial ticket sizes ranging from €300k to €3 million. It plans to lead or co-lead rounds of up to €7 million and reserve capital to follow on at Series A.
The new fund has already led rounds in Nanogram, an AI-powered social gaming platform that lets users turn text prompts into playable games; Lenz, an independent verification layer that checks factual claims in AI-generated content; and 1Club, an AI-native software platform built by the team behind OfficeRnD for the sports and activities industry.
Alongside the first close of Fund III, LAUNCHub Ventures has promoted Raya Yunakova and Petar Tsachev to General Partners. Todor Breshkov, Stanislav Sirakov, Rumen Iliev and Irina Dimitrova, who have been with the firm since its founding, remain part of its leadership team, while Lyuben Belov and Stephane Gantchev continue in venture partner and advisory roles.
The firm also added Vedran Blagus as Associate Partner, covering Croatia, Slovenia, and the Western Balkans from Zagreb, and Nikoleta Popkostadinova as Head of Marketing.