Lithuanian Venture Capital market: new player has entered the game

New venture capital fund Open Circle Capital announced its start. It is expected that within a decade of its operation the fund will invest more than 20 million euro in high technology companies working in the fields of ICT, robotics, and high-tech.

Two-thirds of the fund’s capital will be financed by state funds administered by INVEGA. One-third of fund’s money will be allocated to private investors. The fund is intended to promote the transfer of ideas generated in research and higher education institutions to business (commercialization) and ensure greater availability of capital to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises developing products in high-technology sectors.

“We are searching for the developers of SaaS, apps and various cloud computing models, all dedicated to business services in the field of ICT. In the robotics industry, we are focusing more on the components of the production, logistics, drones, the so-called start-ups of the fourth industrial revolution. In the high-tech market, our fund is seeking out the developers of new technologies in medical and chemical fields and technologies related to semiconducting, optics and similar devices”, the CEO of Open Circle Capital Audrius Miliukas gave the example of indicative fields.

It is expected that the fund will invest in 5-6 new companies where the maximum amount of investment per company will be up to 3 million euro. According to Audrius Miliukas, one of the strongest feature of this fund is the international experience of fund's partners, which was accumulated in both Europe and USA.

“We have huge experience in investment. In total, fund partners managed investments in nearly 100 technology companies, participated in more than 80 technology transfer transactions, managed 7 funds, and sold businesses to such global giants as Facebook, Saab, and Eli Lilly. Nevertheless, we will be an open organization. We will seek to cooperate with a wide circle of investors, business angels and other venture capital funds. In order to achieve this, we will use the wide network of international contacts and acquaintances of the fund’s partners", A. Milukas assured.

According to the CEO, it is necessary to unite forces in order to ensure the maximum competence necessary to strengthen the environment for start-ups in Lithuania and create more success stories of Lithuanian businesses. The main goal of the fund will be to discover and invest in the most successful and potentially successful Lithuanian technology creators, providing not only the necessary capital but also knowledge for the first jump.