Balnord

What do European founders need to build the next Palantir? Or should we be asking a different question entirely? 🚀 To answer these and more questions, I invite you to check out our "Navigating Dual-Use Technologies: A Founder's Handbook" - the first comprehensive guide for entrepreneurs building technologies that serve both commercial and government sectors. We brought together 24 industry experts including Eliza Kruczkowska, Rozalia Urbanek, Yuval Ben-Itzhak, Greg Grzegorz Lewicki, Andriy Kolodyuk, Jerome Leclanche, Jacek Strzelczyk, Tomasz ZAREMBA, Mateusz Rzymowski, Michał Żołnierowicz, Margot McDonnell, Łukasz Kulas, Daniel Biedermann, Tero Vauraste, Linas Sargautis, Paweł Huras, PhD, and our Balnord team Marcin P. Kowalik, Aleksander Dobrzyniecki, Hubert Szczołek and Jarek Pilarczyk to share practical insights on everything from developing business models to mastering complex market requirements. The main partner of our publication is Polski Fundusz Rozwoju S.A. (PFR). With dual-use investments surging by 186% in the last 1000 days, this guide arrives at a crucial moment for European deep tech. Jump to the newsletter and check out why this matters and how founders can seize these emerging opportunities. #deeptech #dualuse #entrepreneurship #venturecapital

🎯 The 10th Polish Startups Report is out. It's the most anticipated, read, and quoted report on Polish startups. Celebrating a decade of insights and trends. Key content includes: - updated data on startups, - potential growth areas, - expected transformations and trends. As Balnord, we are proud to contribute our piece titled "𝗧𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘀: 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗘𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀", a must read for every founder looking for VC partner. But there are more pieces of great content inside. So, you'll be able to grab your copy to learn more about Poland's evolving startup ecosystem.   https://lnkd.in/da7SASRu Kudos for Startup Poland, Google for Startups, PFR Ventures, BNP Paribas Bank Polska, PKO Bank Polski, and many more contributors to providing this report. #startups #venturecapital #entrepreneurship

Our new "Navigating Dual-Use Technologies: A Founder's Handbook" is ready to download! It's not just a feel-good read. It's a strategic imperative.   Here’s how it can help when developing your deep tech for dual-use applications: ☑ Understand the latest industry trends. ☑ Access both public and private funding sources. ☑ Build and scale your company with proven frameworks. ☑ Enter and expand in the market successfully. ☑ Learn from real-world case studies and best practices.   Founders, listen up! This is your playbook. It’s packed with insights from successful founders, investors, and industry experts. 𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗽𝘆 𝗼𝗳 "𝗡𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝘂𝗮𝗹-𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀: 𝗔 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿'𝘀 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸". -> https://lnkd.in/dF-GvR8j Thank you very much to all experts involved in making it happen and our main partner Polski Fundusz Rozwoju S.A. (PFR) and community partners Infoshare, Startup Poland Space3ac, Casimir Pulaski Institute, Gdański Park Naukowo-Technologiczny Pomorska Specjalna Strefa Ekonomiczna Krakowski Park Technologiczny | Krakow Technology Park #dualuse #deeptech #venturecapital #investments #entrepreneurship

Announcing the first-ever: "Navigating Dual-Use Technologies: A Founder’s Handbook for Opportunities and Challenges". After months of collaboration with 23 industry experts, we're proud to present the comprehensive handbook that bridges the gap between commercial success and government applications. Join us for a live discussion with experts who will share actionable insights from this groundbreaking resource: Eliza Kruczkowska - Public-private innovation expertise at Polski Fundusz Rozwoju S.A. (PFR) Hosted by Wojciech Drewczyński   Save the date: December 9th 13:00 CET LinkedIn Live Event   You'll discover: - Building & scaling strategies - Funding access tactics - Market entry roadmaps - Real success stories - How deep tech & dual-use can help building European tech autonomy Be among the first to access this groundbreaking resource for founders building technologies that protect democratic values while driving commercial success. Register now to get your copy of the Handbook on Monday! #deeptech #dualuse #venturecapital #investments #entrepreneurship

Announcing the first-ever: "Navigating Dual-Use Technologies: A Founder’s Handbook for Opportunities and Challenges". After months of collaboration with 23 industry experts, we're proud to present the comprehensive handbook that bridges the gap between commercial success and government applications. Join us for a live discussion with experts who will share actionable insights from this groundbreaking resource: Eliza Kruczkowska - Public-private innovation expertise at Polski Fundusz Rozwoju S.A. (PFR) Hosted by Wojciech Drewczyński   Save the date: December 9th 13:00 CET LinkedIn Live Event   You'll discover: - Building & scaling strategies - Funding access tactics - Market entry roadmaps - Real success stories - How deep tech & dual-use can help building European tech autonomy Be among the first to access this groundbreaking resource for founders building technologies that protect democratic values while driving commercial success. Register now to get your copy of the Handbook on Monday! #deeptech #dualuse #venturecapital #investments #entrepreneurship

Join us today for an exclusive live conversation hosted by ZapytajVC.pl with our General Partner Marcin P. Kowalik. Take advantage of the opportunity to hear from Marcin, who brings experience as an entrepreneur and investor. Hear about his journey, successes and failures, and learn about building Balnord, our investment approach in deep tech, and what we look for in founders from Poland and Baltics. It's a raw conversation with no editing—just honest insights. Hosts: Arkadiusz Hajduk and Michał Olszewski #venturecapital #investments #entrepreneurship

Last week #UglyDuck in #Luxemburg. This week's #FII8 conference is in #Riyadh. I can say that #FII8 will be the next #Davos sooner rather than later. Saudi Arabia's #Vision2030 is a highly consequential strategy to develop one of the biggest economies in the world. Couple facts:   -> Riyadh has 8 mln population,  -> A few years ago, they started investing in global VCs,  -> Public Investment Fund (PIF) invested in an intelligent way to support the Saudi VC ecosystem  -> Only 1 business person from Poland was in FII this year... Kauffman Fellows have a panel where Fernando Fabre presents the #FundReturnerIndex. #Venturecapital is becoming increasingly global, which is a big opportunity for #Poland and the #CEE region. Many thanks to Endeavor Saudi Arabia and Musaab Al-Muhaidib Allen Taylor Lateefa Alwaalan for inviting me to the MENA SUMMIT. Thank you, Mr. Ambasador Robert Rostek, for your help during my visit to Riyadh. We will see you soon at the "Poland—Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Business Forum" in Warsaw. It is good to meet many fellows: Areije Al Shakar,  Dilek DAYINLARLI, Daniela "Dani" Terminel, Ahmad A., Fahad Alhussain, Amir Farha #Venturecapital Balnord #Poland #Baltics #Deeptech

Last week together with my collegue Aleksander, I attended  Investor Camp and Startup Fair, the largest VC-related event in Lithuania, where we connected with investors and founders and experienced firsthand the unique strength of this ecosystem. What impressed me most was seeing how successful entrepreneurs are actively giving back to the community. Founders of unicorn companies are not only attending events but are also sharing their knowledge, both formally and informally. Many of them are now angel investors, backing early-stage companies and helping the next generation succeed. It was inspiring to hear multiple stories about startups being created by former team members of these successful companies, often with their previous CEOs as early backers and even their first key customers. This founder-driven support is truly unique and creates a powerful feedback loop in the ecosystem. Coupled with a talented workforce, nurtured through these success stories, and a strong network of experienced founders, angels, and investors—supported by organizations like Startup Lithuania, Unicorns Lithuania, Lithuanian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, and Lithuanian Business Angel Network LitBAN — the ecosystem ensures that knowledge is widely shared, connections are fostered, and entrepreneurs are set up to succeed on the global stage. Balnord high conviction approach is a great addition to the local ecosystem supporting next generation of deeptech and data driven software companies that need more then just a single rounds of investment in brining their technology out to the other markets. Connecting local companies with market in Poland on their path to western market is great value add in their journey. Find out more about our approach and the types of companies we seek in the video below. We are looking forward to working with the local ecosystem and investors (thanks for the great dinner FIRSTPICK, Practica Capital, Baltic Sandbox, Coinvest Capital, Iron Wolf Capital) to support ambitious tech entrepreneurs in building global companies. #VentureCapital #Entrepreneurship

Venture Capital Forum 2024 organized by Invest Europe was full of insightful panels and thought provoking discussions. Many thanks to Eric de Montgolfier & the team for putting this event together. Some of my personal highlights: 1/ Deep tech in Europe has proven its return potential. However, our ecosystem calls for more capital to underwrite the most ambitious projects. We must be proud, we must be bold and have the ambition to supercharge the next wave of deep tech innovations on a global level. That is the only path to achieving European tech sovereignty. Thanks Wolfgang Neubert and Pauline Roux for sharing your thoughts on this. 2/ Superior performance of European VC is no longer a question mark, the data is there. European pension funds and fund of funds are slowly allocating more into European venture capital however, currently still only 12% of all capital in Europe comes from this source compared to 45% in private equity. We need to move more capital into the asset class that drives innovation and technological resilience of Europe. 3/ Uli Grabenwarter spoke about the current state of European Venture.  - Decline in valuations seems to bottom out  - We clearly see the withdrawal of US funds from Europe   - Investment pace in the US is decoupled from the investment patterns in Europe. US funds deploy an order of magnitude more capital fuelled by what they believe to be the next platform shift (AI), while dry powder holds tight among European funds. We need to go for it and be bolder in our investment pace as Europe.  - Investing in emerging managers provides a superior return potential. If you want to achieve superior returns you're better off investing in newly established funds and the data supports it - roughly 2/3 out of the top 50 funds in EIF's portfolio are emerging managers - this is where the alpha lies, excluding them from your VC allocation will most likely lead to your returns suffering. 

We are proud to have our General Partner, Marcin P. Kowalik, representing Balnord at the #SHIELD conference in Warsaw. As the first-check investors in deep tech and data-driven software solutions, we're excited to explore how #dualuse technologies can reshape Europe's economic and security landscape. You can meet Marcin on the stage during the European Dynamism discussion panel, where he'll talk about the critical role of #venturecapital in driving technology development at the intersection of civilian and defense industries. Join us in person or follow along for insights that could redefine Europe's tech future. #investment #technology