Page 11 - bne_Tech_02_2021

Investment
February 2021 www.intellinews.com I Page 11
VC investment in Poland grows 1.7 times in 2020
Venture capital invested nearly PLN2.13bn (€470mn) in the Polish start-up sector in 2020, 1.7 times the amount recorded in 2019, a report revealed on January 28.
That marks a sharp increase not only versus 2019 – when VC investment exceeded PLN1bn for the first time – but also compared to the years 2010- 2018 when the annual interest of VC money never grew bigger than PLN215mn.
Data were compiled by Poland’s state-owned investment vehicle PFR and Inovo Venture Partners, a VC investment fund.
Last year marked a pick-up in interest from foreign VC in the Polish market, with 38% of the total invested money coming from international investors, the report said.
Still, the majority of the money arrived thanks to PFR’s own VC vehicle PFR Ventures, and two other state-owned entities, the National
Centre for Research and Development, and the bank BGK.
Last year, some 300 Polish start-ups attracted VC fund investment, with five companies attracting almost 52% of the total amount of invested money.
The five companies that won the most interest from investors were Iceye, a satellite imagery startup, Brainly, an education technology company, Health and beauty booking service Booksy, and Uncapped, a platform facilitating small-scale investment in companies.
A quarter of the capital went to companies offering technology and/or services related to healthcare. Business software start-ups attracted 15%, followed by fintech companies at 9%.
Other start-up types that attracted at least 3% of VC investment last year worked in marketing, transport, food, energy, gaming, or telecommunications.