Episode Details

Credo Ventures has raised an $88m Fund V to continue backing pre-seed founders from Central and Eastern Europe, keeping the fund size unchanged even with strong performance and LP demand.

Maciek Gnutek and Jakub Krikava, Partners at Credo Ventures, say staying disciplined on fund size is key to returning top outcomes, with the focus on backing the best founders early across the region and its diaspora.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel - check them out here:

https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

SurrealDB: The multi-model database for AI agents. Check them out here: https://surrealdb.com/

Omni: The AI analytics platform trusted by fast-growing companies like Perplexity, Synthesia, and dbt Labs. Check them out here: https://omni.co/

Venture Comet: The platform that gives startups and scale-ups real-time equity tracking, daily business insights and automated management information. Check them out here: https://venturecomet.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction to Scaling Europe show

0:32 - Credo announces new $88M fund

1:31 - Investment strategy and focus on pre-seed in CEE

2:25 - Why Credo kept fund size disciplined

4:00 - Fund economics and return strategy

6:23 - Competition and evolution of CEE ecosystem

9:25 - Local advantage in sourcing and evaluating founders

12:12 - Key markets and emerging regions in CEE

15:09 - Diaspora strategy and global deal flow

17:31 - ElevenLabs case study and sourcing approach

20:09 - Leadership transition and future of Credo