Credo Ventures — Investment Thesis & Preferences

01Investment Thesis

Back the most ambitious founders from Central and Eastern Europe at the very earliest stages — before product, before revenue. CEE is a world-class talent pool producing generational companies, and Credo's edge is local knowledge and 17+ years of founder relationships.

Exclusion Criteria

No thesis-driven exclusions. Sector-agnostic, though avoids later-stage investments in the core fund (handled by Credo Crossover).

02Investment Team

OB

Ondrej Bartos

Founding Partner

JH

Jan Habermann

Founding Partner

MG

Maciej Gnutek

General Partner

JK

Jakub Krikava

General Partner

MC

Michal Cernocky

General Partner, Credo Crossover

MK

Max Kolowrat

General Partner

MM

Matej Micek

Tech Partner

GF

Guillaume Fournier

Board Partner

AD

Ales Duchac

CFO

03F4 Research Brief

Credo Ventures Research

Investment Thesis

Credo Ventures is a Prague- and Krakow-headquartered early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2009 by Jan Habermann and Ondrej Bartos. Their mission is to back the most ambitious founders from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) at the very earliest stages — before product, before revenue — and stay close as companies grow into category leaders. They describe their approach as "early x underrated x ridiculously ambitious," prioritising exceptional people over thesis-driven frameworks.

Credo identifies CEE as a world-class talent pool that has been historically underserved by global capital. Their edge is local knowledge, founder relationships built over 17+ years, and the conviction to write the first institutional check when most VCs hesitate. The firm is deliberately sector-agnostic: they invest across enterprise software, developer tools, healthcare, climate, security, consumer, and AI — wherever the most exceptional CEE founders are building.

Stage Focus

Credo focuses primarily on pre-seed and seed, writing the first check before broader market validation. Their Fund V (Credo Stage 5, $88M, closed March 2026) explicitly targets pre-seed. Historically they have also participated in Series A follow-ons for portfolio companies. Credo Crossover, a separate vehicle led by Michal Cernocky, targets growth-stage companies through secondary transactions and public market investments.

Check Size

Typical initial investment: $1M-$5M. Fund V plans to back approximately 30 companies with 7-8 new investments per year.

Fund History

Credo Stage 1-3: Established the firm's track record, including the UiPath pre-seed investment.
Credo Stage 4 (EUR 75M, ~2022): Doubled down on Poland, expanded CEE footprint.
Credo Stage 5 (EUR 74.85M / $88M, March 2026): Largest fund to date; LP base includes Adams Street Partners, RSJ, Sequoia Capital, Isomer Capital, Marktlink Capital, Emergence Ventures; ~two-thirds institutional capital.

Total estimated AUM across all funds: ~EUR 250M.

Portfolio Highlights and Exits

Credo has backed over 100 companies across five funds, with three unicorns and two decacorn-level outcomes:

Decacorn Outcomes:

UiPath (uipath.com): Co-led pre-seed. NYSE IPO in April 2021 at ~$35B valuation.
ElevenLabs (elevenlabs.io): Led pre-seed for $2M. Voice AI platform now valued at $11B (Sep 2025 tender offer at $6.6B).

Unicorns:

Productboard (productboard.com): Product management platform. Unicorn.
Cera (cera.care): UK AI-powered in-home healthcare. Unicorn (2025), raised $150M in Jan 2025.

Notable Exits:

Apiary: API documentation, acquired by Oracle.
Cognitive Security: AI cybersecurity, acquired by Cisco.
Manta (getmanta.com): Data lineage platform, acquired by IBM.
Comprimato (comprimato.com): Video encoding software, acquired by AJA Video Systems (April 2026).
Gamee (gamee.com): Mobile gaming platform, acquired March 2026.
Photoneo (photoneo.com): 3D sensing technology, acquired January 2025.

Active Portfolio (selected):

Resistant AI (resistant.ai): AI agents for financial crime prevention. Raised $25M Series B (Oct 2025).
Betterstack (betterstack.com): Developer observability and incident management.
Deepnote (deepnote.com): Data science collaboration platform.
IP Fabric (ipfabric.io): Automated network assurance.
Pricefx (pricefx.com): Cloud-based pricing software.
Upheal (upheal.io): AI-powered mental health platform. Raised $10M Series A (Jan 2025).
Supernova (supernova.io): AI-powered product development platform for enterprise teams. Raised $9.2M Series A (Sep 2025).
Displate (displate.com): Metal poster marketplace connecting designers and buyers.
Sense Street (sensestreet.com): NLP for capital markets.
Wabi (wabi.ai): AI companions and mini-apps.
Duvo (duvo.ai): AI workforce automation for retail operations. Raised $15M seed (Dec 2025, led by Index Ventures).
Kontext (kontext.ai): AI chatbot advertising platform. Raised $10M seed (Aug 2025).
Delta Green (deltagreen.energy): Virtual power plant / household energy flexibility. Raised EUR 2M Series A (Oct 2025).
Mode Inspect (modeinspect.com): Live product design tool. Raised $3.4M seed (Jan 2026, led by Partech).

Team

Ondrej Bartos (Founding Partner): Grew up in communist Czechoslovakia, co-founded multiple companies during university before transitioning to angel investing and co-founding Credo in 2009. Named to Forbes Europe Midas List (Dec 2024). LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/obartos
Jan Habermann (Founding Partner): Former event company and software house founder (acquired). Previously at a Warsaw-based VC fund. Generalist investor emphasising authentic founder relationships. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/janhabermann
Maciej Gnutek (General Partner): Started investing at 16. Former analyst at a prominent Polish VC. Focuses on translating complex engineering into clear value propositions. Portfolio includes ElevenLabs, Sense Street, Wabi. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/maciejgnutek
Jakub Krikava (General Partner): International Relations graduate from King's College London, former policy analyst and government advisor. Focuses on deep tech combining software and hardware. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jakub-krikava
Max Kolowrat (General Partner): CS and Economics dual degree, family business background. First stock pick was Apple in middle school. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/maximilian-kolowrat-krakowsky-817467b7
Michal Cernocky (General Partner, Credo Crossover): Established Credo Crossover in 2022 to target growth-stage companies through secondary transactions and public market investments. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/cernockym
Matej Micek (Tech Partner): Infrastructure and AI/developer tools specialist; part of the CS5 partner team.
Guillaume Fournier (Board Partner): Board-level support for portfolio companies.
Ales Duchac (CFO): Finance and fund operations.

Decision Process

Credo operates as a traditional partnership with all GPs involved in investment decisions. Unanimous GP approval is noted as exceptional (e.g., ElevenLabs). Decision process emphasises intuition honed over 17+ years alongside systematic portfolio diversification.

Founder Preferences

Credo backs founders from CEE and the global CEE diaspora (including in the US and UK). They value authenticity, genuine problem obsession, and the ability to build an honest, trusting relationship with investors. Comfortable backing founders before product or revenue exists. Sector expertise or technical background valued but not required.

Geographic Focus

Primarily Central and Eastern Europe: Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, and Baltic states. Also backs CEE diaspora founders building in San Francisco, New York, and London. Offices in Prague (Karlovo namesti 10) and Krakow (Lubomirskiego 20).