DEPO Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
DEPO Ventures is a Prague-based venture capital firm founded in 2016 that has evolved from a community of angel investors and co-investors into a professional institutional VC. Its stated vision is building European technological resilience through critical infrastructure innovation, and its mission is backing early-stage founders building the next generation of critical infrastructure. The firm frames its current focus as emerging and disruptive technologies (EDT), with an explicit belief that Europe needs a stronger tech backbone and that CEE (Central and Eastern Europe) can supply it. Earlier funds were more sector-agnostic, spanning fintech, mobility, consumer marketplaces, and SaaS; the current fund has narrowed sharply toward strategic/critical infrastructure sectors.
Stage Focus
DEPO invests at inception and pre-seed, positioning itself as one of the first institutional checks a founder takes. The firm explicitly looks for early-stage tech with €100B+ market potential.
Check Size
Typical ticket is €250K-500K per the current fund's stated parameters, with target entry valuations up to €7M. Older program materials (DEPO Angels / CVCA listing) reference a wider €50K-300K range, reflecting the angel-network/co-investment side of the platform rather than the core fund.
Lead Tendency
DEPO frequently leads or co-leads its rounds. Recent examples: led Tapaya's ~€1M pre-seed (with Passion Capital and BADideas.fund participating), led WanderWallet's €430K pre-seed (with BDPartners), and led ArcSpace's €2M+ round (with SCE Freiraum participating). It also plays an active, hands-on role post-investment - it has publicly described orchestrating cross-portfolio business between companies (Flowpay's acquisition of fellow portfolio company Tapline).
Recent Activity
DEPO has been actively deploying through 2025-2026: backed Prague-based stablecoin infrastructure startup Plexo; led a €2M+ round in Paris SpaceTech startup ArcSpace (in-orbit satellite repair, August 2026); led Tapaya's pre-seed (payment-terminal software, ~April 2026); led WanderWallet's pre-seed (cross-border travel payments); and saw portfolio company Flowpay acquire another portfolio company, Tapline, then separately raise €30M from Fasanara Capital for embedded-finance lending. The firm also runs recurring CEE investor-sentiment surveys (with the Czech Startup Association) and co-organizes the Engaged Investments Conference (with J&T Ventures), the region's flagship VC/LP/founder gathering, most recently held October 22-23, 2025 in Prague.
Portfolio Highlights
Since 2016, DEPO has made 50+ investments (60+ since a 2019 count) across four funds plus a syndicate vehicle. Notable names include Tatum (blockchain developer infrastructure, raised $41.5M), Spendee (personal finance app), Bolt (Estonian mobility unicorn, early-stage participation), Certifier (credential infrastructure), Acreom (developer knowledge base), Talsec (mobile app security SDKs, #cybersecurity), Flowpay (SME embedded finance, raised €30M from Fasanara Capital), and Tapline (acquired by Flowpay - portfolio-internal exit). The current fund's strategic-infrastructure pivot is visible in newer bets: ArcSpace (space), Plexo (stablecoin infrastructure), and continued fintech/Industry 4.0 deals.
Team
DEPO is led by two co-founding Managing Partners, Michal Ciffra and Petr Šíma. The venture partner bench is deliberately built around deep-tech and defense/space domain expertise rather than generalist finance backgrounds: Tobiáš Rataj (ex-UiPath, ex-Rossum), Oldřich Muller (ex-AVG, ex-Socialbakers), Premek Starovesky (angel investor, ex-Intel), Tomáš Polcar (professor, Czech Technical University & University of Southampton), Jan Lukačevič (space engineer), Stanislav Gunar (astrophysicist), Justyna Redelkiewicz (angel investor, entrepreneur, ex-EUSPA - the EU space program agency), and Pavel Kučera (ex-CTO of Avast).
Decision Process
Structured as a partnership between the two managing partners, supported by a wide venture-partner network for domain diligence - consistent with a specialist, technically-grounded underwriting process rather than a solo-GP or large investment-committee structure.
Founder Preferences
DEPO's public messaging and current sector mix point to technical founders solving hard, capital-intensive infrastructure problems (defense, space, energy, fintech rails, Industry 4.0) rather than pure consumer or app-layer plays, though its back catalog still includes many consumer/marketplace bets from its earlier, more generalist years.
Geographic Focus
Europe, with an explicit focus on CEE (Central and Eastern Europe) and the CEE diaspora. Portfolio companies span the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, France, and other parts of Europe, and DEPO has coinvested with UK (Passion Capital), Latvian (BADideas.fund), and other pan-European funds.