Look AI Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Look AI Ventures (LAIV) is the first venture capital fund in the Czech Republic focused exclusively on early-stage AI startups. Founded in 2022 in Prague, the firm's thesis rests on the premise that AI-driven productivity and consumption gains could contribute up to $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030 (citing PwC research), and that "companies and investors who don't get ahead of this curve will get left behind." Rather than backing pure foundation-model plays, LAIV targets domain-specific, globally disruptive startups where AI is a core, load-bearing technique rather than a bolt-on feature. The fund is built on top of the AI Startup Incubator (AISI), established in 2017-2018, which gives LAIV a multi-year head start on deal flow, technical diligence methodology, and an AI expert network well before the fund itself launched.
Sector Focus
LAIV is industry-agnostic in principle but has concentrated its actual portfolio in a wide band of applied-AI verticals: construction and mining site intelligence, content moderation and trust & safety, property management automation, language learning and speech coaching, robotics (including soft robotics), customs and logistics automation, workplace safety monitoring, hospitality and real estate tech, contract lifecycle management, sports biomechanics, workplace communication training, governance/risk/compliance, visual effects automation, connected fitness, smart manufacturing, change-management coaching, e-commerce search/HCI, healthcare/telemedicine, insurance technology, retail analytics, and video/audio editing. The common thread is a working AI system solving a vertical, high-friction operational problem rather than a horizontal consumer AI product.
Stage Focus
LAIV invests pre-seed through seed, ahead of Series A. Portfolio companies are typically past the earliest prototype stage and into technical validation, with a working product ready for real-world testing, but before institutional Series A rounds. LAIV frequently participates as one of several co-investors in seed rounds alongside other European and US funds rather than solely leading.
Check Size
Public sourcing is inconsistent on exact figures: LAIV's own site does not disclose ticket size, but third-party trackers describe initial tickets in the €100K-€250K range with the possibility of follow-on investment up to €1M, and one tracker cites a broader €100K-€1.5M range. Treat the €100K-€250K initial ticket with up to €1M in reserved follow-on capital as the best working estimate.
Lead Tendency
LAIV appears to typically follow or co-invest rather than lead. In its most visible recent deals (Sodex Innovations, Lucida AI), LAIV is listed among several participating investors behind a named lead (Capmont Technology for Sodex; Velocity Capital for Lucida AI).
Recent Activity
- July 2026: Participated in Sodex Innovations' €4M round (construction/mining site intelligence), led by Capmont Technology, alongside Bloomhaus, Superangels, and existing backers SOSV, OMA, and 12 Rounds Capital.
- June 2026: Participated in Lucida AI's $7M seed round (speech-to-speech AI language coaching, London/Istanbul), led by Velocity Capital, alongside Next Tier Ventures, Bogazici Ventures, Yapı Kredi Frwrd Ventures, and Ünlü & Co.
- Checkstep (AI content moderation / trust & safety) raised £3M led by Alea Capital Partners with participation from Slow Ventures and LAIV; exact date unconfirmed.
As of December 2025, third-party trackers put LAIV at 16 total portfolio investments with 4 new investments in the trailing 12 months, suggesting a fund that is actively but selectively deploying rather than in high-velocity mode.
Portfolio Highlights
Confirmed/named portfolio companies include Sodex Innovations (AI construction/mining site surveying, Austria), Checkstep (AI content moderation and trust & safety, UK), Lucida AI (speech-to-speech AI language coaching, UK/Turkey), Electric Sheep (AI-assisted video production for VFX, UK, founded by Hollywood VFX veterans), Brickwise AI (property management automation), Embodied AI (robotics), Digicust (customs/logistics automation), Surveily (workplace safety monitoring), Inntelo AI (hospitality tech), Cequence (contract lifecycle management), Ochy (sports biomechanics analysis), Ambr AI (workplace communication training), SECJUR (governance/risk/compliance), Trackbar (connected fitness), Octotronic (smart manufacturing), Pandatron (change-management coaching), Miros (e-commerce search/HCI), S-Case (medical devices), MotionsCloud (insurance claims/inspection AI), AssetFloow (retail analytics), Subly (video/audio editing), and OpenRefactory (automated code repair).
Team
- Martin Havlík - Managing Partner
- Angelo Burgarello - Partner & Chief Investment Officer
- Martin Dostál, Ph.D. - Partner & Chief Science Officer
- Alexander Brányik - Partner
- Daniel Kunz - Partner
- Pavel Rosendorf - Partner
- Veronika Argust - Principal
- Taťána Lysková - Principal
- Martina Jankovská - Supervisory Board
- Eva Slonkova - Marketing Manager
- Kate Inozemtseva - Head of Scouting
- Andrej Tomčík - Investment Analyst
The firm operates with a team of roughly 11 people and 6 partners, split between an investment committee (Havlík, Burgarello, Dostál, Brányik, Kunz, Rosendorf), a scouting and analyst layer (Inozemtseva, Tomčík, Argust, Lysková), and marketing/governance support (Slonkova, Jankovská).
Decision Process
Structured, committee-style diligence rather than a solo-GP call: LAIV describes a "thorough, methodic, and AI dependencies conscious" evaluation process with in-house technical AI evaluation and third-party-confirmed valuations, operating through a regulated SICAV fund structure (Czech National Bank-regulated, for qualified investors) with a separate management entity, Look AI Investments.
Founder Preferences
LAIV looks for competent founder teams with a working prototype ready for testing, a genuine technical unfair advantage or early market validation, and a business where AI is structurally necessary to the product rather than cosmetic.
Geographic Focus
Pan-European with a home bias toward the Czech Republic and UK, but explicitly geography-agnostic; portfolio companies span the UK, Austria, Turkey/UK, and other EU markets. LAIV reports evaluating deal flow from roughly 89% of European countries and 130+ industries, working alongside 100+ VC partners across Europe.