Movens Capital Research
Investment Thesis
Movens Capital is a multi-stage venture capital firm headquartered in Poland that backs technology companies rooted in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), including the CEE diaspora, with ambitions to lead in the EU, the US or globally. Its tagline is "The Launch-Pad for CEE Founders with Global Ambitions". The firm looks for founders who think globally from day one, build products at the frontier of AI, create strong competitive moats (IP, proprietary data, defensibility) and can plausibly reach EUR 50M+ ARR within five to seven years. It describes itself as a generalist with a strong tech bias. AI/ML is a strategic priority and accounts for more than half of the current portfolio. Other named areas are B2B software, climate tech, health care, fintech, edtech, e-commerce enablers and future of work and life. The partners say they like deep tech, network effects, open-source models and product-led growth.
Anti-Thesis
The firm says it is not a fit for startups without a strong tech core, companies with no IP or defensibility, teams without global ambition, or startups with no CEE link. A CEE link can be revenue, team and product development, or founder roots. The legal entity can sit anywhere, Delaware included.
Stage Focus
Movens invests from pre-seed (it prefers to see first paying customers) through seed, Series A and growth rounds (Series A+). Fund II is a deliberate move up-market compared with Fund I, which was mostly pre-seed and seed. The partners describe Series A+ targets as companies with roughly EUR 3-5M ARR, close to break-even, with strong international traction and healthy unit economics (LTV/CAC above 4, CAC payback under 6 months).
Check Size
- Initial checks: EUR 250K to EUR 3M
- Follow-ons: up to EUR 5M per company
- Fund II plans roughly 30 investments, about 10 of them Series A+ rounds chiefly led by Movens
Lead Tendency
Both. The firm says it often leads rounds but also co-invests with angels, early funds and later-stage investors. Public round data from badideas.fund shows Movens as lead in all six rounds announced in the first nine months of 2026, and it also took part in rounds led by others (BeeSpeaker, Partory, Gotiva, Sky Engine AI).
Recent Activity
Fund II is a EUR 60M fund formally launched in mid-2025. Its backers are the EBRD, PFR Ventures and 80+ private investors, more than half of them tech entrepreneurs. It is actively deploying. Recent rounds named in public sources, newest first:
- Volteum (Hungary, EV fleet software), seed of EUR 3.3M, August 2026, led
- Cargofy (Ukraine, AI digital workforce for logistics), Series A of EUR 5.5M, June 2026, led
- grid.online (Czechia, shared last-mile parcel infrastructure), Series A of EUR 4.0M, June 2026, led
- SquarePlan (Poland, AI for commercial leasing and fit-out), seed of EUR 1.6M, June 2026, led
- Replenit (Poland, AI decision engine for retail), seed of EUR 2.1M, April 2026, led
- Mos Health (Poland, AI preventive health for workforces), pre-seed of EUR 0.9M, January 2026, led
- Sun.Store (Poland, B2B solar marketplace), seed of EUR 6.0M, September 2025, led
Portfolio Highlights
The portfolio page lists 33 companies. Fund I (2020 to 2023) invested about EUR 14M in roughly 20 startups, and those companies have raised about EUR 110M to EUR 130M in follow-on funding. Notable names are Alokai (formerly Vue Storefront), Talkie.ai, Doctor.one, Sky Engine AI, DevSkiller, Demoboost, StethoMe and Trasti, which raised the largest insurtech round in Polish history (EUR 20M). The only prominent exits named are earlier angel and SPV deals led by the founding partners: Netsprint (sold to Innova Capital in 2016), Packhelp (2019) and Fenige (2023). The Movens Fund 1 portfolio itself has no exits beyond Fenige.
Team
- Artur Banach, Partner (Managing Partner per press): founder and former CEO of NetSprint, Partner at Movens Fund 1, Berkeley VC Executive Program; AI, e-commerce, fintech, SaaS, marketplaces
- Lukasz Pawlowski, Partner: M&A advisor and investment banker (EY Corporate Finance, CAG, Espirito Santo), angel investor since 2014; fintech, edtech, future of life and work
- Radoslaw Rejman, Partner: 20+ years in corporate finance and asset management, CFA and ACCA, 20+ PE/VC transactions; climate tech, health, marketplaces
- Michal Olszewski, Partner: former head of SkyCash, co-founder of Business Angel Seedfund and LBA, ex-Opera AM; fintech, deeptech, edtech, health
- Maciej Kraus, Partner: pricing strategist and Stanford MBA lecturer, founded Fern Partners (sold to PwC), StartX advisor; enterprise software, B2B SaaS, e-commerce
- Przemyslaw Jurgiel-Zyla, Investment Director: Netsprint and Datarino veteran; AI/ML, marketplaces, B2B SaaS, open source
- Bartosz Skladzien, Investment Director: 15 VC transactions since 2015, ex-Giza Polish Ventures; deeptech, robotics, hardware
- Lukasz Lewandowski, Investment Director: ex-VP of K2 Holding, founder of PerfectBot; AI, e-commerce, enterprise software, martech
- Zofia Sidorska, Operations Manager
Decision Process
Partnership with an investment committee. The stated process is deck review, a first call with the investment team (usually within a week), a deep dive on product, tech and market, then Investment Committee and a term sheet. The firm promises a reply within 48 hours of the application form. Warm intros are welcome but not required, and it encourages early conversations before a raise.
Founder Preferences
Technical founders with deep domain expertise and a CEE link, who aim for global markets, show early international customers, strong retention and rapid growth (ideally tripling revenue annually). The partners are ex-operators and offer hands-on help: pricing strategy, go-to-market, hiring, and introductions to 300+ EU and US VCs.
Geographic Focus
CEE and the CEE diaspora, with Poland the largest share (nine of thirteen rounds on record since 2024), then Czechia, Hungary and Ukraine. The target market is the EU, the US and globally.
Gaps
Total AUM is not stated; Fund II is EUR 60M, with an unspecified amount closed. Check sizes are in euros; the payload stores the raw numbers. Stage at investment is not recorded per company because no source named each round with this firm in a way the portfolio page could confirm.