Silicon Gardens Research
Investment Thesis
Silicon Gardens describes itself as the Adria region's first and only "Founders for Founders" venture capital firm. It is led and backed by entrepreneurs who have built, scaled, and sold their own companies (Sportradar, Outfit7, Photomath, Microblink, Celtra, Runtastic, Bitstamp, Coinbase, Flaviar, Cosylab, Studio Moderna, Dewesoft, NiceLabel, Bird Buddy, Mimovrste, Cleanshelf, and Najdi.si among them). Beyond capital, the firm emphasizes hands-on mentorship, connections, and operational support drawn from its partners' own founder experience. It invests in line with global technology trends, with a stated focus on B2B SaaS, marketplaces and network-effect businesses, gaming/consumer apps, and innovative D2C products, with growing appetite for applied AI across these categories.
Stage Focus
Silicon Gardens invests almost exclusively at pre-seed and seed stage, typically as the first institutional check into a company. It occasionally follows on into later rounds of existing portfolio companies (e.g., participating in Bible Chat's $14M Series A and Veeda AI's $90M+ round alongside Khosla Ventures and Radical Ventures) but new-logo activity is concentrated pre-seed/seed.
Check Size
Public sources describe an average initial ticket of $500K-$1M (other materials cite €300K-€1.5M), consistent with observed rounds: $500K pre-seed checks into EVE and ClozerAI, and a $3M seed co-investment (with GapMinder) into *codeplain.
Lead Tendency
Mixed — Silicon Gardens both leads/anchors small pre-seed rounds (EVE, ClozerAI) and participates as a syndicate member in larger rounds led by others (GapMinder led Codeplain's seed; Khosla Ventures/Radical Ventures co-led Veeda AI's round). Best characterized as "both."
Recent Activity
Fund III (€33M+, launched June 2023, investing through approximately summer 2027) has made roughly 20 investments and is actively deploying. Notable recent activity:
- August 2026: Participated in Veeda AI's $90M+ founding round co-led by Khosla Ventures and Radical Ventures
- August 2026: Invested in Astute, an AI platform for B2B newsletter/podcast campaign discovery
- July 2026: Backed *codeplain's $3M seed round (third partnership with founder Dušan Omerčević), alongside lead investor GapMinder
- March 2026: Invested in Superapp, an AI full-stack engineer for native iOS apps, which raised $1.6M
- November 2025: Invested in Phylo, a Stanford-founded AI drug-discovery startup
- November 2025: Invested $500K pre-seed in EVE, an AI revenue assistant
- November 2025: Opened a San Francisco/Palo Alto office and debuted in the Bay Area with an event at Stanford
- August 2025: Invested $500K pre-seed in ClozerAI, a real-time AI sales assistant
Portfolio Highlights
Across three funds (Fund I: €300K, 2014, 2.1x DPI; Fund II: €6M, 2019, fully invested Sept 2024; Fund III: €33M+, 2023-present), Silicon Gardens has backed 60+ companies. Notable names and exits include:
- Daytona (developer environments platform)
- Bird Buddy (D2C smart bird feeder, notable consumer hardware success)
- Bible Chat (raised $14M Series A)
- FotoNation (AI/imaging hardware)
- Codeplain / *codeplain (AI-native software development, founder's second company backed by the firm after Cleanshelf's acquisition by SAP LeanIX)
- Flaviar (spirits marketplace, Fund I)
- Juicy Marbles (plant-based meat D2C brand)
- Mimo (coding education app)
Team
- Gregor Rebolj — Director and Managing Partner. Co-founder/CEO of Klika (merged with Sportradar); also involved with Kyuriosity and 1Home.
- Rok Zorko — General Partner. Co-founder and former product lead at Outfit7 (first Slovenian unicorn); focuses on consumer tech.
- Izet Ždralović — Partner. Co-founder of Microblink and Photomath (acquired by Google); focuses on go-to-market and product.
- Vuk Lau — Partner. Former co-founder/CEO of Forum (largest esports franchise in ex-Yugoslavia); built teams at Celtra; helped launch Veza.
- Krešo Gotovac — Partner. Former athlete; co-founder/CEO of Danu, Sconnected, and Witsports; manages operations and investment decisions.
- Nina Leskovec — Partner, Silicon Valley. Leads US expansion from Palo Alto; background in data science/finance (Colchis Capital, Stanford Research); former ASEF director.
- Kristian Asani — Principal. Founded a business incubator; leads dealflow, sourcing, community and events; primary contact for founders.
- Kaja Domadenik — Back Office Lead. Former Legal Associate at Nlaw; manages compliance, risk, and UI/design projects.
- Vid Zavalić — Associate. Built an incubator in Croatia; focuses on dealflow, sourcing, and ecosystem communication.
Decision Process
Partnership-led, with a defined intake path: Kristian Asani (Principal) serves as the primary first contact for founders, with investment decisions made across the partner group (Rebolj, Zorko, Ždralović, Lau, Gotovac).
Founder Preferences
Silicon Gardens' "Founders for Founders" positioning signals a strong preference for backing founders who fit the profile of its own partners and 120+ backing investors — technical/operational founders building B2B SaaS, marketplace, gaming/consumer app, or D2C products, often with ties to the Adria/CEE region or ambitions to bridge into Silicon Valley. Several portfolio founders are repeat entrepreneurs the firm has backed more than once (e.g., Dušan Omerčević across Cleanshelf and Codeplain).
Geographic Focus
Primary focus is founders connected to the Adria region and Central/Eastern Europe (Slovenia, Croatia, and neighboring countries), explicitly positioned as a bridge between CEE and Silicon Valley. The firm opened a Palo Alto/San Francisco presence in November 2025 to deepen its Silicon Valley connections and support portfolio companies expanding to the US.
Additional Notes
Silicon Gardens publishes an annual "State of Adria Tech" report and co-organizes the Podim Conference, reinforcing its role as a regional ecosystem builder as well as an investor. Its investor base of 120+ backers includes founders of major regional tech successes (Cosylab, Dewesoft, Nordeus, Runtastic, Zemanta), giving portfolio companies access to a deep operator network alongside capital.