Simpact Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Simpact Ventures is the first venture capital fund in Poland built explicitly on the idea of impact investing. Founded in 2016 and investing actively since 2017, the firm backs scalable, tech-driven startups that address concrete social or environmental challenges alongside pursuing venture-scale financial returns. The firm is explicit that impact is not a side effect: for every portfolio company it defines 2-3 specific, measurable social-impact KPIs alongside the standard financial metrics, and these commitments are reflected in the investment documents themselves. Simpact is sector-agnostic by mandate but is naturally drawn to medtech, edtech, cleantech, and biotech, and does not shy away from hardware. It backs both B2B and B2C models and will pass on strong-looking deals if no one on the team or in its immediate network understands the space well enough to diligence it properly.
Sector Focus
The current portfolio clusters heavily around health and medtech (Shen AI, Ligence, Nutrix, Pogaduszki, Prosoma, ForActive, Sidly, Glaze Prosthetics, AM Direct), with meaningful positions in edtech (Kinderpedia, Readmio, Stimy AI, VocApp), security (Cyber360, Samurai Labs), energy/cleantech (Pstryk, ChargeEuropa), applied AI (Rankfor.AI, CulturePulse, Pergamin), and biotech (Verdant Nature). The firm explicitly avoids: illegal business activity; tobacco and distilled-alcohol production/trade; weapons and ammunition financing; casinos and equivalent gambling businesses; online gambling and pornography (including enabling technology); illegal data-network access; fossil-fuel production and related infrastructure (coal, oil, gas extraction/processing/transport); and carbon- and energy-intensive heavy industry (cement, steel, aluminum, basic chemicals, conventional aircraft manufacturing).
Stage Focus
Simpact invests from pre-seed through Series A, with a stated preference for seed-stage deals where the startup has already validated product-market fit. The firm is comfortable with both pre-revenue and post-revenue companies and reserves a significant share of fund capital for follow-on participation in later rounds of existing portfolio companies.
Check Size
Ticket sizes range from roughly EUR 500,000 to EUR 2,000,000 per company, with a "sweet spot" first check of about EUR 1,000,000 at seed. A large share of the fund's total capital is earmarked for follow-on investment to defend ownership and support portfolio companies through subsequent raises.
Lead Tendency
Simpact is equally comfortable leading or co-investing; which role it takes depends mainly on round construction, size, and the composition of other investors. Recent rounds show both patterns: it led ForActive's $3.6M seed round (July 2026) and Ligence's EUR 3M seed round (November 2024), while participating alongside a lead investor in Pstryk's EUR 7M Series A (July 2026, led by Future Energy Ventures) and Stimy AI's $337K pre-seed (September 2024, alongside AIP Seed).
Recent Activity
The fund is actively deploying out of its current vehicle, Simpact 2.0 (PLN 100M / ~USD 20M AUM, anchored by the European Investment Fund as lead LP). Since late 2024 it has been particularly active: it led a EUR 3M seed round in Lithuanian cardiac-diagnostics startup Ligence (November 2024), backed health-monitoring startup Shen AI (August 2024), co-invested in Polish edtech Stimy AI's pre-seed (September 2024), invested in AI-visibility startup Rankfor.AI (December 2025), announced a co-investment partnership with NCBR Investment Fund targeting at least two joint deals in 2025 (March 2025), participated in Pstryk's EUR 7M Series A (July 2026), and led ForActive's $3.6M seed round to fund its US expansion (July 2026).
Portfolio Highlights
Current Simpact 2.0 portfolio (16 companies): ForActive (HealthTech), Kinderpedia (EdTech), Cyber360 (Security), Rankfor.AI (AI/GEO visibility), Readmio (EdTech), CulturePulse (AI decision support), Ligence (AI-assisted echocardiography), Pstryk (dynamic energy tariffs), Stimy AI (EdTech/math), Shen AI (remote health monitoring), ChargeEuropa (EV charging), Pogaduszki (speech therapy), Verdant Nature (BioTech), Nutrix (chronic-disease patient care), Prosoma (oncology mental health), and Samurai Labs (digital safety/security). Under the earlier Simpact 1.0 vehicle, the firm fully exited five investments -- AM Direct, VocApp, Sidly, Pergamin, and Glaze Prosthetics -- and reports it returned capital to its investors at a profit on every exit.
Team
- Krzysztof Grochowski -- Partner
- Jacek Ostrowski -- Partner
- Wojciech Majewski -- Partner
- Kamil Przybysz -- Investment Director
- Katarzyna Grondkowska -- Investment Manager
- Katarzyna Oleksiuk -- Investment Analyst
- Konrad Orzełowski -- Attorney at Law
- Michał Ludwiczak -- Financial Officer
The three Partners (Jacek, Krzysztof, and Wojtek) sit on the firm's Investment Committee and hold final investment authority, though the team says it works to reach consensus across the whole team before a Committee vote.
Decision Process
Investment decisions are made by a three-person Investment Committee composed of the firm's Partners. The firm says it can turn around a decision quickly when it is the lead or sole investor -- some processes close within a few weeks -- but timelines stretch to several months when there are more co-investors or when the target company and its existing cap table need more preparation. Simpact says it does not require formal NDAs before an initial pitch and will only sign its own standard NDA template (via DocuSign) after an initial screening.
Founder Preferences
Simpact underwrites the classic early-stage triad -- team, market scalability, and product -- with particular attention to a credible exit path within a multi-year (not multi-decade) horizon. It does not require "unicorn or bust" outcomes and is comfortable backing strong companies in smaller-but-sufficiently-large niches. Once invested, the firm says it stays deliberately hands-off operationally, trusting founders to run their own businesses, and engages mainly when asked -- most often to make introductions, help prepare for follow-on rounds, or connect founders with other portfolio founders facing similar situations.
Geographic Focus
Simpact is headquartered in Warsaw, Poland, and its primary geographic mandate is Central and Eastern Europe -- it will invest in any company with genuine ties to the CEE region (headquarters or operations), from Estonia to Austria. Since 2023 the firm has also expanded selectively into Western Europe and the United States, reflected in its recent lead investment in ForActive's US-market expansion round.