Presto Ventures targets EUR 100m for new early-stage fund

Still in the early days of fundraising, Presto III is planned to hold a first close of around EUR 40m by the end of this year, Rubes said, with the final close to follow by the end of 2024.

Significantly larger than its predecessors, which raised EUR 12m and EUR 25m, the fund is looking to attract private investors as well as larger institutional LPs, he said. These could include Western European and US-based investors, he said, adding that the vehicle will probably be domiciled in Luxembourg or Ireland.

LPs in the firm's two funds have mainly come from the CEE region and most of them are expected to invest into the new vehicle, Rubes said.

Investments
Presto plans to begin deploying the new fund towards the end of this year, with the investment period set to complete within two years, Rubes said.

The vehicle will have a similar investment strategy as the first two funds, targeting early stage startups at pre-seed and seed stages. On an average, it invests EUR 0.5m into targets, he added.

Fund III is expected to be deployed into 100 tech startups across CEE, including the Baltics, Balkans and Georgia and other parts of the CIS region.

Presto Ventures largely focuses on B2B software, as well as marketplaces, Rubes said, with a key factor being that founders have a drive to go global. It sees particularly high-quality startups in the Czech Republic and the Baltics, Rubes said, adding that in addition to CEE, it could also look into businesses in other countries such as the US, which have founders from the CEE region.

Presto II has around 25 portfolio companies and is already 50%-60% invested, Rubes said. It plans to invest into around 15 more startups by the end of this year, he said.

The firm, which has five partners, sources deals in-house using its network but works with law firm Mavericks for legal due diligence, he said.

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