Rockaway plans third closing for Rockaway Ventures Fund this autumn

Rockaway Ventures Fund, which has a target of EUR 100m, invests in startups across central and eastern Europe and the DACH region. The fund largely focuses on the e-retailing, logistics, media, fintech, digital medicine, edtech and cyber-security sectors.

The third closing is expected to be on around EUR 60m to EUR 70m, followed by a final close next year, Zabrodsky said. The fund held a second close on EUR 40m last November, he said.

To date, most of the external investors into the fund have been European high net worth individuals, as well as Rockaway itself, but the fund expects to see more investments from institutional investors, Zabrodsky said.

Although Rockaway as a group has been making VC investments since 2014, this this fund together with its two recent blockchain funds, marks the first time that it has invited external investors on board. The three fund share a large number of investors, Zabrodsky noted.

While it can invest from the seed to Series B stages, the fund’s sweet spot is Series A rounds, with a typical ticket size of EUR 1m to EUR 3m, he said.

Half of the fund’s capital is earmarked for initial investments into companies and the remainder for follow-on rounds, Zabrodsky said, adding that the VC fund usually co-invests with others.

A key investment criterion for the fund will be companies‘ ESG approach, which is also closely related to the theme of digitalisation, which enables society to operate more efficiently and grow more sustainably.

Rockaway Ventures Fund began investing last year and EUR 10m has been invested into five startups to date, Zabrodsky said. It expects to make 25 investments in total.

The fund’s portfolio comprises Estonian language learning tool Lingvist, German consumer goods incubation platform Vivere, Czech camper van rental marketplace Campiri, Greek used car marketplace Spotawheel and, most recently, two investment rounds into German camping booking platform FreewayCamper.

The fund has two general partners, Zabrodsky and Andrea Lauren. Its investment committee also includes Jakub Havrlant, the founder of Rockaway Capital.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Funds
• Venture
• CEE
• DACH
• Technology
• Czech Republic