By RBJ
Fortech Investments, the Romanian investment fund, aims for accelerated activity growth in 2023 on the Western Europe markets and the USA with a new focus on energy startups.
At the end of last year, Fortech was acquired by Global Logic. Fortech Investments transformed from a CVC (Corporate Venture Capital) fund to an independent fund, remaining a strategic investor with technical skills and 100% Romanian private capital.
In 2022, the company invested approximately 2 million Euros in the strategic expansion of its startup network to develop the healthcare, manufacturing, fintech, real estate, and automotive sectors. In addition to the existing startups in the portfolio (Licenseware, NRGI.ai, KFactory, Telios, as well as UpLyft from the USA), Fortech Investments continued to invest in startups from these industries but also into related ones, such as SaaS-type solutions that help merchants sell across multiple marketplaces, end-to-end solutions for digital leasing and commercial real estate, a startup that automates fault analysis for power lines, and scaleups that introduce artificial intelligence into analytics medical.
In addition, a new focus of the company is the field of energy, already having in its portfolio the Pre-Seed Round of the partner start-up NRGI.ai which has developed a platform based on artificial intelligence that forecasts energy prices.
“We have raised the bar and we are looking more closely at late-seed companies, but we continue to make pre-seed investments so that entrepreneurs receive the resources and space necessary to take their start-ups to the level they want. In parallel, we continue to offer smart money and tech for equity solutions, the Development area being covered by the group’s new division, Fortech Products”, stated Valentin Filip, Managing Partner, Fortech Investments.
Next, the company will run programs and investments of the Joint Venture type, intended for companies established in the market looking for a technical partner to build innovative solutions in their field.
For 2023, the company already has three investments in progress, wanting to balance the portfolio with pre-seed rounds (80,000 – 150,000) and further invest in larger late-seed rounds (300,000-400,000). Also, Fortech Investments aims to expand its portfolio to the rest of Europe and the United States of America. Thus, helping the founders with capital and smart money, tech for equity, network, and a knowledge base that will facilitate the expansion of these companies where Fortech Investments has a sound background and expertise.
“It is an important step, and we are happy to see that many European and American startups are open to financing by Romanian funds. We have a new opportunity to be aware of what is happening in the world and, at the same time, to see how the Romanian market is also evolving, so we want to help those who want to develop a solution as well as those who identified a problem that needs to be solved”, concludes Valentin Filip.
Fortech Investments is a strategic investor and private fund from Romania focused on Healthcare, Manufacturing, Energy, Automotive, FinTech, and PropTech.
They support early-stage start-ups (from pre-seed to late seed – 80k to 500k) and provide founders with capital, smart money (industry expertise, business development, network), and tech for equity. They’re also interested in partnering with founders in Joint Ventures to help them reduce business risks and increase chances of product success, raising capital, and conquering new markets.
