Open Circle Capital Newsletter #6: 2023 Year in Review
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Welcome to the 6th Open Circle Capital newsletter. In this edition we want to update you about our activities, portfolio development, future plans and ecosystem news.
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Despite the strong headwinds in the market and all the challenges, the European tech ecosystem stood strong in 2023: - Total capital invested into the European tech ecosystem in 2023 is on track to reach around $45B. Despite the decline from peak of $100B in 2021 and $82B in 2022, it was still the third-largest year on record by total capital invested.
- The main drop was seen in the mega-rounds as many of the late-stage startups have
delayed their fundraising, together with decreased valuations and materially slower deployment from late-stage investors.
- More than half of all the VC investments in 2023 have gone into the top 3 sectors: Carbon & Energy, Software, and Health, while Artificial Intelligence has taken over the early-stage rounds.
- Despite the headwinds in the market, the total European tech ecosystem value has recovered to 2021 levels of $3T. Adding to that, 2022 was a record year
for European VCs with funds raised in the year exceeding $24B. By adding over $7B raised in the first half of 2023, it seems clear, that the European tech ecosystem is poised for growth in the near future.
Source: State of European Tech 2023 report by Atomico
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We are strong believers in the future of European tech as we have been since our inception. From the beginning of Open Circle Capital activity, our fund has achieved such highlights: - Our portfolio startups have attracted over €37M from Open Circle Capital and co-investors
- Since 2020, the total portfolio revenue has increased more than 3x
- More than 200 talents are currently working in our portfolio startups
- In total portfolio companies paid ~2.7M EUR in taxes during three quarters of 2023. Source: Unicorns.lt database
- We have formed a strong network of more than 80 funds and angel co-investors that believe in the same technologies and help startups to grow
In order to continue what was started, Open Circle Capital is doubling down on a second fund with an upgraded team and refined strategy: - The fund is going to invest into early-stage deep tech startups, applying their technologies in Digital Health, Industrial Automation, and Enterprise & Financial Software verticals
- Meri Helleranta has joined the team as a partner/ health sector expert from Courage Ventures
- We have chosen the geography of Nordic and Baltic countries, with our partners: Will and Meri in Helsinki (Finland), Jens Damsgaard in Copenhagen (Denmark), and Audrius Milukas in Vilnius (Baltic countries)
- Fund target size is €70M with a first close of €35M. We intend to start investing in the H1 2024 and we still have few tickets left for the first close
We are eager to support the founders on a mission that matters. If you want to learn more about Open Circle Capital fund 2, drop us an email or write us a message on LinkedIn!
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2023 portfolio highlights
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Whatagraph CEO Justas Malinauskas shares the news as the company becomes one-stop solution for connecting, organizing, visualizing, and sharing marketing data 🚀 Link to the video
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Billo started a direct partnership with TikTok and Meta while continuing to innovate and implement new features that increase viewer engagement and drive even more action 🤝 Read more
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Pixevia has powered the fifth AI-driven store for the IKI retail chain, a member of the REWE Group 🏪 Read more
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Perfection42 fully launched Turn Me Royal project, and as you can see it works great! 👑
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Frontu has marked their 10th year anniversary, while the company has been growing ~40% YoY for the last 4 years 👏 Read more
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- Attention Insight is further developing advanced video model aimed at predicting viewer engagement, while the CEO Kamilė Jokubaitė gave a talk during a conference hosted by LIMA 🎉 Read more
- Solarbank has completed 1.84 MW solar power plant with installed technologies that generate 30% more electricity than other solar parks ☀
- Monimoto took the stage at the prestigious Micromobility Europe conference, the premier vehicles conference in Europe, to unveil their new Cycloop tracker for bicycles 🚲 Read more
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Other news and activities
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Fund partner Audrius Milukas moderated two discussions at the biggest economy conference in Lithuania! He led a panel of experts, which included our fund partner Jens Kristian Damsgaard, to discuss the latest trends in Silicon Valley VC investments, and another panel on creating a "unicorn valley" in Lithuania. Read more
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Fund partner Audrius Milukas together with colleagues Sandra Golbreich from Baltic Sandbox Ventures and Bogdan Iordache from Underline Ventures had an opportunity to share their experience of launching a VC fund on The Recursive interview. Read more
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Fund partner Jens Kristian Damsgaard together with Mikkel Christoffersen, CEO at Odense Robotics shared their tips on how to accelerate Lithuanian robotics and hardware technology sector. Read more
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Fund partner Audrius Milukas attended Conference for Managers organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Lithuania, where he presented global trends of venture capital. Read more
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Fund partner Audrius Milukas attended Greentech Vilnius Forum where he delivered a presentation on the latest VC market trends and participated in a discussion on the cleantech startup future with other ecosystem players. Read more
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Fund partner Audrius Milukas shared his thoughts about the VC asset class, big potential of Lithuanian startup ecosystem and the progress of OCC fund in the conversation with Investicijų ir verslo garantijos (INVEGA). Read more
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That’s all for now! Stay healthy and we wish you a productive year!
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