“No European technology company has reached a valuation of over one hundred billion euros in the past fifty years. Not a single European company appears among the world’s ten most valuable tech companies. And it is precisely this gap where we see an opportunity,” says one of the fund’s founders, Vít Horký.

According to Horký, the long-term ambition of United Founders is for Europe to produce its own trillion-dollar tech giants, similar to the American “Big Seven”: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla. Horký and Havrlant aim to connect the fragmented European tech ecosystem. They have invested 430 million CZK into the startup, and more than one hundred founders from 26 European countries have joined so far.

“Europe produces a quarter of the world’s engineering graduates and generates 43 percent of global patent applications. The talent is there, but it does not receive the same level of support as in the United States,” Horký adds.

The fund operates from eight European cities: Prague, London, Munich, Berlin, Paris, Brussels, Zurich, and Bratislava. This gives it access to major research centers such as the universities of Cambridge, Oxford, Zurich, and Munich.

“We believe that Europe remains too fragmented to compete with large innovation ecosystems such as those in the U.S. or China,” Horký notes. “Our ambition is to connect experienced technology entrepreneurs and build a platform that will allow them to support the most promising and ambitious startups.”

United Founders will focus on quantum technologies, cybersecurity, health tech, artificial intelligence, industrial automation, and space technologies.

The fund intends to enter projects already at the laboratory research stage—at a time when most other investors are not yet interested. This approach is particularly relevant for deep-tech projects that require years of development before generating revenue.

“I would like Europe to become home to the first trillion-dollar technology company—to be technologically self-sufficient and independent of other continents. I want United Founders to become one of the main engines of this change and at the same time one of the most profitable and influential funds in Europe,” says Horký.

Startups supported by United Founders will have access to markets with 233 million inhabitants across partner countries. “This could help offset the disadvantage of a fragmented Europe compared with the single U.S. market,” the founders conclude.

Jakub Havrlant is the founder and CEO of the investment group Rockaway Capital, which manages multi-billion-dollar assets and invests in digital technologies in e-commerce, logistics, media, fintech, blockchain, and venture capital. Vít Horký is best known as the founder of the startup Brand Embassy and the nonprofit organization Czech Founders.

Source: Forbes.cz

Prepared by the CzechTrade Baltics team