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VentureFriends

EuropeMENALatin AmericaFintechB2B SaaSMarketplacesConsumerAI/MLEnterpriseClimate

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Investment thesis

VentureFriends is an early-stage European VC backing ambitious founders building category-defining companies, deploying €500k–€3m first tickets at Pre-Seed and Seed stage across Europe and MENA, with follow-on capacity up to €10M. Founded by serial entrepreneurs, the firm focuses on tech-enabled B2C and B2B startups with a sweet spot in FinTech, PropTech, Marketplaces, TravelTech, and SaaS — targeting companies that can develop a sustainable moat and scale internationally. VentureFriends positions itself as a founder-first, operator-led investor. Having built and scaled companies themselves, the partners go beyond capital to act as operators, connectors, mentors, and idea generators — becoming an extension of the founding team. The firm manages €170M across three funds (VF1 €20M/2016, VF2 €50M/2018, VF3 €100M/2021) and has backed 89+ companies, producing two unicorns (Blueground, Jeeves) and notable exits including InstaShop.

Notable quotes

Industrial companies are being forced to make larger decisions on shorter timelines as volatility becomes the norm. We're excited to support Bjol and the team as they become the decision layer for manufacturing.

Apostolos Apostolakis · EU-Startups / GlobeNewswire press release on Sybilion seed round · 2026-03-11

Valeria is tackling one of the most complex and underserved challenges in modern HR software, affecting millions of frontline workers in Europe. The team has demonstrated real traction by focusing on operational payroll complexity rather than generic HR workflows.

Lily Joo · Tech.eu / Capital-Riesgo.es press release on Valeria HR pre-seed round · 2026-02-05

Learning is constant. In our job you're learning all the time and then this knowledge becomes relevant for other people.

Apostolos Apostolakis · TheRecursive.com podcast interview · 2022-09-06

Team

Apostolos Apostolakis

Founding Partner

MarketplacesB2B SaaSFintechConsumer

George Dimopoulos

Partner

FintechMarketplacesConsumer

Lily Joo

Venture Partner

B2B SaaSAI/MLEnterprise

Fivos Tsoukatos

Principal

HealthtechConsumerFintech

Alistair Owen

Principal

FintechConsumer

Michal Bas

Principal

MarketplacesB2B SaaS

Recent investments

CompanyRoundSizeDate
SybilionSeed$4m2026-03-11
Valeria HRPre-Seed$2m2026-02-04
Capalo AISeries A$12m2026-02-06
AltanPre-Seed$3m2025-09-12
RetabPre-Seed$4m2025-07-30
MERXPre-Seed$1m2025-03-13
EdgeePre-Seed$3m2024-10-17
Cube AIPre-Seed$3m2024-01-01

Frequent co-investors

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