EIF and BGK sign €85 million for three VC funds under first Future Tech Poland investments to bolster competitiveness and security

The European Investment Fund (EIF) and Poland’s national promotion bank Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK) made the first investments under Future Tech Poland (FTP), signing a total of €85 million for three Polish funds specialised in financing cutting-edge technologies: Expeditions II, Cogito II and Balnord. These allocations will inject new capital into the local innovation ecosystem, making more money available to growing startups and ambitious scaleups from defence to cyber-security to space solutions.

The investment agreements come shortly after the EIF and BGK established the FTP, a €350 million vehicle aimed at propping up tech innovators in Poland and Central-Eastern Europe, contributing to their overall economic strength and resilience. FTP is a fund of funds, its investment strategy envisaging reaching new VC funds and increasing fund sizes to help the market carry breakthrough technologies, as well as supporting top managers to further bolster local capabilities.

"By helping Polish VC funds reach a more competitive scale, FTP will enable them to provide stronger support to innovative technologies that are critical for Poland’s long‑term competitiveness and economic resilience,” said Marjut Falkstedt, EIF Chief Executive. “Backed by the EIF’s due diligence and quality stamp, the programme has the potential to unlock over one billion euros for the innovation ecosystem, supporting as many as 200 promising entrepreneurs and small businesses.”

Future Tech Poland is part of the Innovate Poland national investment programme aimed at mobilising more private capital for strategic investment in innovative companies. BGK contributes €235 million and the EIF adds at least half of that to FTP, which is expected to make further investments this year and be fully deployed by the end of 2027 for nearly two decades.

“FTP offers a strategic opportunity to strengthen Poland’s innovations ecosystem by bridging the funding gap that has hindered dynamic development of tech companies. It’s an investment in competitiveness, a key pillar of lasting economic security and – in case of these first commitments – state’s resilience. BGK is the largest investor when it comes to FTP and Innovate Poland. We have been implementing a new investment strategy under which BGK intends to reach over 3 billion euros in equity investments by 2027,” said Mirosław Czekaj, President of the Management Board of BGK.

The first FTP beneficiaries specialise in defence and security, cyber and dual-use technologies, as well as space and AI innovation, among others. Expeditions focuses on early-stage innovators, particularly in the area of defence. FTP support of €31 million will help put it at par with peers in developed VC markets.

“Expeditions has been investing in early-stage technology companies in the security sector since 2021, swiftly becoming a European leader. Our aim is to support the most ambitious entrepreneurs developing products that will shape the future of Europe’s arms industry and new deterrence strategy. Poland has the potential to become a hub for dual-use technologies, and we are proud to work with BGK and the EIF towards this goal,” said Expedition’s Cofounder and General Partner Mikołaj Firlej.

Cogito supports early growth-stage companies, including in AI and fintech sectors, seeking international expansion, including in the United States. An already established partner for both the EIF and BGK, it will now receive €30 million from FTP.

“The Future Tech Poland program - which has introduced a new local institutional investor with more than 350 million euros in capital to support growth‑stage investment funds - represents a strategically significant development for managers like Cogito Capital. FTP helps address the structural capital gap within Poland’s growth‑equity market and directly enhances our ability to attract commitments from international LPs while resulting in a higher‑than‑originally‑targeted capitalization of our current fund,” said Sylwester Janik, Managing Partner at Cogito Capital Partners. “Consequently, FTP’s participation in the Cogito II fund will enable us to increase the number of investments in local companies seeking financing in Series B-D rounds, and will enable the broader ecosystem to capture a greater share of the value created by the technology sector at its growth phase.”

FTP allocation of over 24 million euros will go to Balnord, which zeroes in on frontier and dual-use technologies, financing early-stage firms around the Baltic Sea.

“The FTP investment by BGK and the EIF marks a capital, as well as a strategic boost for Balnord. It has pushed the fund significantly above its original target size, which drew in more capital from private investors, allowing us to expand the scale of our activities and to plan follow-up reserves up to 12 million euros per investment,” said Balnord’s General Partner Marcin Kowalik. “This opens new opportunities for Balnord to invest in breakthrough dual-use technologies, including in the space sector. Such technologies are key for Europe’s technological security. We believe they will drive the reindustrialisation of Europe and build the long-term industrial and technological advantages of the Polish economy.”

The EIF’s contributions to Balnord and Expeditions II come under the so-called InvestEU Defence Equity Facility, a €175 million initiative dedicated to defence research and development, and expected to unlock over €500 million in support of European companies. Earlier in March, the Boards of Directors of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group endorsed plans to expand the Defence Equity Facility.

The European Investment Fund (EIF) is the subsidiary of the European Investment Bank Group specialised in providing guarantees and equity to improve access to finance for small and medium-sized businesses and startups across Europe. Acting as an anchor investor, through its extensive network of partnering banks and investment funds, the EIF mobilises private investment and nurtures the ecosystem of venture capital funds to support innovative European entrepreneurs. 

In 2023, the EIF together with six EU member states (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands) launched the European Tech Champions Initiative, a fund-of-funds to scale up innovative startups. To date, this initiative has already enabled the creation of 14 European venture capital mega-funds and scaled up 40 companies, including 11 unicorns (with more than €1 billion in capital). 

The has EIF invested €8 billion in Poland to date, helping leverage some €25.8 billion in support for over 119,000 SMEs.

Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK) is a Polish development bank, supporting the country’s sustainable economic and social growth. BGK is the only institution of its kind in Poland. Operating for over a century, BGK finances investments in infrastructure, housing or entrepreneurship. It is also involved in strategic initiatives, including defence and energy transition.

The bank works with both the public and private sectors, mobilizing capital to fund projects that address key national challenges. BGK has international offices – in Brussels, Kyiv, and Frankfurt am Main – to support Polish companies in expanding abroad. It also plays an important role in implementing EU Funds and Poland’s National Recovery Plan.

The InvestEU programme provides the European Union with long-term funding by leveraging substantial private and public funds in support of a sustainable recovery. It also helps crowd in private investment for the European Union’s strategic priorities such as the European Green Deal and the digital transition. InvestEU brings all EU financial instruments previously available for supporting investments within the European Union together under one roof, making funding for investment projects in Europe simpler, more efficient and more flexible.

The programme consists of three components: the InvestEU Fund, the InvestEU Advisory Hub and the InvestEU Portal. The InvestEU Fund is deployed through implementing partners that will invest in projects using the EU budget guarantee of €26.2 billion. The entire budget guarantee will back the investment projects of the implementing partners, increase their risk-bearing capacity and thus mobilise at least €372 billion in additional investment.