RRF Czech Republic fund of funds

In March 2023, the EIF and the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic launched a new EUR 55 million fund-of-funds initiative focused on equity financing for early-stage Czech start-ups and spin-offs developing digital technologies. The initiative is  funded from the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).

Pursuant to the RRF Regulation, the Council of the European Union approved a recovery and resilience plan for Czechia on 31 August 2021, NPO. Under the NPO, Czechia committed to launch three equity financial instruments under Component 3.4, Investment 9 “Pilot co-investment funds for the development of pre-seed investments, strategic technologies and university spin-offs within the framework of European Centres of Excellence”.

Acting through the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Czech Republic has entrusted the EIF with the management of these instruments under the RRF Czech Republic Fund of Funds or RRFCZ FoF.

RRFCZ FoF – How does it work?

The RRF Czech Republic Fund of Funds will invest in three venture capital funds with specialised strategies, supporting the digital transformation of the national economy and the further development of the increasingly lively Czech venture capital market:

• Pre-seed Co-investment Fund – a fund focused on co-investing alongside VC funds, business angels and other institutional and non-institutional investors in pre-revenue stage start-ups developing digital solutions, with a dual objective of increasing the number of pre-seed investments in the Czech Republic and supporting the rise of a number of new systematic VC investors on the market by co-investing alongside them.
• Strategic Technologies VC Fund – a fund investing primarily in regulated applications on the financial market with an additional focus on distributed ledger technologies and AI, particularly aiming to provide support to start-ups with respect to licensing and certification procedures, managed by a team with deep knowledge of the related policy and regulatory environment and practical experience from such procedures, representing a specialised co-investment partner for other VC investors in these areas.
• University AI Technology Transfer Fund – a fund addressing the technology transfer gap in the field of AI and related technologies through deep involvement in the technology transfer process and incubation of projects towards higher technology readiness levels, addressing various existing issues in the space such as those related to valuation, technology rights or regulatory environment as well as systematically partnering with leading Czech and other universities on agreed standard terms.

All funds will be managed by independent, private investment teams selected by the EIF. The RRFCZ FoF does not invest directly in start-ups – such underlying investments in portfolio companies will be carried out by the selected teams who will also raise additional capital from other investors.

Selection of financial intermediaries

With the aim of selecting fund managers under the RRFCZ FoF, the EIF is launching dedicated calls for expression of interest. The EIF selects financial intermediaries based on a standard application and evaluation process including due diligence of applying fund managers.

Please carefully read the call for expression of interest documents for further details and eligibility criteria.

About the Pre-seed Co-investment Fund – now closed

The already concluded call for expression of interest for the Pre-seed Co-investment Fund can be found below for further reference. The call is now closed.