The new Wrocław Venture Capital fund Hard2beat VC launches
Hard2beat plans to focus primarily on investing in “DeepTech” companies that base their solutions on software. The associates plan to invest in more than 20 companies over the next 3 years, investing up to 2 million zlotys in the first round and increasing the capital commitment in the best companies up to 8 million PLN.
“Our mission is to help technology entrepreneurs build profitable, sustainable businesses. Unlike most VC funds, we don’t want to seek scale and rapid growth at all costs. We look first and foremost in founders for informed partners who understand that building a business is a marathon, not a sprint.”
-Maciej Frankowicz, Hard2beat managing partner
The fund is cofounded by Maciej Zawadzinski a Wroclaw-based entrepreneur who already has 3 exits from technology companies he founded and developed. The last exit transaction from Piwik PRO was carried out at the end of 2023 at a valuation of the company exceeding PLN 220 million and generated more than four times the return for investors. Now he plans to use the knowledge and experience he has gained not only by investing capital, but also by providing substantive support to the founders of the companies in the areas of customer acquisition strategy, scaling the organization and efficient management of the company with limited resources, among others.
“As an entrepreneur, I have gone through the difficult and challenging road of developing a business from scratch several times. So far, I have used the experience so gained by supporting the companies I have invested in as a business angel. The establishment of the fund is a natural step for me in the development of my previous investment activities.”
-Maciej Zawadziński, Hard2beat managing partner
Other Hard2beat partners Maciej Frankowicz and Konrad Trzyna have so far managed the Shape VC fund, which has invested in 36 startups under the BRIdge Alpha program from 2019-2023. Among Shape VC’s investments are companies such as Aether Biomedical, AdTonos and Dynamic Air Cooling which are successfully winning international clients and raising further rounds of funding abroad.
“With the end of the investment period in Shape VC and the making of the first exits from our portfolio companies, we already knew that we wanted to continue our investment activities. We decided that for further growth it would be useful to complement our team with someone with skills and experience new to us, which is typically foundational and hence the participation of Maciej Zawadzinski in the fund. We believe that this unique combination of predispositions and qualifications in our team will translate into many successful investments and high returns for future investors.”
-Konrad Trzyna, Hard2beat managing partner
The design, testing and certification of the product has now been completed. The first cover has also been produced and has been sold. More and more interested customers are also appearing. These include parents and carers of young children who want to protect their children from the negative effects of smog.
“We are ready to start manufacturing and sales. In order to do so, we are currently focusing on raising funds from EU programmes and investors. We have drawn up a development path and hope that, with the help of investors, we will quickly deliver our solutions to parents of young children, including in foreign countries.”
-Małgorzata Walichiewicz, CEO Heilo
The name of the fund “Hard2beat” refers to one of the pillars of the fund’s investment strategy, which is to bet on ambitious, hard-working and cost-effective entrepreneurs who will be determined to face the challenges ahead.
Hard2beat’s managers are on the lookout for private investors and plan to participate in the PFR Starter program organized by PFR Ventures. The program aims, among other things, to develop the venture capital market in Poland and build new management teams specialized in seed and pre-seed investments, as well as to encourage private investors to make investments in VC funds. Hence, private investors in PFR Starter funds are entitled to 2.5 times the profit asymmetry relative to their share of the fund’s capitalization.
“We are pleased that the PFR Starter program is back with another edition. The previous editions have produced quite a few venture capital companies such as bValue, SMOK, Sunfish and Movens Capital, which are not only boasting good investments, but are successfully raising more funds completely private by attracting prominent foreign investors. We want Hard2beat to be a similar success story of the upcoming PFR Starter program.”
-Maciej Frankowicz, Hard2beat managing partner
More about the genesis of Hard2beat origin story was told by Maciej Zawadzinski in a conversation with Bartek Majewski in the Interesy podcast.
