GENTECH FUND

Europe’s early-stage resilience fund. We back dual-use, cybersecurity, financial infrastructure and critical infrastructure founders.

Fund at a glance

Fund Size

20M € (hard cap 40M €)

Stage

Pre-seed, with follow-ons up to 500K € per company

Sectors

Dual-Use, Cybersecurity, Financial Infrastructure, Critical Infrastructure

Geography

Europe, with an emphasis on Southern Europe and CEE (incl. Ukraine)

Initial tickets of 150–200K € with follow-ons

The four pillars of European resilience

1. Dual-Use Technologies

Hardware, software and autonomous systems built for both civil and institutional clients. Dual-use is the enabling layer beneath our other three verticals: the same sensor, navigation or AI stack can protect a power grid, a port or a supply chain. Europe has committed long-term budgets to strategic autonomy, and many of the companies that will supply it are still at pre-seed. Market size of over 541B €, growing 15–25% a year.

2. Cybersecurity

Protecting the digital infrastructure a resilient continent depends on. The market reached 213B € in 2025 (Gartner) and is growing 13.8% a year to 2030, driven by AI-powered attacks, quantum risk and the EU NIS2 Directive. Our CISO community gives portfolio companies proof-of-concept budgets and their first enterprise customers.

3. Financial Infrastructure

The fintech, insurtech and regtech rails that keep capital flowing under stress: payments, digital identity, lending, compliance and collections. A 295B € market expected to grow 16.5% a year through 2032.

4. Critical Infrastructure

Energy, telecoms, transport, water, datacenters and space. Protecting them is mandatory public spending, not discretionary: the NIS2 Directive requires security upgrades across 18 critical sectors. It is the least crowded and most urgent vertical in resilience technology.

Why Europe, and why Southern Europe and CEE

Urgency. Europe has to build its own strategic autonomy. The budgets are committed and will not be reversed.

Innovation gap. The talent, the engineers and the startups are here. What is missing is dedicated early-stage capital from local investors who understand both technology and geopolitics.

Geography. We invest across Europe, with an emphasis on Southern Europe and CEE, including Ukraine. The corridor from Ukraine to Spain is one of the most active dual-use and infrastructure innovation regions in the world. Our Venture Partners in the Nordics, the Baltics and DACH extend that reach, and the team is on the ground in seven countries.

Timing. Compressed valuations, little ambitious capital and structural demand make this an asymmetric entry point.

Investment Strategy

  • Smart Entry: Initial tickets of 150–200K € in pre-seed startups, through convertible instruments with valuation caps of roughly 2–7M €.
  • Scalable Growth: 43% of the fund reserved for follow-ons, with up to 500K € per company. Follow-ons depend on milestones met within 12–24 months.
  • Portfolio Construction: 42 startups over four years (10–15 a year), targeting 6–13% equity at the pre-seed stage.
  • Governance: Minority shareholder protections and governance mechanisms designed for pre-seed founders.

Why founders pick us

450+ founder network

Startups previously backed by our team, feeding warm referrals into every vertical.

30 CISOs

An enterprise CISO community growing to 30 members in 2026, offering POC budgets, technical validation and introductions.

7+ countries

GPs and Venture Partners in Spain, Lithuania, Finland, the Nordics, DACH, Poland and Romania.

400+ applications

Reviewed last year within the fund’s verticals, with more than 40 startups in the current pipeline.

75% survival

Founder survival rate 18 months after completing our support program.

General Partners

Sergio Borasino

17 years of entrepreneur experience including +11 years as CEO, 7 years of experience in corporate roles leading teams and projects up to 150 people, 3 times CEO, INSEAD MBA, Venture Partner for SWG Cyber Fund I.

Juan Alonso Villalobos

15 years+ of experience on corporate roles (CFO, co-CEO, CMO) | 13 years+ of entrepreneur experience.
10 years+ on PE investment experience.

Cristóbal Alonso

Serial early-stage investor with 450+ deals as GP | 25 years in corporate leadership | 3 × CEO / entrepreneur, former Global CEO and co-founder & CEO at MOBOfree. 

INSEAD MBA and co-author of Perform: The Unsexy Truth of (Startup) Success and Perform in Times of Crisis.

Dual-Use Venture Partners

Wendy Keski-Keturi (Cheng)

VP Robotics · Finland

13+ years in global venture building, robotics and tech sales. Co-founder and former Secretariat for International Alliances for Robotics. Named one of “50 Women You Need to Know” (2021).

VP Lithuania · Dual-use specialist

Povilas Urbonas is an investor, entrepreneur, and entrepreneurship lecturer at Vytautas Magnus University. He focuses on early-stage investments in Cybersecurity, AI, Robotics, and other dual-use technologies. He has extensive experience in startup evaluation, venture investing, fundraising, and supporting founders across Europe.

Geir Egil Myhre

Geir Egil Myhre

VP Nordics

Founder, mentor and tech investor. Works on risk discovery and due diligence in M&A, turning startups into scale-ups, project rescue and strategic roadmap planning.

Balthasar von Hohenthal

VP DACH

2x founder (CEO/COO) with 8+ years building VC-backed ventures in robotics, airspace security and healthcare infrastructure. HHL MBA.

Cyber & Finance Venture Partners

VP Finance · Poland

20+ years working with founders, investors, and high-growth companies.

Focused on sourcing opportunities, strategic growth, and fundraising.

Founder and Managing Partner of Nexia Advicero, Chair of the Nexia Europe Region with deep connections across the European business and investment ecosystem.

George Macavei

George Macavei

VP Product · Spain & Romania

George has 20+ years of experience working in the technology industry covering multiple markets in the EMEA region and across multiple industries and verticals from financial services to startups. He specializes in go-to-market, product strategy and business development. George also has an MBA from The Open University in the UK.

Damian Ruiz Soriano

CISO at Singular Bank · CISO Community lead

20+ years in cybersecurity, banking and IT audit | CISO & CTRO at Singular Bank | Former Red Team Manager | Deep technology expertise | Specialized in AI control and audit.

Focused on sourcing and advising cyber & fintech & AI solutions with a practitioner’s lens on security, risk and business intersection.