Future Tech Poland Fund-of-Funds Debuts, Mobilizing EUR 350M to Close Poland’s VC Gap

• BGK and BGK launch Future Tech Poland with EUR 350M to close Poland’s VC financing gap
• EIF contributes EUR 115M and manages fund assets, BGK invests EUR 235M
• Public-private partnership combines expertise, capital, and ESG standards to scale innovation
• Future Tech Poland contributes to growth-stage Polish startups scaling globally and building a mature and resilient VC market

This January, Poland welcomed its new fund of funds Future Tech Poland with an impressive amount of EUR 350M. Poland’s only state-owned development bank BGK (Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego) contributes EUR 235M to the new fund, and the European Investment Fund (EIF) co-invests the remaining EUR 115M and manages the assets.

The Contributing Parties at a Glance

The EIF, part of the EIB Group, designs venture capital, guarantees, and microfinance instruments that share risk with financial intermediaries financing SMEs and individuals across Europe. By absorbing part of the risk, EIF helps unlock bank lending, fund investment, and private capital to support innovation, competitiveness, climate action, and social impact. In Poland, EIF has invested EUR 7.5B to date, leveraging EUR 24.4B in financing for nearly 116,000 SMEs.

Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK) is Poland’s national development bank, supporting sustainable economic and social growth for over a century. It finances strategic investments in areas such as infrastructure, housing, entrepreneurship, defence, and the energy transition, working across both public and private sectors. BGK also implements EU funds and the National Recovery Plan while helping Polish companies expand internationally through its offices in Brussels, Kyiv, and Frankfurt.

Aligning Public and Private Capital for Innovation

Future Tech Poland is part of the Innovate Poland national investment programme, designed to attract new capital for strategic investment in innovative companies. Established under the patronage of Poland’s Minister of Finance and Economy, Andrzej Domański, the initiative brings together EIF, BGK, PFR, and PZU as co-investors.

‘Innovate Poland, first announced last November, is gaining momentum with the official launch of Future Tech Poland. This fund offers tangible support for breakthrough technologies, innovative companies and ambitious teams seeking to scale their projects to compete on international markets. We are strengthening Poland’s innovation ecosystem and laying the foundations for the country’s long-term growth and economic security,’ Mr Domański states.

Closing the Venture Capital Gap in Poland

Specifically, Future Tech Poland addresses the venture capital financing gap in Poland (and the wider CEE region), where VC investment relative to GDP remains several times lower than the EU average, particularly at early stages of company growth. By investing mainly in venture capital—and to a lesser extent venture debt—funds across the seed to growth stages, Future Tech Poland strengthens the local VC ecosystem and supports Polish technology companies in competing internationally. The programme is expected to mobilise around PLN 5B (EUR ~1.2B) in financing for 150–200 technology firms, with a strong focus on supporting Polish entrepreneurs and crowding in private capital alongside EIF investment.

‘Future Tech Poland will provide public capital for high-tech start-ups and innovative scale-ups, as well as encouraging more private investment in this existential area. Created in partnership with BGK, this is the EIF’s largest financial mandate to date in Poland. Our extensive experience strengthening national VC ecosystems across the European Union will help harness innovation as another driving force of the Polish economy,’ the EIF’s CEO Marjut Falkstedt remarks.

Inside Future Tech Poland

To find out more about the new fund’s structure, mission, and ambition, ITKeyMedia approached BGK’s Managing Director of the Investment and Analysis Division Marcin Prusak and Member of the Management Board Jarosław Dąbrowski:

What lessons from BGK’s participation in earlier fund-of-funds initiatives are shaping your approach to Future Tech Poland?

Jarosław Dąbrowski: As Poland’s development bank, we work to strengthen the capital investment market in Poland. We are among the five largest development banks in the EU with the capacity to mobilize both institutional and private capital – hence our interest in fund-of-funds projects. Our previous involvement in fund‑of‑funds initiatives — including international programmes like the Three Seas Innovation Fund and the Polish Growth Fund — has been an important reference point for shaping Future Tech Poland. These projects gave us first-hand insight into the standards and operational quality of leading international institutions, as well as the value of having an external perspective — something the EIF brings through its deep experience across different European VC markets. The combination of these insights has helped us refine our approach and adopt solutions that are proven to work effectively in more mature ecosystems.

What specific structural gaps in the Polish innovation ecosystem do you see as benefiting the most from public capital and which are the most difficult to address with public capital alone? How might the fund adapt if private capital does not scale as anticipated?

JD: Public capital plays its most important role where the structural gaps in Poland’s innovation ecosystem are the widest — particularly in VC and growth‑stage financing. Venture and growth investments in Poland remain 5–8 times smaller than in Western Europe, and while seed and late‑stage private equity are relatively well covered by institutions such as PFR, EBRD, and EIF, there is still a substantial shortage of capital for scaling companies. The financing gap in VC and growth is most visible in the scarcity of Series A, B and especially C/D+  rounds. As a result, promising Polish startups often look abroad for capital just when they begin to gain commercial traction. Future Tech Poland is designed precisely to address this gap by strengthening local VC funds and increasing the availability of capital for technology companies entering the growth phase.

At the same time, there are areas of the ecosystem that are harder to influence with public capital alone — particularly international networks, specialised sector expertise, and deep cross‑border investor relationships. These areas depend primarily on experienced private actors and long‑term market dynamics.

As for the question of private capital not scaling as anticipated, we do not consider this a significant risk. Future Tech Poland will invest in funds managed by quality fund managers with strong fundraising track records, who already demonstrated the ability to attract private LPs, enabling them to broaden their scope of activity. 

How will you measure innovation quality over the life of the fund beyond simple financial performance?

JD: In the context of Future Tech Poland, innovation quality will be evaluated through indicators that reflect the real international traction of the companies and fund managers we support, rather than simply through financial outcomes. A key metric will be the ability of portfolio companies to raise follow-on funding and successfully expand into new markets, demonstrating both technological strength and commercial scalability. We will also look at how effectively Polish VC funds build cross‑border deal flow and attract high‑potential companies from outside Poland. Another important signal will be the level of co‑investment with leading European and global VC funds, indicating that international investors recognize the quality of Polish‑backed ventures. Over time, a key benchmark of maturity will be whether local fund managers can raise subsequent funds from private and international LPs, confirming that the ecosystem is trusted and competitive on a European scale.

What role do you see domestic policy playing alongside capital deployment in shaping Poland’s innovative capacity?

JD: BGK is not responsible for designing tax policy or regulatory frameworks. However, we clearly see — echoed by organizations such as PSIK — that the market is signalling a need for stronger incentives for investors to allocate capital to alternative asset classes. Transparency, stability, and predictability of the legal environment are equally important in encouraging long‑term commitments to venture capital.

This matters particularly in the context of Future Tech Poland, because one of the challenges we observe is the outflow of Polish startups abroad once they reach later‑stage funding rounds. Strengthening the domestic investment environment — including the possibility for institutions such as PPK to allocate a larger share of capital to higher‑risk, innovation‑oriented assets — would help close this gap and keep more high‑growth companies scaling from Poland.

How are governance and decision-making structured to balance differing institutional priorities and risk appetites of the partners involved?

Marcin Prusak: The governance and decision‑making structure within the Future Tech Poland has been designed to ensure that the strategic objectives of the programme are fully met. BGK acts as an investor, while the EIF serves as co‑investor and the fund‑of‑funds manager. The cooperation framework is formalized in a bilateral agreement negotiated between BGK and EIF, which clearly defines investment criteria relevant for BGK as the Polish national development bank. These criteria must be incorporated by the EIF when selecting funds for the Future Tech Poland’s portfolio.

At the same time, EIF contributes its extensive experience and deep market knowledge, ensuring a rigorous and professional selection process aligned with European standards. The structure works effectively because both institutions are guided by the same overarching goal: to accelerate the maturity of the Polish VC ecosystem, contributing to the broader European VC landscape. Through Future Tech Poland, EIF identifies high‑quality fund managers and supports them in reaching optimal fund sizes, which allows both partners’ priorities to be successfully integrated.

Do you address diversity and inclusion within the startups that will ultimately benefit from the fund — particularly around regional representation?

MP: Diversity and inclusion are inherently embedded in Future Tech Poland’s investments, as all funded activities must comply with the European Investment Fund’s ESG standards. EIF has a mature and well‑established framework for managing ESG matters, aligned with the wider EIB Group’s sustainability strategy.

The EIB Group applies a comprehensive ESG due‑diligence process, which specifically evaluates aspects such as diversity, inclusion, governance structures and climate considerations. These requirements are analyzed by EIF as fund manager in Future Tech Poland at the portfolio fund level and are expected to be reflected within the underlying portfolio companies. As a result, diversity and regional inclusiveness naturally form part of the assessment and are encouraged throughout the investment chain.

What complementary financial instruments beyond VC do see integrating into Poland’s innovation funding landscape to address different risk profiles?

MP: At the stage targeted by the Future Tech Poland portfolio funds, companies are typically too early and too risky to qualify for bank lending. Venture capital is the primary and often the only suitable source of financing for them. As they scale and reach more mature and stable revenue levels, traditional bank financing becomes a viable option.

How do you envision the long-term evolution of Poland’s VC market after full deployment of Future Tech Poland?

JD: Even after full deployment of Future Tech Poland, we anticipate that the Polish VC market will continue to include institutional support, as closing the existing capital gap will take time and occur gradually. At the same time, we expect to see a stronger presence of private investors, which should gradually diversify the LP base and increase market stability. Our aim is to create an ecosystem where companies can raise financing at every stage of development and where more Polish startups have the opportunity to scale internationally — ultimately increasing the number of Polish unicorns.

We see a clear path for this evolution, drawing on proven European models. The design of Future Tech Poland is inspired by Germany’s ERP–EIF Facility launched in 2004, which significantly revitalised the German VC market. Moreover, Innovate Poland, in its entirety, is modelled on France’s Tibi Initiative, which successfully mobilised large institutional capital for innovation. These examples show how long‑term, coordinated public‑private programmes can transform a market — and we expect a similar trajectory for Poland.

‘Investing in modern technologies is a central element of our economic and financial development strategy. Future Tech Poland is our concrete response to the growing needs of Polish venture capital funds and young technology companies – we want capital to flow where the future is being created,’ BGK’s President of the Management Board Mirosław Czekaj concludes.

The emergence of Future Tech Poland represents a significant step in closing long-standing financing gaps in Poland’s venture capital market and anchoring high-growth technology companies at home as they scale. By combining public capital with international expertise and inviting private investors, the initiative strengthens local fund managers and builds the foundations of a more mature, resilient VC ecosystem. In the long term, it positions Poland to compete more effectively within Europe’s innovation landscape while fostering the next generation of globally relevant Polish technology champions.