The firm’s new fund was three times oversubscribed and will continue backing founders from Dynamic Europe with global ambitions.
Somewhere over the past twenty years of boom and bust economies, the true essence of venture capital has been lost amid bloated funds and portfolios backed by diluted conviction.
We at Bek were motivated by our belief that we could do something different. Our conviction is that early-stage investors can only deliver through focus — which is why we have stayed uncompromisingly disciplined and selective in the nature and number of founders we back, the size of funds we raise, and the caliber of investors we hire.
We’ve been relentless in the way we support our portfolio. We believe that the greatest value that an early-stage investor can provide its founders is time and attention. We like to stay quiet 95% of the time, and the other 5%, we offer meticulous, considered advice and challenge to our founders, which you can read more about in our ethos . We build our concentrated portfolio explicitly to allow us to continue supporting the founders we believe in: we write second checks for 90%+ of our portfolio companies.
That relentlessness paid off. We’ve backed unicorns like UiPath and Payhawk, proving the efficacy of our high-conviction, concentrated approach. Our first two funds delivered realized returns of $2.4 billion and led us to be recognized in the HEC-Dow Jones Venture Capital Performance Rankings as the best performing fund globally since 2010.
Now, as Bek Ventures, we are excited to build on this success with our latest fund of $250 million, which was three times oversubscribed. Tying the launch of our latest fund to our new brand was an opportunity to double down on what makes us Bek, our dedication to finding the next generation of exceptional founders at early stages.
The confidence our LP network has in our approach was demonstrated in checks, with our latest fund receiving interest for more than three times what we set out to raise. The backing of this diverse LP network drawn from global international financial institutions, insurance companies, funds of funds, corporate investors, family offices and established entrepreneurs is a signal of the trust they put in us to find the opportunities no one else can. We have a global mix of LPs in the new fund, with 60% Europe based and 20% each respectively from the US and Asia.
Bek has already backed five companies in the new fund, two of which are undisclosed. The others are:
- Zeta Labs, where a team of Meta-trained developers are revolutionizing the way we interact with AI. Their groundbreaking product, Jace, is an autonomous generative AI assistant capable of performing complex browser-based tasks.
- Proofs, which is using AI to tackle the slow and expensive process of building proof-of-concept apps for API-based products. Their AI models can reduce the time and cost of creating these apps by up to 10x, allowing companies to serve more prospects and potentially increase their conversion rates.
- Grand Games, a mobile gaming company redefining genres with high-quality, immersive experiences. Founded by industry veterans, the company strategically focuses on high-potential, underserved genres, crafting standout titles to make a lasting impact in the gaming landscape.
As we search for the most exciting early stage founders, as with our prior funds, we will have our eyes set on founders from Dynamic Europe, and the companies using this as a launchpad to build global from Day 1 and take on the world’s largest competitors and markets.
For us, this term captures the geographic region, Central and Eastern Europe where many of our founders have their roots and the mindset of these founders. They are hardworking, technically talented, and ambitious with global scale a non-negotiable imperative. The international ambition can be seen in the fact that more than 50% of our portfolio companies are building from the US. For them, building a business is not a lifestyle — they are not afraid of the fact that startup culture presents unique and often isolating challenges.
Our focused approach allows us to really support our founders to deliver against their significant potential. With our new fund], and for fund cycles to come, we will continue to pursue the essence of venture, and treat venture as a cottage industry- a finely-honed craft best served by a committed team of high-caliber investors matched with extraordinary entrepreneurs.
If you want to go deeper into the way we do venture, read our philosophy here or read more about what we’ve learned about building businesses with exceptional entrepreneurs here.