Krzysztof Konopinski, FRM

No doubt that last month #IPO of Żabka Polska was a great success of all parties involved, including CVC, EBRD and #team of Żabka. But was it equally beneficial to the Polish financial market? – well I put a question mark here. Over last 4 years we have witnessed IPOs of 3 successful modern companies originated from #Poland that were among the largest public listings in Europe at the time. These were: Allegro, InPost and Żabka Polska. What do they have in common: -       All were created from scratch after the transition of the economy -       All are quite successful in expanding outside of #Poland -       All keep generating a lot of Polish taxes -       All were listed as entities registered in #Luxembourg, while InPost is not even traded in #Warsaw, but in #Amsterdam The last point shows weakness of our industry. It is now 20 years or so after setting up Warsaw City 2010 Agenda in the Polish government. I see this programme led by Igor Chalupec as the only one in history successfully setting strategy for our market. Clearly, our financial market in 2010 was in much better shape than in 2004 and became #CEE leader. What happened after that, has stopped the development for years and benefited other markets. We have not used the opportunity neither with the crisis in #Cyprus nor with #Brexit (I tend to see #Luxembourg as a big winner of the situation). So, ahead of our #IndependenceDay coming in a week, I wish to see some strategic vision implemented now to shift #Poland from subcontracting mood to agenda setters within #EU with respect to the financial markets. What do you think? CFA Society Poland Izba Domów Maklerskich Izba Zarządzających Funduszami i Aktywami PSIK, the Polish Private Equity & Venture Capital Association

125

6 komentarzy

📢I had the pleasure, together with Maciej Cwikiewicz and Grzegorz C. in Puls Biznesu, of discussing the chances of Polish #AI companies to obtain funding from #VCs and, more broadly, to build a new #flywheel for our economy. According to a recent Dealroom.co's report, the AI Core startups received 45% of all VC investment in the CEE region. This is an opportunity we cannot miss!💥 My key theses: 📌At Movens Capital, we are investing in AI-enabled companies starting in 2019 based on our previous startup experience. They distinguish the #CEE region. By 2023, more than 1,000 AI/ML startups had emerged here, raising more than USD 4 billion in funding. 📌We see a great opportunity for Polish AI startups to succeed due to their unique technological talent. Building a sustainable #competitiveadvantage is key, as illustrated by ElevenLabs, but also examples from our portfolio, such as Talkie.ai or SKY ENGINE AI. 📌 The current stagnation in the VC sector has led to lower startup valuations, benefiting funds in executing transactions. In Poland, VC fund conditions will remain favorable in the coming years, but careful selection of AI companies is necessary, as most new entities have little chance of building lasting entry barriers. Thank you, Anna Bełcik, for taking on an important topic and inviting us to talk. 👉 https://lnkd.in/dxtGvvD7

29

1 komentarz

Did you know that 45% of startups in Poland don’t use any form of external financing? In Rzeczpospolita’s latest publication on the newly released digitalization strategy for 2035, our CEO, Maciej Wysocki, shares his perspective on the challenges and potential risks of integrating private and state capital. “The question is whether these new hybrid investment vehicles might slow down the decision-making process, potentially hindering growth for companies reliant on innovation that can quickly become outdated.” He also underscores the importance of retaining local talent in Poland’s tech sector: “This year saw a record number of wins for Polish teams in global IT and math competitions. We are a hub of outstanding engineers and scientists who increasingly choose prestigious studies and careers abroad due to better economic prospects.” Read more on this timely topic and discover other expert insights: https://lnkd.in/dtZ_9AaV

5

The unresolved challenges facing the Polish private equity and venture capital industry are the future challenges facing our economy. Together with the other participants (Paweł Borys, Jacek Byrt, Piotr Kedra, Anna Wnuk, Grzegorz Zawada) of the panel “The private equity and venture capital market in Poland development strategy” we will try to come up with a recipe for the most pressing problems of the sector. See you at #efcongress! #ekf #ekf2024

71

2 komentarze

Polish broker looks for investors interested in participating in real estate development projects and also agents willing to search for such investors. Short summary An SME from Poland, an investment broker for VIP clients, specialises in planning, coordinating and executing real estate development projects. The firm is looking for investors - and agents who can bring new investors - ready to participate in its projects. It offers projects in favourable locations, with scenic views and good transportation access. They are suitable for residential, commercial and heavy industry development. Full description A company from north-west Poland operates as an investment broker helping partners (companies and individuals) to invest in the following industries: aviation, yachting, luxury apartment and real estate development. It specialises in planning, coordinating and executing multinational real estate development projects. It has experience working with foreign partners from i.a. Belgium, China, Germany, Spain and the USA. The firm offers new investment opportunities and searches for partners ready to participate in its real estate development projects. One such investment is the development of a sailing and leisure resort by the Szczecin Lagoon, near the Baltic Sea and large cities such as Berlin and Szczecin. It will consist of: a marina for 500 boats; boat-building, -maintenance and -storage facilities and service providers; a hotel; autonomous villas with smart solutions improving the building's energy efficiency and making it environment-friendly. The area (ca. 14 hectares) has a healthy climate (attractive for medical tourism) and rich flora and fauna, with rare bird species. The company has six other similar locations. Some of them have picturesque landscapes, which makes them suitable for building houses, hotels, and resorts, i.e. infrastructures to be used by individual customers. Others have, among their advantages, good road connections, which makes them a right fit for factories, logistics/distribution centres and other similar buildings for businesses. The firm is also ready to cooperate with agents. They've got to represent the company abroad and find investors willing to participate in its projects. The agents are going to be paid a success fee. Advantages and innovations - a wide range of investment projects for a partner to choose from - the company currently offers 7 locations ready for development, from 2ha to 120ha large; - high ROI (return on investment) - investments in real estate development pay dividends ranging from 10% to 35%; - offered projects are all located in attractive places in terms of their landscapes (nearby forests, lakes and rivers, healthy air/microclimates) and logistics (good access to roads and other modes of transportation, location near large cities of Berlin and Szczecin, and the Baltic Sea). - 20 years of experience cooperating with strategic partners and managing their investments.

3

BeMyBond loves Jasinskio 2 project by EIKA grupė 😊 Can I just say how excited I am to offer the second project for our bond platform clients? Next week we wills start the offering of EUR 3 M bond issue to bridge the financing for an A class office centre in Vilnius before the bank financing kicks in by the end of this year. It will be a good project to test our capacity, as the amount is 3x larger than our first project, Uzupio personos. Nevertheless, the terms are very different, as the money is only required for 6 months (if not less), the building is 60% pre-leased and the project is going through due diligence phases by one of the top banking players in Europe 😊 Being a balanced introvert / extrovert person (it all depends on the situation 😉), I am still undecided about the publicity aspect of the platform’s fund raising, as everyone will be able to see the ‘green line' and how it hopefully approaches the target amount. Yet even today it is not easy to estimate how quickly and whether in full we will collect the whole amount. May the odds be in our favour 🤞

116

2 komentarze

📣 How Do Polish Health Tech Companies Communicate? Let's summarize it! 🔥 After 8 months of conversations and interviews with representatives of Health Tech companies in Poland, I am happy to share my insights on the communication challenges Polish startups face. The development of technology and AI solutions can undoubtedly improve our everyday lives and save time, but health remains the most important aspect of our lives. For this reason, with great interest, I and my Come Creations Group team created the HealthTech of the Week series, in which on Wednesdays we presented innovative HealthTechs that are changing the medical industry. 🚀 Congratulations to the organizations featured in the 1st edition: Talkie.ai, SDS Optic Inc., FEYENALLY, Calmsie, GeneMe, upmedic, HearMe.pl, eOS, BioCam, AILIS Care, finECRF, Locon Sp. z o.o., CliniNote, Clebre, VR TierOne, and The Linghos! 🚀 I encourage you to get to know this HealthTech better! I would also like to thank the support of experts such as Olivia BLANCHARD from Health Venture Lab, Jakub Chwiecko from the Medical Innovation Institute, and Kazimierz Cięciak from Comarch Healthcare, thanks to whom I could understand the challenges of the medical industry better. 🤝 📖 For a full summary of the HealthTech of the Week series, visit my blog. 👉EN: https://lnkd.in/d9yRTFgc 👉PL: https://lnkd.in/dTuEjraD 📅 The series will continue in September, and we are looking for more innovative projects to feature. If you know a startup at the intersection of new technologies and medicine, or if you have a project to recommend, please tag it in a comment or contact us! 🔥 Or maybe your project is the one that deserves the spotlight? Tell us about your business, and maybe your HealthTech startup will be featured in the next series! #HealthcareInnovation #Startups #Reports #HealthTechOfTheWeek #MedTech #DisruptorsinHealthcare

71

4 komentarze

AIP Seed portfolio is growing! We have just invested over $500,000 in Revoize, an incredibly innovative Polish startup specializing in a noise reduction and speech enhancement technologies using advanced AI. This investment, made alongside co-investor Marcin Zukowski, will enable Revoize to accelerate the development of its groundbreaking technologylto revolutionize online communication and improve the quality of real-time conversations for billions of people worldwide. Congrats to Stanisław Andrzej Raczyński, the brilliant founder of Revoize. His expertise, experience, and vision are the driving forces behind the success of this company. We're proud to support you in becoming a leader in voice communication technology. In the comments, link to the article by Anna Bełcik at Puls Biznesu. #Investments #Technology #AI #VoiceCommunication #AIPSeed #Revoize

42

2 komentarze

[𝟮𝟬/𝟱𝟬] 𝗗𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗪𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 In a month, I will be a speaker in Warsaw at BelTech: Going Global 2.0, where I will discuss “Venture Winter” with my colleagues from the VC world (the conference link in the first comment). Attracting VC money in 2024 is more challenging than it was in 2021. However, there are still several ways to attract non-traditional VC funding. In this post, I want to share 5 methods to secure funding for your company, particularly if you’re struggling to attract VC money or prefer not to: 𝟭. 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 This is the most obvious and cost-effective method for securing funding, yet many companies hesitate to ask their clients for prepayments or long-term contracts. Large corporations, however, may find it advantageous to receive a 10-15% discount in exchange for prepaying for one or two years. While B2C companies sometimes prefer selling monthly subscriptions to maintain higher MRR, annual subscriptions can offer more upfront cash for development. Clients can significantly improve your cash flow, so don’t shy away from exploring this option. 𝟮. 𝗩𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗯𝘁 Venture debt is often used alongside VC funding when you’ve raised only part of the necessary capital or wish to avoid diluting your ownership in the current round. Lenders typically charge higher interest rates compared to traditional debt. In some cases, venture debt providers may ask for additional rights, such as veto rights or even a board seat to protect their interests. 𝟯. 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 This type of financing is ideal for companies with a subscription model. The concept is simple: you receive funding in exchange for a percentage of your monthly revenue. Each month you’ll transfer some percentage of your revenue to the lender. 𝟰. 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 Many countries and organizations offer grants, especially if your project focuses on sectors like climate tech or energy. These grants can be a great source of non-dilutive funding. 𝟱. 𝗕𝗮𝗻𝗸𝘀 Banks are increasingly competing with fintech and VC players, leading to the creation of new products for startups and scale-ups. I recommend speaking with your bank about these offerings. For instance, some banks offer loans backed by Apple Store or Google Play accounts receivable as collateral. In addition to these options, you might also consider more exotic or risky ones like reaching out to wealthy friends, exploring crowdfunding, ICOs, or leveraging free products or services as alternatives to VC funding. In the current market, cash is king, so be open to different sources of capital, but always be mindful of how each option will impact your future growth and subsequent VC rounds.

21

1 komentarz

GREEN.. to Energy Transition

7

The financial industry is evolving rapidly, and understanding global trends is key to staying ahead. At the upcoming conference, we'll explore how these trends will reshape the business models of banks, insurance companies, and other financial intermediaries. We’ll also discuss how public debt can be mitigated by financing state-owned companies through capital markets, and what long-term prerequisites are necessary. Additionally, we'll dive into how startups can complement traditional banking and how innovative client service ideas can be integrated. Finally, investment professionals will offer market outlooks to help make informed decisions. Exciting times ahead! #Finance #Innovation #Investment https://lnkd.in/eJ2qfTrc

12

🏃Some people ask me why @zondacrypto is so invested in sports sponsorship. There are many reasons (including but not limited to the fact that I am a great sports fan myself 😀), but Grzegorz Adam Kowalczyk from Business Insider Polska explains them all very well. ⚽️ For us at zondacrypto, it has been almost a year that we have been highlighting our presence in Italy through sports collaborations. We started with Juventus Football Club and Giro d'Italia now we are also in Atalanta B.C. and this month we want to announce another sports partnership in this market. 💸 The impact of these collaborations is very visible. For example, when comparing the first half of this year with the last half of last year, we have seen up to a tenfold increase in customers from Italy. And overall, the share of deposits in EUR has increased by more than 50% in this period. Read more about brands with Polish roots going global through sports sponsorship: 👉 https://lnkd.in/eYZgv-vN

46

2 komentarze

This week may provide key signals to investors about the future direction of Federal Reserve monetary policy. The focus is on the release of the latest US labour market data and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's speech. Meanwhile, the final quarter of one of the most volatile years on the markets begins. Here's what you need to know to start the new week successfully. ☑ https://lnkd.in/eE2U3aWf #investments #riskmanagement #assetmanagement #algoimperial #markets #economy #finance #capitalmarkets #earnings #bank #fed #futures #inflation #algotrading #ai #forex #czechrepublic #oil #china #FED #FOMC #BOE #UK #PBOC #ECB #BOJ #Japan

1

Part 2 of wealth creation in Poland: In the first part we have learned a bit about our history and also preferences in terms of assets we like to invest in as a nation.🧠 In this part I will focus more on the measurable data such as GDP growth, Investments in the country and number of Businesses and their potential for growth.📈 We will also focus on the projection of having more HNWI’s in Poland in the next few years.🤔 From 1989 we have became essentially a free country with an opened economy. This created a lot of new opportunities to explore new markets and since comparing to western european countries we were also much cheaper than competitors. With a combination of a high quality education and EU membership since 2004 you can see as on the graph that we had pretty much a very stable growth. This scenario allowed for more small and medium sized businesses to be created. There were huge market opportunities that before were only availible in foreign western countries. To give you an example, my parents used to tell me that in shops there used to be sugar and vinigar😬 opened market and also at a later stage EU single market allowed Poland to become a competitor with high quality goods and services internationally and domestically we could also start to import goods from abroad. Many people tried a lot of things for the first time and we also took a lot of examples from cinematography which became widely availible. As an interesting point during the financial crisis in 2008 Poland was named as the green island as we did not encounter recession like other EU members. Connected with a high amount if EU financed investments as represented on the graph we grew between 2%-4% almost every year until the pandemic. This event unfortunately did not avoid us either where we could see a negative growth up to 9%. The reason for that is we are still very much dependant on other economies like Germany. Adding poor government decisions I think personally we will feel the consequences for atleast another 5 years. We are 4 years after the pandemic and for the past few years we still see a negative growth in the number of newly opened businesses vs closed businesses… What is interesting in this subject is that more companies were closed between 2022-2023 than in the pandemic. The reson for that mainly is that our economy is full of small businesses or micro businesses. During those years the PIS government implemented a Tax reform which was very much a nail do the coffin of many small businesses. In 2020 we closed 141k businesses In 2021 we closed 175k businesses In 2022 we closed 192k businesses In 2023 we closed 196k businesses What is positive is that the trend is slowing down which can project a recovery but I wouldnt be so optimistic at the moment. We have now a new government which atleast during the campain showed signals of changing the Tax reform to promote Entrepreneurship.

1

📣 On December 2 Tomek Mrozowski, Investment Partner at MCI Capital, will participate as a panelist in the FinTech & InsurTech Digital Congress , which will be held at The Westin Warsaw 💻🏦💳. 👉 During Digital Assets. Integrating Traditional Finance debate, participants will discuss the following issues: ● Changes in digital transformation over recent years 📉 ● Digital currency and integration of digital asset technology with traditional finance 💰🏧 – what steps should be taken to effectively introduce them to financial services? ● Can digital assets become a stable and long-term investment option? Prospects and challenges 💹 ● Security and regulations in the digital asset ecosystem – how to effectively manage risk in the dynamically developing cryptocurrency market? Other speakers: ➔ Antonina Karwasińska, Head of Operations and Development at Brokerage, BM Bank Pekao S.A. ➔ Krzysztof Piech, Professor at Uczelnia Łazarskiego w Warszawie; Director of the Lazarski University Blockchain Technology Center ➔ Łukasz Pierwienis, CEO, Binance Poland ➔ Piotr Szopa, ZND Marketing Manager, zondacrypto Moderation: ➔ Filip Pawczyński, President of the Board, Polskie Stowarzyszenie Bitcoin

29

The opening of Orange Polska's deregulated fibre-optic access network is an important step, demonstrating the maturity of the Polish telco market. Historically unimaginable (we all remember how much T-Mobile had to pay upfront for the privilege of priority of access to a part of these resources...) has become a fact. Bravo Orange Polska for forward-looking approach! Less overlapped investments mean better health for the whole sector. https://lnkd.in/dyRbnYCs

15

Being in an interim role is the toughest experience I have had throughout my journey as one has to jump in a built-up system, company culture, processes with knowing that the assignment is temporary and there is no time or need to make a change. Learnt the lessons what to do and what not to do in a transitioning period. 👏 #journey #takeaways #interimrole

13

What a time to be diving into investment land and projects sales for immo lab.re We already know that the value of transactions we’ve closed and will be closing this year hit 750 million PLN by the end of December. - Since January, we've taken part in the sale of investment land and projects worth 480 million PLN. - There are still ongoing transactions worth nearly 270 million PLN to be closed by end of 2024 - In less than 4.5 years of operation, our team has wrapped up land deals totaling over 1.2 million square meters and nearly 1.5 billion PLN of investment value. We’re focusing primarily on markets outside of Warsaw, which are very attractive to us due to the complexity and tough challenges they present. Just in the second half of this year, we closed a few transactions for a PRS/Living sector in Wrocław,Gdansk and Krakow, signed a preliminary sale agreement for historical five-star hotel , upscale ULIM project and entered into a letter of intent for a large logistics area. Negotiations with more investors are ongoing. The real estate market’s appetite for Polish land remains unsatisfied, and current investor activity makes us believe that another exciting year lies ahead. None of this would be possible without my teammates. Congratulations to Iwona Puchalska , Paweł Kucz ,Ryszard Kulczyk Maciej Wandzel Sergii Stoliarchuk , and Krzysztof Kaczor achieving such phenomenal results. #realestate #investments #investmentland #development #redevelopment #residential

53

7 komentarzy