Credo Ventures shows that even in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, a fund can be created that is equal to those in Silicon Valley. We at HAVEL & PARTNERS have been with them from the very beginning – we have been working for Credo as legal and tax advisors since 2009. “In its early days, we also helped with fund raising and invested in the fund ourselves. The motivation was not only financial gain, but also the desire to support the emerging local venture capital ecosystem and build a strong network around it. Credo has subsequently developed into a globally respected fund that has contributed significantly to the development of this environment,” said managing partner Jaroslav Havel.
In 2015, for example, the fund invested in UiPath, a then-unknown Romanian start-up that had one of the largest IPOs in its category when it went public on the New York Stock Exchange. Today, Credo is one of the most prominent venture funds in Central and Eastern Europe, backing dozens of start-ups that are changing the tech world. It ranks among the absolute top not only in Central Europe. In Dealroom’s analysis of 22,000 funds and investors, Credo is in the top 2.5% within the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region.
With HAVEL & PARTNERS, we assisted Credo Ventures as legal advisors in transactions and investments as well as exits. Credo’s story offers an exceptional inspiration to us in how to build an extraordinarily successful global fund hand in hand with an incredibly human approach. And the story doesn’t end there. We continue to work closely with the founders of Credo, Andrej Kiska Jr., who has moved to Silicon Valley and with whom ONE FAMILY OFFICE now works, as well as Ondřej Bartoš, who is one of the most successful VC investors in the CEE region.
