Who invests in startups founded by Belarusians at Pre-Seed

01SMOK Ventures

SMOK Ventures

Polish-American fund SMOK Ventures invests in early-stage entrepreneurs from Central and Eastern Europe, including founders who have relocated to the US. The fund is willing to back projects before they generate revenue, especially when experienced entrepreneurs are behind them. First-time founders are expected to show at least some initial evidence of demand.

SMOK Ventures is among the most active investors in Belarusian founders at Pre-Seed in this review. In an October 2025 interview with dev.by, managing partner Borys Musielak said the fund had invested in four startups:

• No Cap — an AI agent that advises founders on fundraising and finding investors.
• FAMS (formerly Richarge) — an app that helps parents build relationships with their children. The startup is no longer active.
• Bitskout — AI for professional services firms, automating document collection, client requests and routine tasks at accounting and law firms.
• Slickshift — an AI platform for communications in logistics.

Musielak often says that he invests in founders first. The examples bear this out: FAMS was built by Belarusian entrepreneur Helene Malyutina, who already had startup experience. Slickshift’s co-founders include Aliaksei Kulbei, who previously worked on Base CRM, later acquired by Zendesk. Bitskout was founded by Ilia and Alexey Zelenkin, who had built successful careers in big tech. Musielak also highlighted the fact that the founders are brothers. No Cap’s co-founders included Alexander Nevedovsky, who helped build WANNA, acquired by Farfetch.

No Cap also brought the fund a relatively quick exit: SMOK invested in 2025, and US company Audos acquired the startup in March 2026. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

02FIRSTPICK

FIRSTPICK

Lithuanian fund FIRSTPICK positions itself as a first-cheque investor in Baltic founders. It operates through two channels: investing in very early-stage startups through an accelerator programme and participating directly in Pre-Seed rounds. Separate investment structures — Accel Fund and Seed Fund — serve these two routes.

Among FIRSTPICK’s investments in Belarusian founders over the past three years is Skarbe, an AI assistant that helped entrepreneurs manage sales without constantly updating their CRM manually. The fund led a $600,000 round in summer 2025, but the founder publicly announced the project’s closure in March 2026.

FIRSTPICK also previously invested successfully in BeautyTech startup Ama Care. The startup completed the fund’s accelerator programme, after which the team announced €500,000 in funding. Another year and a half later, Lovi acquired Ama Care. The deal’s terms were not disclosed, while Lovi now features in FIRSTPICK’s active portfolio.

03ULTRA.VC

ULTRA.VC

Cyprus-based ULTRA.VC positions itself as an early-stage investor with its own accelerator programme. It works with European startups targeting international markets. ULTRA.VC has the largest number of identified projects with Belarusian roots in its portfolio in this review: we found five companies.

• Maramora — a psychological wellbeing platform at the intersection of art and psychology. The project is currently inactive.
• Thera — an AI journal for psychological support, helping users make sense of their emotions and experiences through writing and dialogue with AI.
• Elatra — a B2B platform for coaching and developing employees at technology companies.
• Govar — a platform for practising spoken English with people from different countries.

A recent ULTRA.VC investment is Naoma, an AI video agent that gives personalised B2B product demos, answers potential customers’ questions and helps automate sales. In February 2026, the fund led a $440,000 Pre-Seed round.

04Symvan Capital

Symvan Capital

UK venture capital firm Symvan Capital manages funds under the government’s EIS and SEIS tax incentive schemes, which offer private investors income tax relief of 30–50%. Symvan Capital has no specific Eastern European mandate, but works with entrepreneurs regardless of their background, provided the startup meets EIS/SEIS requirements. The firm invests mainly at Seed and early growth, while also considering Pre-Seed.

In 2024, Symvan Capital participated in a £250,000 round for Yotewo, an AI platform for finding and hiring technology specialists. The service helps companies find vetted developers, organise interviews and manage recruitment. One of its founders is Belarusian entrepreneur Aliaksandr Kazhamiakin. According to him, negotiations with the fund took around six months, although the fund itself gives 4–8 weeks after the first meeting as its usual timeframe for issuing a Term Sheet.

05Zubr Capital

Zubr Capital

Unlike most investors in this review, Zubr Capital invests at later stages: Series A, B, C and growth. The fund typically considers companies with annual revenue of at least $4–5 million.

Although the investment firm led Placy’s €1 million Pre-Seed round, this is an unusual deal for its strategy. Placy is an AI assistant for real estate that helps automate client communications and agents’ work. The startup was founded in Cyprus by former colleagues from CIAN and Wargaming; its co-founders include entrepreneur Sergey Osipov.

Investment director and partner Viktar Dzenisevich attributed the decision to invest at such an early stage primarily to the founders’ experience and track record. CIAN listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021 at a valuation above $1 billion.

06Acquinox Capital

Acquinox Capital

Luxembourg-based investment fund Acquinox Capital has OpenAI, Anthropic, Bolt and Discord in its portfolio. It works with startups from Pre-Seed to pre-IPO. Its main focus is now on more mature companies.

In 2025, Acquinox Capital led AIstats’ $1.1 million Pre-Seed round alongside a group of business angels. AIstats is a SportsTech startup with Belarusian roots, founded by Eugene Sertukov and Alexey Vorobey. The company uses computer vision and machine learning to analyse football matches. These technologies underpin its analytics app for fans and its B2B platform for football clubs, scouts and agents.

07Co-investing funds

Co-investing funds

Alongside lead investors, the sample includes funds that have co-invested in rounds over the past three years and therefore also have experience backing teams with Belarusian founders. Their current Pre-Seed mandates and willingness to lead rounds may differ, however.

08Somersault Ventures

Somersault Ventures

US venture fund Somersault Ventures invests mainly in Seed-stage startups in the US and Europe. It specialises in B2B software and marketplaces in narrow, under-digitised industries where a technology product can establish a dominant position. The fund has a particular interest in founders from Central and Eastern Europe and entrepreneurs connected to UC Berkeley.

Among the startups covered in this review, Somersault invested in Skarbe at an earlier stage than it usually does.

09Sparkle Ventures

Sparkle Ventures

Investment firm Sparkle Ventures originally specialised in early-stage startups in Web3, blockchain, FinTech, AI and digital infrastructure. It now positions itself as a DeepTech investment and advisory business connecting US technology companies with strategic capital from the Middle East. Its priority is more mature companies at growth and late stages.

Nevertheless, Sparkle Ventures participated in Naoma’s $440,000 Pre-Seed round. Judging by the investor’s current positioning, this appears to be an exception to its present focus rather than a typical deal.

10What this means for Belarusian founders

What this means for Belarusian founders

Startups founded by Belarusians are based in different countries: Yotewo in the UK, Placy in Cyprus, Slickshift in Poland, and others elsewhere. They also raise investment from international companies. For funds, access to customers, legal structure and business potential often matter more than the founders’ country of origin. Geographic restrictions still apply, though: FIRSTPICK, for example, states a focus on Baltic founders, while Symvan backs companies that meet the UK’s EIS/SEIS requirements.

Founders’ experience also plays a noticeable role. In many of these cases, the founders worked on well-known technology products before raising funding: PandaDoc, Base CRM, Wargaming and others. This does not prove that experienced founders raise investment more often, but a team’s previous professional achievements can be a significant argument at Pre-Seed.

The lead investor’s name can matter more than the round’s size. A $600,000 round does not mean that the lead fund invested all $600,000. It may have contributed a much smaller amount while helping bring in other investors. When seeking funding, it is therefore worth looking beyond the publicly announced round size to a fund’s typical investment, willingness to lead and openness to angel participation.

Mandates change, funds move to different stages, and geographic restrictions may be tighter than a particular deal’s history suggests. Founders raising a Pre-Seed round now should therefore start their search with investors whose actual deals match the company’s stage, geography, business model and need for a lead investor, rather than with the longest possible list of VCs.