JIC, the Brno-based innovation agency, has launched JIC Ventures, a new venture capital fund aimed at pre-seed and seed-stage technology founders across Central and Eastern Europe at a time when the region is still grappling with a shortage of early-stage risk capital. The firm plans to write tickets of up to €1 million, back around 20 startups over the next four years, and concentrate on deep tech, SaaS, and other advanced technology businesses with the potential to scale internationally. The launch was presented in Brno on April 7, 2026, at an event attended by Czech President Petr Pavel, highlighting the growing prominence of startup policy in the country’s economic agenda.
Built on an Existing Platform
The new vehicle is not emerging from a standing start, but from an organization that says it has supported more than 1,300 startups since 2003, including well-known Czech technology companies such as Kiwi.com, Y Soft, and Flowmon. JIC’s profile has also risen beyond the domestic market, with the agency ranked this year among Europe’s leading startup hubs in the Financial Times and Statista-backed Europe’s Leading Start-Up Hubs list. That operating history gives the fund something many new managers lack: direct access to founders through incubator and accelerator programs, established university links, and a regional innovation network already capable of producing investable companies.
A Hybrid Capital Model
The investor base includes about 40 limited partners drawn from both institutional and entrepreneurial circles, among them CTP, Česká spořitelna, investor Jan Barta, founders and owners connected to IDEA StatiCa, Artin, Kinalisoft, Sewio, and NenoVision, as well as the Diocese of Brno. According to local business daily e15, the fund is targeting roughly CZK 400 million, with private capital currently accounting for about 85 percent of commitments and the South Moravian Region participating as a public investor in a structure described as a first for a Czech region. The result is a hybrid model that resembles more mature western European ecosystems, where universities, innovation agencies, corporations, and private backers work together to create long-term financing infrastructure rather than relying solely on standalone VC firms.
More Than Financing
JIC says the fund intends to act as more than a source of cash, positioning itself as a lead investor that can make decisions quickly and move from term sheet to closing in a matter of weeks rather than months. The investment thesis mirrors the areas where Brno has built industrial and research depth, including cybersecurity, semiconductors, hardware-software platforms, precision instruments, space technologies, and defence or dual-use systems. The management team, led by Radim Kocourek alongside Miloš Sochor, is betting that combining capital with specialist advice and access to a wider founder network will improve the odds of turning technically strong startups into globally relevant companies.
Why It Matters for CEE
The wider significance of the launch lies in its response to a structural problem that has held back many founders in Central and Eastern Europe: strong technical talent and research output have not always been matched by enough local capital willing to take early-stage risk. Regional data published this month argues that Brno and Czechia continue to face a capital gap compared with western Europe and the United States, even as the region strengthens its position in strategic sectors such as chips, advanced manufacturing, and scientific instrumentation. By linking investment more closely to an existing support ecosystem, JIC is effectively testing whether innovation agencies can play a larger role in converting research, talent, and founder ambition into companies that stay rooted in the region while growing globally.
For the Czech startup market, JIC Ventures stands out not simply because another fund has launched, but because of the institution behind it and the model it represents. A public innovation agency with university roots is using predominantly private capital to back early-stage founders while also trying to build a repeatable framework that other regions could adopt. If that approach succeeds, JIC Ventures may come to represent more than a new source of funding for startups and instead mark a shift toward a more systematic way of building innovation-led growth in Central and Eastern Europe.