Startup Kitchen

16/12/2025

⚡ Investment Announcement ⚡ DefenceTech Repsense, co-founded by Mykolas Katkus, Alfredas Chmieliauskas, and Robertas Danielianas, is a European dual-use data analytics company specializing in information tracking and threat detection, and has closed its €2 million seed round with a final €1.1 million investment led by Tensor Ventures and Seed Starter ČS, CVC of Česká spořitelna bank, alongside existing investors BSV Ventures and Coinvest Capital.

The company’s flagship hashtag enables clients to track, detect, and predict the spread and impact of information across social and traditional media. Havel is currently deployed by NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, multiple European government institutions, and commercial clients globally.

More here 👉

Repsense, a European dual-use data analytics company specializing in information tracking and threat detection, has closed its €2 million seed round with a final €1.1 million investment led by Tensor Ventures and Seed Starter, CVC of Česká spořitelna bank.

16/12/2025

🎧⏺️New Episode is out! Looking for Offices? Then no more. Looking for a Podcast about offices? Then no more💚

🎙️ All in one on our Podcast platforms.

Andrew Peirson is a dedicated runner, former football player, and also a Managing Director at iO Partners, the real estate service provider in the CEE region, and now even for startups!

🏙️ Has Prague evolved? And if so, how much in comparison to Berlin and other metropolises? Does Andrew have a corner office?

This and much more in our latest episode hosted by Katerina Syslova, thanks to Milan Kilik and Natália Pekárová.

Spotify 👉 https://open.spotify.com/episode/1OEyjKoj9y7IQOnKFn10C8

15/12/2025

⚡ Investment Announcement ⚡ Ukrainian Diligent Capital Partners invests $12M in Pre-Series C financing in the Philippines’ first licensed digital-only bank Tonik Digital Bank, founded by the former head of Platinum Bank, Greg Krasnov, who serves as CEO.

Tonik enters the round with three years of profitability-driven scale, having grown its loan portfolio 15 times to $83 million, while annualized revenue has reached over US$40 million. The round also saw participation from PLIO Limited, existing shareholder ALTARA CAPITAL LTD, and Tonik management.

More here 👉

Tonik Financial, controlling shareholder of Tonik Digital Bank, the Philippines’ first licensed digital-only bank, has raised $12 million in Pre-Series C financing led by Diligent Capital Partners.

12/12/2025

Leadership. Sales. Impact “why”. Clarity and scale.
Just a few of the voices from our Marc mentoring pool - and a glimpse of what founders can tap into throughout the programme.

Featuring: Zdenek Fous (PurposeTech), Dusan Murco (Martinus), Magda Radova, Fares Mechura (SalesHero), Filip Rehorik (Microsoft).

Marc Impact Programme is an international scaling programme initiated by , Erste Social Finance, IFUA Nonprofit Partner and SIMPACT. In Czechia, we run it with Česká spořitelna, and meet at WorkLounge ♥️

🎥 .cz

11/12/2025

🎁 Year One of the Czech Startup Association, led by Martin Jiránek, in a sum-up 🎒 Shaping Policy, Delivering a Functional ESOP, and Driving the First Startup Act.

The 11-member Council includes leading figures of the Czech startup scene, like Ondrej Kratky of grid.online and Liftago, William Jalloul of FLOWPAY, Kamila Zahradnickova of Lakmoos AI, and Jan Slama of FaceUp Technology, or investors, e.g.; Petr Sima of DEPO Ventures, Petr Smid of Rockaway Ventures, Michala Gregorová of Miton, and Jan Stanek of Purple Ventures, or ecosystem players Petr Chladek of JIC - business with a purpose, Tomas Ditrych of Mavericks Legal, and Vladimira Cincurova of European Startup Embassy.

To the founding members; Credo Ventures, Presto Ventures, Keboola, Liftago, the law firms NOVALIA and Sparring, and the South Moravian Innovation Center; more than 80 additional members have joined since last November, notably DEPO Ventures, Rockaway Ventures, Purple Ventures, Miton, Pale Fire Capital, Tilia Impact Ventures, Impulse Capital, Reflex Capital, Lighthouse Ventures, P&J Capital, STARTGUIDE VC, Flying Founders, and Hejnic Family Capital & Investment are among them.

More here 👉

A year after its founding, the Czech Startup Association is celebrating a number of achievements. It is the first organization in Czech history that brings together founders, investors, innovation centers, lawyers, tax experts, and anyone with the ambition to elevate legislation for the innovation s...

11/12/2025

⚡ Investment Announcement ⚡ Stanford-based startup PangeAI, co-founded by Johanna von der Leyen, daughter of Ursula von der Leyen - President of the European Commission - Fanpage, and Czech AI expert Marek Miltner 🇨🇿🇺🇦, emerges from stealth to democratize access to geospatial data, with an investment from Miton, joined by Tensor Ventures along with Alexandra KALA’s Spinoffy in Prague, supported by a network of strategic angel investors across climate, AI, and geospatial intelligence.

Starting off based on grants from Stanford University, PangeAI has already attracted financial backing both in the US and Europe.

More here 👉

A startup founded by Johanna von der Leyen and Marek Miltner at Stanford is changing the way companies and public institutions work with geospatial data. Instead of needing to hire a team of GIS experts, PangeAI agents allow making complex analyses and decisions involving physical infrastructure as....

10/12/2025

🩺💖Czech startup Kardi Ai, led by Vlastimil Hrabal, and co-founded by Pavel Digaňa, Prof. MUDr. Tomas Skala, Ph.D., Stephen Burke, and David Skála, that integrates medical hardware, a mobile app, and its own AI model for long-term heart monitoring, is expanding into four new markets of Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Slovakia.

💲 Among key institutional investors are BrightCap Ventures, DEPO Ventures, Purple Ventures, Soulmates Ventures, and LUMUS Investment Collective. The company has secured over €3.2 million in total funding through several rounds to date.

More here 👉

Czech startup Kardi Ai, which integrates medical hardware, a mobile app, and its own AI model for long-term heart monitoring, is expanding into four new European markets: Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Slovakia.

10/12/2025

🎧✔️ The new podcast episode is out💪 We've invited Simon McDermott, originally from Ireland, for a long talk about the startup scene in the Czech Republic.

🤖 Simon is Head of International Sales at Talentpilot, where he focuses on advancing AI-powered recruiting technology. Simon was a founder of Attentio and also worked with several globally successful companies, like Intel Corporation and Brighton-based Brandwatch. In the Czech Republic, he worked for Angelcam and Supernova.

🍀 Your host for this episode is Fergus O'Sullivan, meaning you get two Irishmen talking about Czech startups, which we're pretty sure is a first 🎖️

Enjoy here 👉 https://open.spotify.com/episode/62JP3DHBNrm0PGZ7U4kXUr

05/12/2025

⚡ Investment Announcement ⚡ Finnish SpaceTech satellite startup ICEYE, co-founded by Rafal Modrzewski and Pekka Laurila, raises €200 million Series E round led by General Catalyst, A.P. Moller Holding from Denmark, France’s Bpifrance, Poland’s VINCI (BGK Group), and RiO Family Office, alongside Finnish investors SOLIDIUM, Ilmarinen, European Tech Collective, Keva, Lifeline Ventures, Tesi, Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company, and Peter Sarlin.

The Series E round also includes a €50 million secondary placement, valuing the company at €2.4 billion.

The funding will accelerate ICEYE’s delivery of sovereign satellite systems and data intelligence services. The company plans to expand its SAR constellation, develop next-generation sensing capabilities, and enhance data intelligence services.

More here 👉

ICEYE has raised EUR 150 million in new financing led by General Catalyst, along with a EUR 50 million secondary placement that values the company at EUR 2.4 billion (USD 2.8 billion). The space intelligence firm said the investment will speed up delivery of sovereign satellite systems and data serv...

05/12/2025

Kate Kovalenko joins global VC fund Momenta Ventures as an Associate Partner, from DEPO Ventures. Earlier in her career, she worked at Czech unicorn Avast Software, led the volunteering team at Disraptors, holds a double master’s degree in International Management from CEMS - The Global Alliance in Management Education, and the Vysoká škola ekonomická.

Momenta VC fund is the leading Industrial Impact VC fund, PitchBook named Momenta one of the world’s top ten digital industry venture funds in both 2023 and 2024.

More here 👉 https://startupkitchen.community/kate-kovalenko-joins-international-vc-fund-momenta-as-associate-partner/

04/12/2025

💬 INTERVIEW: AI and climate change are among the biggest challenges of the moment, but how to tackle them is pretty tricky. Our Fergus O'Sullivan sat down with Marek Miltner 🇨🇿🇺🇦 from AI Tinkerers - an academic and entrepreneur with a foot planted firmly in both Prague and Silicon Valley - to find out more about how he sees the future of our planet.

Enjoy here 👉 https://startupkitchen.community/marek-miltner-stanford-talent-can-in-some-ways-be-worse-than-czech-talent/

04/12/2025

🏙️ Warsaw will host the eagerly anticipated Product Hive unconference, organised by the team around Paulina Grodzicka and Piotr Włodarczyk from Product Hive Poland; a 2-day intensive gathering designed for digital products experts, in March 2026.

It’s built by practitioners for practitioners ➡️ experienced product managers, product owners, UX designers, developers, team leaders, and other professionals deeply involved in product development.

More here 👉

Mark your calendars: On March 18–19, 2026, Warsaw will host the eagerly anticipated Product Hive unconference — a two-day intensive gathering designed for those who live and breathe digital products.