• Emailsmok@smok.vc
  • Locationul. Lektykarska 27/2 Warsaw, Poland

Bridging

Silicon Valley to CEE

We are a US venture capital fund investing 100k-1M USD in early stage startups in Central & Eastern Europe and diaspora. We invest in software startups with the primary focus on software developement tools, gamedev and AI. We love to work with serial entrepreneurs with a global vision who aim to build leaders in their industries.

We're fast and transparent

We respond to every quality email from a founder. If we're interested, we act fast. If we are not, we let you know. We're committed to transparency ourselves and we require the same from our founders.

We're ex founders

Being former founders with a history of exits we understand the importance of a supportive, founder-friendly investor. We're doing our best to be just that.

We think global domination

We are the first and the last check you'll ever need from Central and Eastern Europe. 80% of follow-on funding in our startups comes from Silicon Valley, Western Europe and Asia.

Why CEE?

What Paul Bragiel really thinks of the Polish & CEE tech
Watch Paul Bragiel's interview at Digital Dragons on CEE tech ecosystem. Paul also discusses his investment thesis, explains how he was able to invest in 13 unicorns globally and why Poland & CEE is the next big thing.
Watch the video

Mission

We are a team of entrepreneurs and community leaders with the aim to help early stage startup founders build multi-million-dollar global software enterprises from CEE & diaspora.
Eastern Europe is now at an inflection point where local entrepreneurs are poised to build the next generation of global billion dollar startups. We as SMOK are excited to support these entrepreneurs and help enable them to reach their goals faster.
Paul Bragiel: Managing Partner at SMOK

Our team

The people behind Smok

Physics graduate. ReaktorX co-founder. Community leader of the Polish startup scene. Ambassador of Startup Poland. Named CESA Female Role Model of the Year, Strong Woman in IT, Forbes 30 Under 30.

Industries: gamedev, edutech

Led deals in: Exit Plan, Madcore Games, Gotiva, Absynth, Wonder Legends, Collabwriting

Contact: diana@smok.vc

Diana Koziarska

MANAGING PARTNER

Engineer and entrepreneur. Product guy. Sold his previous startup Filmaster to Samba TV in 2015 to build the company’s thriving European business. Co-founded Poland’s first coworking space for startups, Reaktor, first private acceleration program, ReaktorX, and the biggest tech think tank, Startup Poland.

Industries: software development tools, artificial technology

Led deals in: Authologic, Alokai, inStreamly, SLS, Masthead Data, Slickshift

Contact: borys@smok.vc

Borys Musielak

MANAGING PARTNER

Entrepreneur turned investor. He’s advised or invested in the seed rounds of 200+ companies which includes holdings in billion dollar companies Uber, Niantic (Pokemon Go), Stripe, Unity & Zappos. Paul has founded and oversees 6 funds with over $ 400m under management across 4 continents.

Paul Bragiel

MANAGING PARTNER

Headquartered in SF as managing partner of Bragiel Brothers, an early stage fund with over 30 investments at pre-seed and seed. Previously he was angel investor of 25 companies and partner at i / o ventures.

Dan Bragiel

VENTURE PARTNER

Headquartered in London. Engineer, community builder. Cofounded a project to build a solar-powered house in the middle of a desert ($1M budget, 150+ ppl). Went on a mission to launch a 1000 new VC funds through building a Silicon Valley startup, VC Lab, as their employee #1. Run events in London, SF, NY. Forbes 25 under 25 nominee.

Interested in: pre-seed startups in London/West of Europe, launched by Eastern Europeans

Interested in: artificial intelligence, deeptech

Contact: sonia@smok.vc

Sonia Piórek

VENTURE PARTNER

Economics graduate. Business and investing enthusiast. Stock market expert – founder of the Solid Portfolio newsletter dedicated to individual investors. Early employee of the Polish scale-up Talkin’ Things where was responsible for business and financial area. Alumnus of the Lesław A. Paga Foundation.

Interested in: fintech, gamedev, proptech

Led deals in: Slicker, Juo

Contact: tomasz.koscielniak@smok.vc

Tomasz Kościelniak

ASSOCIATE

Cost and cash flow management specialist. 

Expert at Guarana Biznes. Has helped many innovative companies to raise EU funding for Research & Development projects and to master their profitability.  

Tomasz Bednarski

Accounting & Finance

Our Portfolio

We invest in tireless entrepreneurs. Meet the companies in our portfolio.

Pstryk

Pstryk is a mobile application for electricity consumers in Poland, providing access to dynamic energy prices. Manage your consumption, electricity costs and carbon footprint on your phone. The Pstryk app is the key to lower bills and conscious electricity consumption.

LetsData

LetsData uses AI to scan millions of media and social media publications detecting early signals of InfoOps orchestrated by cybercriminals, hostile states or competitors.

Gemelo

Gemelo is enabling global enterprises to reach audiences worldwide through AI-powered video, instantly and in any language. Gemelo offer is Enterprise Ready with leading security, brand controls, private cloud and API and consist of 2 main products:

Slickshift

Slickshift is a software platform connecting all stakeholders of the road logistic industry. The platform ensures centralization of communication between the office and drivers, real-time fleet monitoring and transport documents management, reducing chaos and saves plenty of time for logistics companies.

Slicker

Slicker prevents involuntary churn through AI-powered retries, tailored for subscription businesses. Their no-code engine automatically monitors, detects, and recovers failed recurring payments, so customers can convert past due invoices into revenue.

Wonder Legends Studio

Wonder Legends is a new premium indie game and animation studio founded by industry veterans. Company is working on trans-media IP combining Greek Mythology with steampunk. The game and the animated series’ first season are scheduled to release in late 2027 or early 2028.

Proteine Resources

Proteine Resources is transforming pet wellness by producing insect-based supplements added to pet food to alleviate skin problems, boost vitality, and increase longevity. Their products deliver the nutritional quality of 100% beef protein but with up to 67 times lower greenhouse gas emissions. Proteine Resources also builds autonomous modular factories for insect breeding to make […]

Juo

Juo is an easy way to start and scale your subscription business. Company provides subscription infrastructure for e-commerce stores which offers products with cyclical replenishment character.

Skyline

​Skyline is an AI-powered development environment that reimagines how engineers collaborate with intelligent models. Instead of relying solely on text prompts, it introduces “symbols”—structured, spatially anchored elements that define architecture, data flows, and interfaces. This approach bridges the gap between human intent and AI execution, enabling developers to design software from a top-down perspective while […]

Fams

Fams is a purpose-led parenting assistant aimed at enhancing emotional bonds with children and aiding parents in their roles through dialogue.

What we look for

Proven Leadership

We love serial entrepreneurs with a history of successful exits (as well as many failures). If you can prove you've done it before, it's a sign for us you can do it again.

Deep Understanding of your Industry

Be the person that others associate with your industry when they want to recommend an expert. In-depth know how of the industry you're trying to disrupt is something we require from all our founders.

Culture Fit with SMOK

Working with an investor is a long-term partnership. We need to be sure we will be able to communicate, help each other out and build awesome things together.

Not ready yet?

Here are some tips we've prepared for you.
We invest in top 1% of founders who apply for funds. Obviously we have to say 'no' a lot. Sometimes silently, when you're not hearing back from us (although we try really hard to always respond). If you are determined to work with us, there are a few things you can do to improve your chances.
Check out our FAQ

Press about SMOK

As seen in the media
“One of the most influential natives of the start-up environment Borys Musielak, and the eccentric American entrepreneur Paul Bragiel, launch a venture capital fund | SMOK Ventures, established thanks to the support of the Polish Development Fund, intends to invest PLN 46 million in start-ups within a few years.”
Forbes
"There was no such VC fund in Poland yet. It is started by known startupers | SMOK Ventures is officially a Polish-American fund, many people involved in it are Polish entrepreneurs who founded startups themselves, which are today important companies in the industry.”
Business Insider
"Paul Bragiel, an international investor, together with crème de la crème of local tech business got together to finance top early stage startups in Poland."
Puls Biznesu
"Anonymous VC review site Landscape has published the first list of the top 20 seed investors in Europe, based exclusively on feedback from founders [...] SMOK Ventures is one of the top 20 European seed funds according to founders."
Tech.eu

Latest News

We blog about our approach to investing and general entrepreneurship
  • June 20, 2023

Why We Invested In Masthead Data

  • January 26, 2023

Sasha Yatsenko joins SMOK as Principal for Ukraine & the Baltics

  • July 27, 2022

Why did we invest in Bitskout?