ARIA partnered with NCBR NIF fund
Co-investments for new technologies, innovative business development, and market expansion are the crucial cooperation goals between NCBR Investment Fund ASI S.A. (NIF) and the ARIA fund, which joins the group of NIF Partner Funds.
“The common denominator of our funds’ operating model is investing in companies that have already successfully passed their first market tests, are at the growth stage and are thinking about further development and expansion. We also share a desire to support ambitious entities whose projects may change our reality. Together we believe that effective cooperation between us as co-investors and business founders can bring breakthrough market results. We want to invest in innovative companies with a wide range of activities,” says NIF President Krzysztof Szubert.
NIF, which belongs to the National Centre for Research and Development, is already cooperating with Partner Funds: Enea Innowacje, BrigdeOne, and PGE Ventures. ARIA fund is joining them. These are the first agreements signed by NIF, which together with its partners will invest up to PLN 1.4 billion in innovative Polish companies at the growth and expansion stage. ARIA is a growth fund investing in technology companies from Central Europe, in young new technologies companies, with a verified business model, ready to scale their operations on foreign markets.
“The framework agreement on cooperation between NIF and ARIA, which has just been signed, is an example of a modern, rational, and well-thought-out public-private partnership in the area of equity investments. The public sphere gains access to attractive investment targets, technology companies that, based on Polish capital and R&D activities, develop their innovative products and services. On the other hand, the private sphere receives the possibility of constructing capital-diversified consortiums led by funds such as ARIA. We are excited about this strategic partnership and are preparing our first joint investment proposals,” says Dariusz Lewandowski, CEO of ARIA.
ARIA is one of the few funds which invests EUR 1-5 million, addressing the capital gap on the market. It seeks investment targets in areas such as Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Industrial Innovation, Edtech, Medtech, Cybersecurity.
NIF is a venture capital fund specializing in co-investments with partner funds in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the growth or expansion phase, commercializing the results of research and development works (R&D+I). Fund’s investment budget is 700 million PLN, the value of a single investment is 3 – 64 million PLN.
In accordance with the investment policy and strategy, NIF will make investments in Portfolio Companies selected and proposed by Partner Funds or those which apply to NIF and are positively assessed by NIF, provided that they are verified by Partner Funds and at least one of the Partner Funds participates in the investment. NIF will invest in enterprises coming out of the seed and start-up stage, i.e. in the expansion and growth stages, and commercializing R&D&I projects. The companies should also have a Polish element.
The team responsible for negotiations and signing the agreement was: Dariusz Lewandowski (CEO, ARIA), Katarzyna Kolmus (Head of Legal, ARIA), Grzegorz Żebrowski (Investment Manager, ARIA), Anna Wacławek-Ptaszek (Attorney at Law, ARIA) and Michał Lasota (Transactional Lawer, ARIA).