Serbia Ventures - AI
The program is designed to incentivize qualified individuals, private investors and institutions to engage in financing startups with high growth potential which are developing innovative products in the field of artificial intelligence by incorporating venture capital fund in Serbia. Through this program, the Innovation Fund will invest into newly established venture capital fund in Serbia in the role of a limited partner and help these funds generate a significant market impact on Serbia’s innovation ecosystem.
Amount of financing:
- The maximum amount of financing which the IF can invest in the future VC fund is EUR 5.000.000, with the restriction that the IF’s investment mustn’t exceed 50% of the size of the VC fund’s final close amount. Future VC fund must invest a minimum of 150% of IF’s contribution to the VC fund into Serbian startups.
Eligibility criteria:
In order to be considered eligible for participating in this program, the Applicant must:
- Be incorporated in the SBRA as a LLC, or as an AIF MC licensed by Republic of Serbia’s Securities Commission;
- Be owned by future GPs in the VC fund structure defined in the Application. If the Applicant is legal entity in the form of LLC, physical persons designated as GPs in the application for Serbia Ventures AI program must be sole owners of the company that applies to the program;
- Ensure that the sum of GP’s own contribution represents at least 1% of total capital raised;
- Submit full Application as stipulated in section “Application contents and submission instructions” of this manual.
At the time of applying for the Program, the Applicant is not required to be licensed by the Republic of Serbia Securities Commission.
If the financing is approved by the IF, selected Awardee can sign LPA (or Investment Agreement) with the IF and receive funds within this program, only after it is fully registered and licensed by the Republic of Serbia Securities Commission and SBRA as a legal entity registered specifically for managing alternative investment funds (alternative investment fund managing company – AIF MC), and needs to register a VC fund (alternative investment fund) in Serbia and receive the appropriate license in line with the requirements outlined by the Republic of Serbia Securities Commission and other applicable legislative requirements.
Field of technology/Industry sector: To comply with the requirements of the Program, the future VC fund will have to invest at least 70% of its funds into startups who focus on developing AI based solutions.
Duration of IF’s investment: The VC funds applying for this program should plan a general fund life of 10 years with 5-year investment periods and 5-year of divestment periods, with a maximum of 2 possible extensions of one year each, subject to limited partner’s consent.
The documentation to be submitted in the Application:
- Signed Applicant statement (in PDF);
- The business plan, provided in free format in the English language, which should be ideally up to 25 pages A4 and needs to cover:
- The VC fund’s management team (General Partners) including profiles, experiences, legal/governance structure;
- Track record of the management team (if any, or a justification of the team’s soft or hard skills and resources, particularly in the field of AI, which would ensure successful functioning of the proposed VC fund);
- Market overview and mapping of high potential sectors and/or illustrative deals;
- Capital allocation strategy (including the fund’s size, relevant investment and divestment time frames, target market segmentation, target (sub)sectors, deal flow forecast and demonstration of the ability to scout for and source high quality deals, etc.);
- Key terms and conditions (including management fee, carried interest, hurdle rate, target IRR, incentives, winding-up, etc.).
Public call: Closed
Applications must be submitted through the Innovation Fund online portal and in English.
Contact: serbiaventures@inovacionifond.rs