Startup fundraising sucks, especially in late 2022. Venture capitalists are taking advantage of the bad economy. Delayed processes, not respecting the founders’ time, backing out of term sheets has become a norm, again. But if you are a venture capitalist on the verge of breaking bad, think again. …

I listen to 100+ pitches a month and invest in 1 startup on average. There are some things that founders say that make me instantly lose interest. Here are the 10 sentences that make me pass. 1. “Dear Sir / Madam” If your email feels like spam, it will be treated as such. It’s not…

Do you want to impress investors with your pitch deck? Make it short! The longer the deck, the weaker and less focused you seem to the VCs. The good thing? All you need are those 8 slides to land you a sweet pre-seed round💰. Yes, even in this market🐻. Slide 1. COMPANY NAME + LOGO + High Level pitch (one sentence) Tell…

2021 was a pivotal year for SMOK Ventures. 90% of our portfolio founders raised follow-on funding, we invested in 10 new startups, and we’re preparing for CEE expansion in 2022! We launched SMOK Ventures in late 2019 to help Polish and CEE-based founders better connect to Silicon Valley and Asia…

I’ve been updating my Quora list of hottest Polish startups since 2011 and frankly this became a bit too much work for me to keep it fresh and stay unbiased. …

Big vision, successful repeat founders and technology that can literally save lives. There’s a lot to like in MX Labs, our most recent investment at SMOK.vc. Let’s break it down! The Vision In company’s own words: Most people around the world don’t have access to up-to-the-minute and readily-available diagnostics. Instruments are expensive…

Last updated: October 2021 SMOK Ventures launched in 2019 to disrupt early stage venture capital investing in the Eastern bloc by connecting top local founders with VC and tech leaders in Silicon Valley and Asia. Now the fund is expanding to Ukraine and the Baltics and the rest of CEE…

I’m proud and excited to announce that SMOK Ventures co-led the $1.5M seed round of Vue Storefront. Read the full article to find out why. What is Vue Storefront? Vue Storefront is setting the new standard in e-commerce by providing shopping experiences like native apps while boosting site performance. Technically it’s a headless frontend…

Poland is the seventh largest producer of games in Europe and 23rd worldwide. Two days before the release of Cyberpunk 2077 we’re bringing you the ultimate map of the game ecosystem in Poland. Can you see something weird on the map? Let us know! We’re working to fix any inconsistencies on the map here (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_31WI98XLiMKYTbrm0wHuJbYslgiHPfLuVCtLvuz84s/edit) and will update the map once…