Investor Profile: VentureFriends — Thesis, Cheque Size & How to Apply

Athens-based VentureFriends is one of southern Europe's most founder-friendly seed investors, and it is a strong option for a European team building a tech-enabled consumer or business product with global ambition. Founded by ex-entrepreneurs and angel investors, the firm describes itself as an early-stage European venture capital firm backing founders with the ambition to build category-defining companies, and it invests at the very beginning, when conviction matters more than traction.

Thesis: conviction before traction

VentureFriends backs tech-enabled B2C and B2B startups that can develop a sustainable moat over time, with a sweet spot in proptech, fintech, marketplaces and SaaS. Its own mission statement is unusually honest about the seed stage: it invests when conviction matters more than traction, and when choosing the right partner is crucial.

Sectors and stages

The firm invests at pre-seed and seed stage, with follow-on capital into Series A and beyond. Its geographic focus is Europe and the Middle East and North Africa, and its portfolio companies operate across more than 20 countries and four continents.

Fund size and cheque size

VentureFriends states a first ticket of €500k to €3m on its own website, with an initial-to-follow-on investment ratio of 1:2, meaning it reserves roughly twice its first cheque for later rounds. It reports more than €300 million in assets under management across 4 funds, with its latest fund raised in 2025. Third-party profiles describe a typical range of €0.3 million to €2.5 million per deal with follow-on capacity up to €5 million to €10 million in total, which is consistent with the firm's own stated range once follow-on reserves are included.

Notable portfolio

The portfolio is the best evidence of the thesis. It includes Blueground, the flexible housing platform, Belvo, the Latin American open finance platform, InstaShop, the grocery marketplace, Huspy, the property technology platform, and Carmoola, the consumer car finance company, alongside newer names such as treasury platform Embat, payroll platform Valeria, conversational commerce company Merx, and Barte.

Partners, programmes and support

VentureFriends was founded by Apostolos Apostolakis and George Dimopoulos, both former entrepreneurs, and that operator background shapes its support: perspective, honest feedback and practical help rather than a formal programme. It runs no published accelerator and no standalone credits or perks package, so founders should not expect a cohort curriculum or a benefits catalogue. What they do get, on the firm's own account, is a partner that has built companies itself, understands that the journey is hard and nonlinear, and aims to be the first call founders make when decisions matter most.

How to apply for funding

VentureFriends publishes no open application form, cohort or deadline on its website; its invitation is simply to get in touch through venturefriends.vc. The practical route is a direct approach, ideally with a warm introduction from a founder in its portfolio or an investor who knows the team, leading with the moat, the market, and why this team wins it. Because the firm invests on conviction before traction, a clear story about the insight and the first customers will matter more than a polished financial model at this stage.