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

Zaka VC funding is aimed at founders working where artificial intelligence meets biology, healthcare and industrial technology. This guide explains how to get funding from Zaka VC, what the Prague-based firm invests in, and how its unusual history shapes its approach. Zaka VC began as a family office in 2019 and has operated as a venture capital fund since 2024.

Thesis and investment focus

Zaka VC is an early-stage fund bridging Europe and North America. Its core focus is the cross-sectional application of artificial intelligence in business-to-business software, biotechnology and health tech, alongside deep tech and industrial tech. It invests mainly in CEE, the DACH region and the Baltics, from Prague and Bratislava, plus a San Francisco office. A third of its portfolio is North American.

Sectors, stages and cheque size

Zaka VC invests at pre-seed and seed stage, with some Series A participation. Its sweet spots are health tech and life sciences, deep tech and industrial tech, with AI running across all three. No standard cheque range is published in the fund's own materials read for this profile, so the cheque size is recorded here as not publicly disclosed rather than estimated from third-party databases.

Fund size and track record

Zaka VC launched its first fund at €15 million for early-stage startups across the United States and European Union. In an interview, the firm said it was preparing a new fund in 2024 sized between €12 million and €15 million. By early 2025 it described an international portfolio of more than 60 companies, one third of them North American, and announced its Silicon Valley expansion led by principal Filip Orth, overseeing the United States and Canada.

Notable portfolio

Zaka VC's own portfolio pages list a deep bench of science-led companies. Recent names include DeepSeq.AI, transforming AI-based protein drug discovery, German materials platform ExoMatter, Spanish services marketplace Webel, and American biotech companies Lime Therapeutics and Eigen Therapeutics. The wider portfolio spans Mews, SharpGrid, Sensible Biotechnologies, Superlinked and bit.bio.

Partners and programmes

Zaka VC was co-founded by Jan Kasper, its co-founder and managing partner and public voice on new investments. Filip Orth joined as principal to lead the North American expansion from Silicon Valley, bringing early-stage venture experience and a background in international startup sales. The team is described as former founders; no accelerator run by Zaka VC could be verified from the sources read.

How to apply for funding from Zaka VC

No open application form or pitch portal for Zaka VC could be verified from the sources read, so founders should approach through its website, zaka.vc, and warm introductions from its network, including portfolio founders. The strongest pitches show a credible scientific or technical moat, not just an AI wrapper, and a clear reason the company belongs on both sides of the Atlantic. European founders planning a United States expansion, and North American founders with European research roots, are both in its stated wheelhouse. Explain the science plainly and show early traction or validation.