Balnord to Reach €100M Fund to Back Baltic Startups
💎 Backed by PFR and EIF, Balnord sets out to lead Poland’s VC in defense tech, space, and industrial resilience with €100M in funding across at least 22 high-impact startups
Poland-based venture capital fund Balnord is scaling up. With over €70M (PLN 300M) already secured, the fund aims to reach €100M (PLN 430M) in capitalization by mid-2026. The capital will support at least 22 startups across the Baltic region, with a strong focus on dual-use technologies, space innovation, medical frontier tech, and industrial resilience.
Balnord isn’t just any VC fund — it’s a national deep tech catalyst. Created by seasoned investors previously associated with Black Pearls VC, Balnord has quickly emerged as a key player in Europe’s reindustrialization and strategic tech sovereignty agenda. Its portfolio already includes 10 startups, with the first four raising €38M in follow-on funding and generating €34M in revenues in 2025 alone.
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Strategic Backing: Public Capital as Private Catalyst
Balnord’s growth is supercharged by PFR Ventures, which has allocated PLN 100M (approx. €23M) from its PFR VC and PFR Deep Tech programs. The move is part of Poland’s broader mission to reclaim leadership in next-gen industrial technologies. The European Investment Fund (EIF) also backs Balnord, alongside major family offices and private tech founders from across Europe.
According to Poland’s Finance and Economy Minister Andrzej Domański, public capital must act as a market signal. “We don’t just want to participate in Europe’s tech transformation — we want to set the direction,” he said.
The Balnord Thesis: Space, Resilience, and Dual-Use Tech
Balnord is building a thesis-driven portfolio around deep tech solutions that serve both civilian and defense applications. Initial checks range from €450K to €2.8M, with a capacity to follow on up to €11.5M per startup. The firm has already backed standout players such as:
ATMOS Space Cargo (Germany): building orbital logistics infrastructure between Earth and space
Vitvio (Poland): digitizing operating rooms with real-time computer vision and sensory AI
Astrolight (Lithuania): creating stealth-proof laser communication links for NATO navies
Microamp (Poland): developing 5G connectivity tech with support from NATO DIANA
SATIM (Poland): collaborating with ICEYE and local defense firms on geospatial intelligence
These are not moonshots — they are market-ready ventures with both commercial and defense clients, signaling Poland’s ambition to become a hub for sovereign, export-ready deep tech.
Poland’s Deep Tech Moment Has Arrived
“Balnord understands how to translate vision into execution,” said Mikołaj Raczyński, CIO at PFR. “They back founders solving hard problems with critical technologies. This is the exact purpose of the PFR Deep Tech program: to build long-term partnerships that align capital, technical expertise, and national priorities.”
The fund operates in tight alignment with NATO innovation agendas, EU industrial strategies, and global VC partners. Co-investors include Seraphim, OTB Ventures, Matterwave, Inventure, Expansion, Voima Ventures, and Bek Ventures — forming a syndicate-ready ecosystem for Baltic-region deep tech.
A Polish VC Defining European Sovereignty
While Europe continues to talk about strategic autonomy, Balnord is building it. By anchoring its activities in Warsaw, Vilnius, and Berlin — and concentrating capital on enabling frontier capabilities — Balnord is helping shift Central and Eastern Europe from tech adopters to tech creators.
With its expanded capital base and a proven team, Balnord isn’t just another fund. It’s Poland’s strategic bet on the technologies that will define the next decade — and a benchmark for what public-private innovation partnerships can achieve when aligned with global ambitions and local capabilities.
