ZAKA Startups
ZAKA Startups is a company.
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Leadership Team
Key people at ZAKA Startups.
ZAKA Startups is a company.
Key people at ZAKA Startups.
Key people at ZAKA Startups.
ZAKA Startups, operating as ZAKA VC, is a Czech-based venture capital family office turned fund manager founded in 2019, focusing on pre-seed and seed investments in tech startups primarily across the US, UK, Central Europe (CEE), Baltics, and DACH regions.[1][2][3][5] Its mission centers on backing globally ambitious entrepreneurs by bridging North America and Europe, with a current emphasis on B2B software in biotech, health-tech, deeptech, industrial tech, healthcare, life sciences, and cybersecurity; it invests about €3M annually into roughly 15 companies, supporting a portfolio of 78 startups across five continents.[2][5][6] ZAKA's investment philosophy leverages the founders' entrepreneurial experience—having built enterprises with over €1B+ in turnover across retail, e-commerce, media, mobility, and hospitality—to provide not just capital but hands-on operating support like fundraising structuring, PR, expert networks, and peer founder connections, fostering high-impact growth in the early-stage ecosystem.[2][3][6]
ZAKA VC was founded in 2019 (or 2020 per some records) in Prague by serial entrepreneurs Peter Zálešák and Jan Kasper, who together have co-owned or managed over 60 companies generating €1.4B+ in turnover across diverse sectors including retail (Nay, Electroworld), media/marketing (Unimedia, Digiline), mobility (Soria Mobility, Autopolis), hospitality, real estate, energy, and agro.[2][3][4][6] Initially operating as a family office from Prague, London, and Bratislava, it opportunistically invested private money into local CEE startups, building a legacy portfolio of 55+ companies over four years while prioritizing synergies with the founders' businesses.[3][6] Evolution accelerated with geographic expansion to the UK, DACH, Baltics, and US (especially CEE diaspora), culminating in July 2024 with the launch of its first formal VC fund to meet co-investment demand and scale support for US-ambitious teams, reaching 78 portfolio companies by late 2025.[5][6]
ZAKA rides the wave of deeptech and health-tech globalization, capitalizing on post-2024 VC demand for early-stage funding amid US market pull for European talent, especially CEE/Baltics diaspora scaling abroad.[6] Timing aligns with surging biotech (mRNA, gene therapies), industrial AI, and cybersecurity needs, fueled by market forces like AI acceleration, e-mobility transitions, and self-insured health plans' payment integrity demands—evident in portfolio plays like Sensible Biotechnologies (Oxford/Slovakia mRNA) and E-mobilio (German charging SaaS).[2][5] It influences the ecosystem by democratizing US access for non-US founders, fostering cross-continental bridges, and amplifying CEE's rising VC presence (e.g., 59 deals since 2020), while its fund transition enhances co-investment liquidity in a capital-scarce pre-seed environment.[3][6]
ZAKA is poised to double down on its first VC fund, targeting more US/EU deeptech deals with global ambitions, potentially expanding portfolio to 100+ by 2027 amid AI-biotech convergence and cybersecurity tailwinds.[5][6] Trends like quantum-accelerated AI (e.g., Sygaldry) and curative gene therapies will shape its path, evolving its influence from CEE family office to key transatlantic player via deeper LP commitments and syndicate partnerships. This positions ZAKA to sustain its entrepreneur-backed momentum, turning early bets into ecosystem bridges that redefine seed-stage scalability.
