Fika Ventures: A Seed Firm with a #B2B Strategy

In New York City, capital flows like water, but conviction is scarce. That’s where Geek Ventures operates. Founded in 2021 by Ihar Mahaniok, an immigrant engineer who spent two decades building software and #machinelearning systems at startups and giants like Google and Meta, the firm was born from firsthand friction. Before Geek Ventures, Ihar placed 150+ angel bets, backing early winners such as Instacart, PandaDoc, People.ai, Airbyte, and Jeeves. These weren’t lucky swings, they were resilience and #patternrecognition, the same qualities he sees in #immigrantfounders breaking into U.S. capital markets. The leadership bench is global and battle-tested. Alexander Zemlyak, Partner, sharpened his investing lens at LETA Capital, driving late-seed and Series A deals. Maksym Strukov, Associate, built diligence muscle at Diligent Capital Partners, working on Preply’s Series C and advising a London family office. Sarah Romanko, Associate, is a startup operator turned community builder with 30+ speaking credits at SXSW and Texas Venture Forum. And behind the curtain, Dmytro Rohozhynskyi, Executive Assistant and Kyiv School of Economics MBA, keeps the firm running with precision. Geek Ventures is unapologetically early. Pre-seed and seed. $100K checks that don’t just buy equity, they buy belief. From idea stage to $1.5M ARR, they back immigrant founders who “geek out” on their category, chasing TAMs of $10B+ with stamina and expertise. The process is structured: application, review, call, diligence, committee. Fast enough to meet momentum, rigorous enough to avoid noise. The portfolio shows conviction. #AI reshaping #logistics, #marketing, and diligence. SaaS automating #foodsafety and fund management. Marketplaces for new #constructionhomes. #VR collaboration tools collapsing distance. Many began with a Geek Ventures check, then raised $1M+ in follow-on capital through intros and mentorship. What makes Geek Ventures distinct isn’t just what they fund but how they support. Coaching founders for U.S. pitch dynamics. Warm intros to angels, VCs, and corporates. Term-sheet advocacy rooted in Ihar’s “battle scars.” Events in NY, San Francisco, and Lisbon that fuse ecosystems. Partner discounts and a diverse LP base that extend founder runway. Immigrant-led here means inclusive. Resilience and passion matter more than birthplace. It means tight-knit cohorts growing into global networks. It means believing the next wave of global tech leaders may already be in the room, if someone writes the first check. Geek Ventures’ portfolio companies are hiring. #Engineers, #productleaders, #marketers, #operators, the doors are open. Follow this firm. Study their founders. Track their plays. #VentureCapital #VCSpotlight #VCFirm #Startups #Founders #FounderJourney #StartupJourney #StartupFunding #InvestmentCapital #Technology #Innovation #TechEcosystem #StartupEcosystem #Hiring #TechHiring If software engineering peace of mind is what you crave, Vention is your zen

Hoxton Ventures Enhances Transatlantic Reach With U.S. Expansion And Senior Hires: Hoxton Ventures is stepping up its support for Europe’s earliest-stage startups looking to grow in North America by adding seasoned leaders and opening a new base in Silicon Valley. The firm, long known for spotting and backing companies like Deliveroo and Darktrace before they became household names, is now placing Payton Dobbs in San Francisco, bringing fresh investor relations leadership and deep operating expertise to its London-based team. The post Hoxton Ventures Enhances Transatlantic Reach With U.S. Expansion And Senior Hires appeared first on Pulse 2.0.

The amount of money startups raise in their seed and Series A rounds is inversely correlated with success. This isn’t just the opinion of investor Fred Wilson, many other respected voices in the industry have observed the same pattern: the more money raised at the early stage, the lower the chances of long-term success. But why? 👉 Too much capital drives premature scaling — investing in product or team before validating assumptions 👉 This creates rigidity, makes pivots harder, and shortens the runway to the next round Raising bigger rounds should reduce risk, but it often increases it. At Startup Bakery, we take a different approach: 🔹 Building startups with right-sized resources 🔹 Focusing on execution, continuous validation, and sustainable growth 🔹 Supporting founders with both capital and hands-on know-how. It’s not how much you raise, but how you use it. The right capital, at the right time, can make the difference between burning resources and building enduring companies. Here’s an interesting article from Crunchbase on the topic 👇 https://lnkd.in/eSAGNNZN

Blackbird has published its annual data that shows the venture firm to has delivered a net internal rate of return of 36.09% across its discretionary funds since it was established in 2012. That has pushed its portfolio to a new record high of $9.9 billion, eclipsing an earlier peak set in 2022 before the market turned sour. Blackbird partner Rick Baker told Capital Brief that the startup ecosystem is "back to growth." https://lnkd.in/g3sbTXZS

The transition from prioritizing rapid growth to emphasizing capital efficiency marks a significant change in the dynamics of startup funding. The burn multiple is an essential metric, illustrating a startup's capacity to balance growth with cash consumption. This focus on efficiency represents a broader investor sentiment that values sustainability over mere expansion. By prioritizing the burn multiple, founders can avoid the traps of vanity metrics, ensuring that every dollar spent contributes to meaningful, long-term revenue growth. Ultimately, this new perspective promotes a disciplined approach to growth, aligning startup strategies with investor expectations in a more challenging financial environment. #startupfunding #capitalefficiency #burnmultiple

🚀 Last week, Team Looma (Johnny Ta, Ben Abraham and Srirajarajeswari Suriyanarayanan) attended an excellent panel hosted by Aussie Founders Club Founders Club, led by Managing Director Megan Luttrell 🤝 . We gained a wealth of practical insights on ambition, alignment and what is next in venture capital. The speakers: 1. Rob Phillpot: Co-Founder and Partner at Glitch Capital, after co-founding Aconex and investing through Gravel Road Ventures. 2. Liz van Zyl: Head of Partnerships at Tractor Ventures, supporting founders with access to non-dilutive capital. 3. Richard Mulligan: Co-Founder at FB Ventures, focused on democratizing access to venture capital for Australian investors. Our top takeaways for founders 📋 1. When asking a VC for funding, be completely honest about traction, risks and the plan. Rob shared that honesty builds trust and he recommends asking for a little more than you think you need, so there is room for execution and buffers. 2. Consider non dilutive funding to accelerate proven growth channels. Tractor Ventures provides revenue linked funding and growth support that can be a fit when you want to scale without issuing more equity. 3. Tie the amount you raise to clear milestones and an eighteen month runway where possible. That planning lens helps balance progress, credibility and dilution. 4. Show traction with real signals such as users, early revenue, retention and unit economics. These are the proof points investors look for. As Team Looma evolves, we are energized to be building our Marketing AI Assistant for ecommerce founders at a pivotal moment for startups and online retail. If you are growing an ecommerce brand and want to help shape the product, we would love to connect. #startups #ecommerce #venturecapital #founders #australia #aiforbusiness #marketingai

💰 Inclusive Innovation Catalyst, a new venture studio aiming to unlock £30 million in co‑investment, support more than 50 startups, and generate over £40 million in portfolio revenues within three years. It was backed by the West Midlands Combined Authority’s Co‑Investment Fund, and led by Tin Alley Ventures in collaboration with Future Planet Capital Regional, Greater Things, The 51% Club, The Black Business Collective, The Open University, and the Innovation Alliance for the West Midlands. More details: https://lnkd.in/drZe8Zq5 Alex Cole Jof Walters #diversity #news #investment #funding #uktech #vcfunding #growth #diversefounders #innovation

❤️ I’m delighted to see our TIN Ventures ‘Inclusive Innovation Catalyst’ collaboration spotlighted in Tech Funding News today — and with good reason. This new venture studio is not just ambitious in scale (unlocking £30 million in co-investment, backing 50+ startups, and targeting £40 million+ in portco revenues within three years). 👉🏽 It’s purposeful: designed to address one of the UKs most persistent innovation challenges — who gets to access capital, and under what terms. 🔍 Why this matters — and why now: ⭐️ The West Midlands has lagged national averages in growth over recent years (region growing ~1.3 % annually vs UK ~2.1 % over the last three years). ⭐️ Its average salary remains below the UK mean, unemployment is elevated, and many of its districts struggle with productivity below national norms. ⭐️ Meanwhile, the region’s companies are showing appetite: smaller businesses here are more open to external finance than those elsewhere in the UK, with loan and overdraft facility growth among the highest in 2024. ⭐️ Access to equity and venture capital remains a structural hurdle: nationally, only ~15 % of VC and private equity goes to firms outside London/South East — despite those regions hosting roughly half of all SMEs. ⭐️ Disparities in pay and opportunity persist locally: race pay gaps of ~9.5 %, disability pay gaps ~17.7 %, and a gender pay gap ~12 % in the West Midlands. 👉🏽 In short: the region has enormous latent potential. What’s missing is embedded, equity-sensitive infrastructure that connects capital, capability, and community. That’s why the Inclusive Innovation Catalyst ‘Venture Studio’ (aligned to the The Venture Studio Forum #VSI) is so vital. Backed by Future Planet Capital Regional (which manages the West Midlands Combined Authority Co-Investment Fund), and co-designed with The 51% Club, and integrating the Greater Things prototype model - this is a coalition built to move systems, not just businesses. I’m super proud to be part of leading this timely agenda. Because bridging aspiration and opportunity means more than incremental growth - it means rewriting the rules so that diverse founders and underserved communities no longer remain on the edge, but become central beneficiaries. #InclusiveInnovation #LevellingUp #RegionalGrowth #VentureCapital #CivicUnibersities #DiversityInTech Mel Selvon Ellyard Hana Hussain Phoebe Kay Asher Craig Professor Mark Durkin Chaitali Patel Dr. Aqueel Wahga Fidele Mutwarasibo PhD Sarah Hayes Rupert Lyle Tara Attfield-Tomes Cliff Dennett Cornerstone VC Matthew Burris JT Benton ⸻

This has been a week where was honoured to sit on a panel as an ally to the The Black Business Collective but have also faced the challenge that Greater Things discriminates against white men. We don't. As uncomfortable as it is to call out that kind of nonsense its an important topic for me. I have not set out to create an investment business that positively discriminates. I have set out to create a business that uses new technologies and processes to give everyone, no matter who they are and where they came from, a fair chance to prove their idea. Our portfolio, therefore, is representative of the regions we operate in. For instance around 45% of our founders in the West Midlands are ethnically diverse. That's the same percentage of people in the region that don't identify as being 'White British'. Our job, having proven this is possible, is to try to get the rest of our industry to meet the same standards. We cant drive that change on our own. We only get founders started on a long road, so we need our own like minded allies that can stay with startups throughout their journey. With that in mind we announced a new, far reaching inclusive investment project yesterday with The Open University, Innovation Alliance for the West Midlands, West Midlands Combined Authority, The 51% Club, TIN Ventures and Future Planet Capital Regional. Details below.

Securing funding is one of the biggest challenges founders face — and it’s only getting harder in today’s economic climate. From angel investors to VCs to private equity, every funding option has tradeoffs. Some bring mentorship, networks and long-term partnership. Others require giving up equity or even control. Non-dilutive options like grants or pitch competitions can help startups get off the ground, but they’re often competitive and limited in size. For most startups, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. The right funding path depends on your stage, goals and the kind of relationship you want with your investors. We broke down the most common ways startups raise money, what each offers and what founders should watch out for. Tag a founder who might find this helpful! Read it here 👉 https://lnkd.in/easM4PU5