Balnord closes €70 million first round to back frontier and dual-use tech across the Baltic Sea Region
Balnord, a Luxembourg-based early stage investor for the Baltic Sea Region, has announced this morning that it has oversubscribed its €70 million fund target and is well on its way to achieving a final close of €100 million by mid-2026.
LPs backing the fund include the European Investment Fund, PFR Ventures, and European family offices, founders, and private investors from around the world. Balnord counts LPs in three continents and 12 countries. Most prior-fund LPs have reinvested in Balnord Fund I; among new LPs, many are founders of its exited portfolio companies.
“We’re investing in the backbone of European industrialisation. We have already invested around €13 million in 10 companies. The first four of them raised €40 million in subsequent investment rounds, generating revenues of €35 million this year,” commented Marcin P. Kowalik, General Partner at Balnord.
Balnord’s oversubscribed first close situates it within a 2025 European funding landscape increasingly oriented towards industrial resilience, dual-use technology, and regionally anchored DeepTech ecosystems. Across Europe, several funds announced this year reflect similar strategic priorities:
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Suma Capital (Barcelona) closed a €210 million ClimateTech vehicle to back industrial decarbonisation ventures.
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Keen Venture Partners (Amsterdam/London) launched a €40 million DefenseTech fund aligned with Europe’s strategic-sovereignty goals.
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Iron Wolf Capital (Vilnius) unveiled a €100 million DeepTech fund for early-stage founders across the Baltics.
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IDC Ventures (Copenhagen) established a €150 million fund-of-funds investing in future-growth sectors.
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C4 Ventures (Paris) introduced a €100 million fund supporting AI, robotics, and quantum innovation.
Balnord’s positioning – backing frontier and dual-use technologies across the Baltic Sea Region – aligns closely with these themes, particularly the Baltic-region DeepTech focus seen at Iron Wolf Capital.
Its inclusion of the EIF as a limited partner further mirrors institutional activity supporting strategic sectors; notably, the EIF also backs Suma Capital’s ClimateTech vehicle.
As EU-Startups recently observed in its broader review of policy-driven capital flows, the European VC landscape is shifting “from climate to resilience,” with new instruments reinforcing security, defence, and industrial innovation priorities (EU-Startups, Oct 2025). Within this context, Balnord’s fund contributes to a continental movement directing capital toward Europe’s re-industrialisation and technological sovereignty — areas now drawing sustained investor and public-sector attention.
“There has never been a stronger time for Europe to build resilient and enduring tech companies. We’ve never seen a more significant and liquid opportunity to create and build technologies that will shape the modern world in the coming decade,” added Kowalik.
Founded in 2024 and focused primarily on founders from the Baltic Sea Region (Nordics, Baltics, Poland, Germany), Balnord backs companies that are laying the foundation for Europe’s re-industrialisation in the real economy across sectors such as space, healthcare, industrial resilience, and more.
According to the firm, Europe is undergoing the most significant wave of industrialisation in decades, and European frontier-tech dual-use technology companies are poised to define the next generation of winners. It is estimated that €1 trillion is ready to be invested annually across the continent, solving the most complex problems and tackling reindustrialisation –
The new fund will invest in at least 22 companies and can make significant follow-on investments. Initial investments will range from €500k to €3 million, with follow-on investments up to €12 million per company.
“As a team, we’ve been working together for nine years already, putting together a like-minded group of mission-driven investors and operators with the sole intention of helping founders with their toughest challenges.
“We’re backing resilient entrepreneurs who are raising the bar on ambition, aiming to build billion-dollar companies across the Baltic Sea Region – where we can make a GDP-level impact. We’re not just investing in companies – we back founders and help them build movements,” added Aleksander Dobrzyniecki, General Partner at Balnord.
The Balnord team includes General Partners Marcin P. Kowalik and Aleksander Dobrzyniecki, as well as Operating Partners Jarosław Pilarczyk, Wojciech Drewczyński, Hubert Szczołek, and Gabriele Poteliunaite. Balnord’s team is split between Gdansk, Luxembourg, and Berlin.
Balnord has also created a founders board to support its investments, which includes Peter Bialo, co-founder of DocPlanner, the first Polish company to be valued over $1 billion, and Davis Siksnans, former founder & CEO of Printful, the first Latvian unicorn, and now CEO of Mapon, a leading B2B telematics company.
“This fund will help drive innovation in key sectors such as defence and space, directly supporting the EU’s commitment to addressing pressing challenges. Investing in Balnord enables us to further contribute to the EU’s strategic objectives, ensuring that Europe remains at the forefront of technological innovation and capable of meeting future demands,” said Marjut Falkstedt, EIF Chief Executive.
Balnord Fund I has already invested in 10 companies, including:
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Astrolight: A space-to-ground laser communication provider that recently demonstrated an undetectable laser link between NATO ships at sea, ensuring communications when radio is jammed or denied (as reported by EU-Startups)
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ATMOS Space Cargo: Enabling access to microgravity through reusable reentry capsules using advanced inflatable heat shield technology. Atmos is allegedly the fastest-moving private space logistics company in Europe to conduct an orbital return mission.
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VitVio: Leveraging AI, computer vision, and ambient sensing technologies to digitise operating rooms in 3D, in real-time, to understand surgical workflows.
Other frontier tech and dual-use investments include companies working across space, industrial resilience, and tech bio.
Sebastian Klaus, CEO of ATMOS Space Cargo, said, “Working with Balnord feels like having a partner who truly gets it. Their team’s entrepreneurial experience means they understand the ups and downs of building a company. They’re not just investors – they’re company builders and supporters.”
To date, Balnord has co-invested alongside leading DeepTech funds, including Expansion, Matterwave, APEX Ventures, Seraphim, OTB, Inventure, Voima Ventures, and Bek Ventures (formerly Earlybird Digital East).
“Balnord is already putting its raised capital to work, supporting entrepreneurs. Among them are the Polish founders of Microamp, a DeepTech project focused on 5G connectivity that previously took part in NATO’s DIANA accelerator, and SATIM, which has recently established partnerships with ICEYE and local armaments companies.
“We’re also seeing the fund’s strong commitment to fostering the regional DeepTech ecosystem, going well beyond its investment activity. I believe that founders will truly benefit from this approach, and it’s one of the reasons we felt confident allocating our capital to Balnord Fund I,” says Rozalia Urbanek, Board Member of PFR Ventures
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