# Top 25 Hardware Startup Investors in Croatia in May 2026 ## Fil Rouge Capital (FRC) - Type: VC Fund - Location: Zagreb, Grad Zagreb, Croatia - Relevant deals: 9 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed - Focus: Software, Information Technology, E-Commerce Fil Rouge Capital (FRC) invests in early stage businesses from angel investment, seed, VC and Series A rounds through a combination of equity and debt structures.FRC’s approach is to target investments that complement the skills and experience of its Founders so that they can bring more than just capital to help a business grow. Both FRC’sFounders have a core knowledge of technology, services, and an entrepreneurial history that they can bring to the benefit of an investment. FRC is Europe-centric, and with a base in Ljubljana, Slovenia, there is an additional focus on Central and Eastern Europe, Austria and Southern Germany. On an opportunistic basis FRC will look at deals throughout Europe and also the United States. The Founders are well-connected to accelerators in Central Europe and in Silicon Valley. ## HCVC - Type: VC Fund - Location: Paris, Ile-de-France, France - Relevant deals: 6 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed - Focus: Software, Artificial Intelligence, Manufacturing HCVC is an early-stage Venture Capital firm backing hardtech companies worldwide. Beyond its fund, HCVC supports hardtech founders through Hardware Club, a selective global community of 500+ startups with dedicated resources, partnerships and events. ## Luca Ascani - Type: Angel - Location: Rome, Lazio, Italy - Relevant deals: 6 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A - Focus: Software, FinTech, Financial Services Luca is founder and CEO of Lambda Alpha, an investment company focused on early stage investment. Its portfolio includes Bear, the Apple Design Award winner notes app, Fintechs as Lendable and Emma App in London, Mansa in Paris and ScalaPay as well as autonomous robots Gideon Brothers and automated pasta restaurant Cala. Recent investmentsincludes Dishpatch, Airbank and RVVUP. Luca started his entrepreneurial career aged 20 when he launched BuyCentral.it, the first Italian shopping comparison site, in 2000. It was sold to Lycos in 2004. In 2002 he founded ADVance which became the leading digital agency in Italy, subsequently sold to NetBooster. In 2004 he cofounded GoAdv, later rebranded Populis, one of the largest vertical digital publishing groups in Europe and Brazil, listed on the Paris Alternext stock exchange. In 2011 Populis was named the fastest growing company in Ireland and part of the top ten in Europe by Deloitte. In 2012 and 2013 he has brought the TechCrunch conference to Italy with the aim of connecting the Italian industry with international investors. For this same purpose he was co-hosting the 2017 Founders Forum in Rome.From 2010 Luca was in the board of IlSecoloXIX, an Italian north west leading newspaper, then acquired by LaStampa in 2014 and he was in the board of the new group, ITEDI, until it was acquired by Gruppo Espresso in 2017. ## Taavet Hinrikus - Type: Angel - Location: London, England, United Kingdom - Relevant deals: 5 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B - Focus: FinTech, Financial Services, Software Taavet Hinrikus is co-founder and CEO of TransferWise. Prior to starting TransferWise, Taavet was Skype’s director of strategy until 2008, starting as its first-ever employee. One of the World Economic Forum's Tech Pioneers, Taavet is an adviser to Prime Minister of Estonia on the digital agenda. He’s also a mentor and angel investor; hisinvestments include Tweetdeck, Mendeley, OMGPOP, Property Partner, Sunrise, Improbable and Mapillary. ## Rite-Hite - Type: VC Fund - Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Series A, Seed - Focus: Robotics, Software, Machine Learning Rite-Hite is a world leader in the manufacture, sale, and service of loading dock equipment, industrial doors, safety barriers, HVLS fans, industrial curtain walls, and more - all designed to improve safety, security, productivity, energy savings, and environmental control. Watch Rite-Hite's Always Looking Ahead video below to learn more. ## Pentland Ventures - Type: VC Fund - Location: London, England, United Kingdom - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A - Focus: Software, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning Pentland has been proudly supporting people to build the businesses of the future since 1932. Pentland Ventures is the Group's direct investments division. ## Koch Disruptive Technologies - Type: VC Fund - Location: Wichita, Kansas, United States - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Series B, Series A, Series C - Focus: Software, Artificial Intelligence, Health Care Koch Disruptive Technologies is a unique investment firm partnering with principled entrepreneurs and transformative companies that are changing the world. ## South Central Ventures - Type: VC Fund - Location: Belgrade, Vojvodina, Serbia - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed - Focus: Software, SaaS, Artificial Intelligence South Central Ventures is dedicated to investments in startups, small and medium globally oriented technology companies in SE Europe. ## Prologis Ventures - Type: VC Fund - Location: San Francisco, California, United States - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Series A, Series B, Series C - Focus: Software, Logistics, Artificial Intelligence Prologis Ventures partners with companies looking to revolutionize logistics to accelerate growth, navigate challenges and bring innovative solutions to market. ## David Rowan - Type: Angel - Location: London, England, United Kingdom - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed - Focus: Software, Artificial Intelligence, Information Technology David Rowan is editor of the UK edition of WIRED magazine, which won 2009 Launch of the David Rowan is Editor of the WIRED UK, the technology and trends magazine covering online brands, gadgets and the culture that surrounds them. David has reported on technology for The Times and Channel 4 News, the latter requiring him to illustrate the newiPod Video from the set of a porn shoot. He's also written for The Sunday Times and Telegraph Magazines, and edited the Guardian's on-line content. David has curated an exhibition of British creative talent at the Government's Cabinet Forum conference. He has also addressed the TEDs, and frequently contributes on Newsnight and the Today programme. He also writes a monthly column for GQ. David is in touch with many of the world's leading trend-setters and spotters. In presentations he looks at how the net is disrupting almost every sector, how apps change consumer behaviour and why 'social commerce' is killing traditional marketing. He reveals the 10 trends that will change your market in the next decade - and what you should be doing now to protect yourself. ## LocalGlobe - Type: VC Fund - Location: London, England, United Kingdom - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Software, Financial Services, E-Commerce Seeding ambitious founders at places like @citymapper, @improbableio,@teamkano, @moo, @songkick,@seedcamp, @transferwise and @zoopla since 1999. Who's next? ## NJF Capital - Type: VC Fund - Location: London, England, United Kingdom - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B - Focus: Software, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning NJF Capital is the venture capital arm of NJF Holdings, founded by investor and entrepreneur Nicole Junkermann. ## Vijay Sharma - Type: Angel - Location: Bengaluru, Karnataka, India - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Electronics, Service Industry, Telecommunications Vijay Sharma ## Linic Ltd - Type: VC Fund - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Robotics, Software, Machine Learning Investment Fund ## Peaksjah - Type: VC Fund - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Pre-Seed, Series A - Focus: Software, Music, Events Peaksjah ## Nenad Bakić - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Series A - Focus: Robotics, Software, Machine Learning Nenad Bakić ## Hrvoje Zlatar - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Pre-Seed - Focus: Software, Developer Tools, Cloud Infrastructure Hrvoje Zlatar ## Ivan Topčić - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Series A - Focus: Robotics, Software, Machine Learning Ivan Topčić ## Marko Kovac - Type: Angel - Location: Zagreb, Grad Zagreb, Croatia - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Pre-Seed - Focus: Software, Developer Tools, Cloud Infrastructure Marko Kovac is the Founder and Chief Product Strategist at Repsly ## Igor Anić - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Pre-Seed - Focus: Software, Developer Tools, Cloud Infrastructure Igor Anić ## Blume Ventures - Type: VC Fund - Location: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B - Focus: Software, E-Commerce, Financial Services Blume Ventures provides pre-series A and early stage funding to tech-focused/tech-enabled ventures. They are typically the first institutional investors in their portfolio companies and invest for about 8-10 years. They are proponents of a collaborative approach and like to co-invest with like-minded angels and seed funds. They then providefollow-on investments to their stellar portfolio companies. ## Girish Mathrubootham - Type: Angel - Location: Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Angel - Focus: Software, SaaS, Information Technology Girish Mathrubootham is the CEO and Founder at Freshworks. Girish Mathrubootham attended University of Madras. ## Ankur Singla - Type: Angel - Location: New Delhi, Delhi, India - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed - Focus: E-Commerce, Retail, Consumer Ankur Singla ## SparkLabs Global Ventures - Type: VC Fund - Location: Palo Alto, California, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Software, Internet, Information Technology SparkLabs Global Ventures is a venture capital firm that offers seed-stage investment services to firms in the SaaS, healthcare, education, IoT, fintech, mobile, commerce, HR, gaming, security, and VR industries. It was founded in Dec 2013 and is based in California.Exceptional entrepreneurs, that are building strong, category defining companiesat highly advantageous valuations – can be found anywhere. The company has a team that is highly experienced in finding such talent and helping our entrepreneurs to develop, grow, network, and scale into other markets throughout the world. ## Aprameya Radhakrishna - Type: Angel - Location: Bengaluru, Karnataka, India - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed - Focus: Internet, Software, Apps Aprameya loves singing romantic songs and is the quintessential dreamer who doesn’t fear to experiment. He used to be the Head of Business Development for PDS at Jones Lang LaSalle India where he spent almost 3 years post his graduation from IIM Ahmedabad. He has worked at Infosys and has an Electronics engineering degree from NITK Surthkal andif all this has made you think he’s a geek, ask his close friends and they would say otherwise! # About Shizune Shizune.co is an investor database. Core features: - 48,091 startup investors (angels, VCs, accelerators, and others) - Email, phone, LinkedIn (for intros), socials, and other contact data - Updated daily from public funding news - CSV and Excel export The User can access the full database FOR FREE after signing up: shizune.co