Behind the Strategy: Our Focus on Devtools and AI

70% of the companies we’ve backed over the past two years specialize in devtools, AI/ML, and infrastructure. While it might look like a thesis-driven approach, our real focus has always been to back exceptional founders. Founders take us from 0 to 1. Only after building conviction on the team, we evaluate product, competitive landscape, metrics, and traction. These can bring us back from 1 to 0,  but never the other way around. This founder-first focus has been our ‘secret sauce’ for spotting opportunities before the market since 2016, keeping us ahead of the curve.

Our portfolio in 2016-2017 focused on pioneering founders in healthtech and biotech, who built unicorns like Carbon Health & BillionToOne. From there, we naturally shifted into SaaS (2018-2019), and later expanded into Türkiye’s gaming industry (2021), drawn by an abundance of unprecedented talent and opportunity.

Emerging Europe’s Power Play: Devtools, AI & ML

The region is rich in skilled engineers, with the highest rate of developers per capita globally. This talent pool has attracted companies like Cisco, Microsoft, Cloudera, Google, and IBM, leading them to acquire local startups or establish engineering hubs. Ranking consistently among the top countries for software engineering, five Emerging Europe countries place in the global top 10 for tech skills, frequently surpassing established tech giants like India and the US. This influx of investment and expertise has accelerated specialization in devtools and AI/ML, as local engineers gain hands-on experience tackling complex challenges across diverse sectors.

In the meantime, the demand for devtools surged with advances in software engineering and distributed systems architectures, which required sophisticated tools to manage codebases, workflows, and scalability. Agile and DevOps methodologies also shortened development cycles, fueling demand for tools to streamline continuous integration, version control, and real-time collaboration—key to the success of modern applications. With groundbreaking advancements in language models setting new standards, founders in Emerging Europe quickly began applying these technologies to high-impact areas. Driven by strong technical talent, the region has addressed diverse applications, from healthcare, where machine learning improves diagnostics, to finance.

It was only fitting that Emerging Europe would cultivate the next generation of AI/ML, devtools, and infrastructure innovators.

A Shift from Building Products to Building Companies

Over the past decade, Emerging Europe’s technical talent has evolved from building products to creating developer-centric solutions and scalable companies, bringing unique perspectives to today’s tech challenges. This transformation has cultivated a thriving startup ecosystem, making Emerging Europe a global powerhouse for devtools, infrastructure, and AI/ML innovation. Companies like Axoflow, Daytona, and Pythagora exemplify this shift; these founders, with experience from startups acquired by Cisco, OneIdentity, Miro, and Infobip, possess the technical depth and perspective to create robust, scalable devtools and infrastructure software, leveraging hands-on experience with complex technical problems and proximity to some of the world’s largest tech companies.

This regional ability to create globally impactful companies makes Emerging Europe stand out among emerging markets, offering not only talent and technical expertise but also a proven track record of scalable success. This is illustrated by unicorns such as UiPath (Romania), Infobip (Croatia), Veriff (Estonia), and GitLab (Ukraine). Each has made a significant mark in fields like automation, SaaS, cybersecurity, and developer tools, leveraging the region’s skilled talent pool to tackle complex, cutting-edge products.

Our Founder-First Thesis in Action

‍Our founder-first thesis has consistently led us to partner with entrepreneurs already deeply engaged in emerging shifts, helping us identify potential early and drive impactful investments. This approach gives us an edge in discovering blue ocean markets—spaces where unmet needs create rich opportunities for disruption. While these untapped areas present risk, we believe well-prepared companies can thrive by creating unique solutions that establish them as market leaders. This often involves entering a market “too early,” but this early entry builds resilience, enabling companies to weather initial challenges and emerge stronger as the market matures.

Our comfort with being “too early” rather than “too late” has become a strategic advantage, allowing us to help portfolio companies establish themselves as pioneers. This conviction in blue ocean markets aligns with our focus on devtools and AI/ML—fields where companies often set standards for others to follow. By embracing a founder-first approach and partnering with entrepreneurs willing to innovate in unexplored territories, we set them—and ourselves—up for lasting success as these markets mature.

It’s not that we have unique insights to foresee the next hype before it arrives, but rather that we consistently bet on exceptional founders, who naturally gravitate toward great trends. Looking ahead, we’re excited to keep evolving with the technology landscape, staying adaptable and global while remaining true to our founder-first philosophy and commitment to fostering transformative innovation.

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